Originally posted by ushomefree
"It's a shame some people put so much stock into Mithra; Mithra never resurrected. Jesus Christ did!
Thousands of years before Jesus, there was another passion story told about a God man, born of a virgin mother, in a stable. He travels about with his followers, preaching and performing miracles, including turning water into wine. Eventually, he incurs the wrath of the religious authorities, who are appalled that he refers to himself as a god. He allows himself to be arrested and tried for blasphemy. He is found guilty and executed, only to rise from the grave three days later, where the women weeping at his tomb do not recognize him until he assumes his divine form, as the God Dionysus.
So many religions in those times shared similar themes (rebirth, redemption, ...) with that usually the deities became melded together. Early depictions of Jesus show him holding the Lyre of Orpheus, or driving Apollo' s chariot. The Emperor Constantine, who legitimized Christianity in Rome, was a worshipper of Sol Invictus - an amalgamation of solar deities Mithras, Helios, and Apollo - and he recognized Jesus' place in that company almost immediately. Christianity' s oldest known mosaic depicts Jesus as a triumphant Helios, complete with chariot.
Of course, later Christians were terribly perturbed by these similarities to Pagan religions.