If there is one thing that drives me absolutely bananas, it’s people spreading misinformation via social media under the guise of “educating”. I’ve seen this happen in several ways – through infographics that twist data in ways that support a conclusion that is ultimately false, or else through “meaningful” quotes falsely attributed to various celebrities, or by cobbling together a few actual facts with statements that are patently untrue to create something that seems plausible on the surface but is, in fact, full of crap.
Yesterday, the official Facebook page of (noted misogynist and eugenics enthusiast) Richard Dawkins’ Foundation for Reason and Science shared the following image to their 637,000 fans:
Neither Reasonable Nor Scientific
Naturally, their fans lapped this shit up; after all, this is the kind of thing they absolutely live for. Religious people! Being hypocritical! And crazy! And wrong! The 2,000+ comments were chock-full of smug remarks about how naïve and stupid Christians were, accompanied by pats on the back for all the atheists who smart enough to see through all the religious bullshit and understand how the evil church had slyly appropriated all kinds of pagan traditions.
And you know what? That’s fine, I guess. I’m all for questioning religion and examining the sociological, historical and anthropological reasons that help explain the hows and whys of our lives today. I’m actually super fascinated by that kind of stuff, even if I do think that there’s a way to discuss it without making yourself sound smarter and more enlightened than the people around you.
But you guys? The image above is rife with misinformation. RIFE, I say.
Let’s start from the top:
This is Ishtar …
Okay, great. So far things are fairly accurate. The relief pictured here, known as the Burney Relief (also called the Queen of the Night relief) is widely considered to be an Ancient Babylonian representation of Ishtar (although some scholars believe that the woman depicted might be Lilitu or Ereshkigal). This relief is currently housed in the British Museum in London, but originates from southern Iraq and is nearly 4,000 years old.
… pronounced Easter.
Actually, in modern English we pronounce it the way it looks. A case could be made for pronouncing it Eesh-tar, but I have yet to come across a credible source that gives the original pronunciation as Easter.
Easter is originally the celebration of Ishtar, the Assyrian and Babylonian goddess of fertility and sex.
Ishtar was the goddess of love, war and sex. These days, thanks to Herodotus, she is especially associated with sacred prostitution* (also known as temple prostitution), which, in the religions of the Ancient Near East, allegedly took on the form of every woman having to, at some point in her life, go to the temple of Ishtar and have sex with the first stranger who offered her money. Once a woman entered the temple of Ishtar for the purpose of sacred prostitution, she was not allowed to leave until she’d done the deed. I can’t imagine that sacred prostitution sex was ever very good sex, but hey, what do I know? Probably some people were pretty into it – I mean, if you can imagine it, someone’s made porn about it, right?
Anyway, the point I am trying to make here is that, yes, Ishtar was associated with fertility and sex. However, her symbols were the lion, the gate and the eight-pointed star; I can’t find any evidence of eggs or rabbits symbolically belonging to her. And Easter has nothing to do with her.
Most scholars believe that Easter gets its name from Eostre or Ostara**, a Germanic pagan goddess. English and German are two of the very few languages that use some variation of the word Easter (or, in German, Ostern) as a name for this holiday. Most other European languages use one form or another of the Latin name for Easter, Pascha, which is derived from the Hebrew Pesach, meaning Passover. In French it’s Pâques, in Italian it’s Pasqua, in Dutch it’s Pasen, in Danish it’s Paaske, in Bulgarian it’s Paskha, and so on and so forth.
In the Christian Bible, Jesus returned to Jerusalem from his forty days in the desert just before Passover. In fact, in the Gospel according to John, Jesus was killed on the day before the first night of Passover, at the time when lambs were traditionally slaughtered for the Passover feast (because Jesus was the Lamb of God, etc. – SYMBOLISM, Y’ALL). There are a few differing accounts of when Jesus actually died, but most Christian texts, philosophers and scholars agree that it was around the time of Passover. Easter is still celebrated the week after Passover, which is why it’s a different day each year, because the Jewish calendar is lunar rather than solar.
Her symbols (like the egg and the bunny) were and still are fertility and sex symbols (or did you actually think eggs and bunnies had anything to do with the resurrection?).
Actually, according to Jacob Grimm’s Deutsche Mythologie, which he wrote after journeying across Germany and recording its oral mythological traditions, the idea of resurrection was part and parcel of celebrating the goddess Ostara:
“Ostara, Eástre seems therefore to have been the divinity of the radiant dawn, of upspringing light, a spectacle that brings joy and blessing, whose meaning could be easily adapted by the resurrection-day of the christian’s God. Bonfires were lighted at Easter and according to popular belief of long standing, the moment the sun rises on Easter Sunday morning, he gives three joyful leaps, he dances for joy … Water drawn on the Easter morning is, like that at Christmas, holy and healing … here also heathen notions seems to have grafted themselves on great christian festivals. Maidens clothed in white, who at Easter, at the season of returning spring, show themselves in clefts of the rock and on mountains, are suggestive of the ancient goddess.”
Spring is a sort of resurrection after all, with the land coming back to life after lying dead and bare during the winter months. To say that ancient peoples thought otherwise is foolish, naïve and downright uninformed. Many, many pagan celebrations centre around the return of light and the rebirth of the land; these ideas are not new themes in the slightest.
And yes, rabbits and eggs are fertility symbols, and they are, in fact, associated with Eostre.
Ostara by Johannes Gehrts
After Constantine decided to Christianize the Empire, Easter was changed to represent Jesus.
Hey! Guess what language Constantine, the Roman Emperor, spoke? Not English, that’s for sure! In fact, when he was alive, English didn’t even exist yet. He would have spoken Latin or Ancient Greek, so would likely have referred to Easter as Pascha or Πάσχα.
But at its roots Easter (which is pronounced Ishtar) was all about celebrating fertility and sex.
Look. Here’s the thing. Our Western Easter traditions incorporate a lot of elements from a bunch of different religious backgrounds. You can’t really say that it’s just about resurrection, or just about spring, or just about fertility and sex. You can’t pick one thread out of a tapestry and say, “Hey, now this particular strand is what this tapestry’s really about.” It doesn’t work that way; very few things in life do.
The fact is that the Ancient Romans were smart when it came to conquering. In their pagan days, they would absorb gods and goddesses from every religion they encountered into their own pantheon; when the Roman Empire became Christian, the Roman Catholic Church continued to do the same thing, in a manner of speaking.
And do you know why that worked so well? Because adaptability is a really, really good trait to have in terms of survival of the fittest (something I wish the present-day Catholic Church would remember). Scratch the surface of just about any Christian holiday, and you’ll find pagan elements, if not a downright pagan theme, underneath.
Know what else? Most Christians know this. Or, at least, most of the Christians that I’m friends with (which is, admittedly, a fairly small sampling). They know that Jesus wasn’t really born on December 25th, and they know that there were never any actual snakes in Ireland, and they know that rabbits and eggs are fertility symbols. But they don’t care, because they realize that religions evolve and change and that that’s actually a good thing, not a bad thing. The fact that many Christian saints are just re-imagined pagan gods and goddesses doesn’t alter their faith one iota; because faith isn’t about reason or sense, it’s about belief.
Look, go ahead and debate religion. Go ahead and tell Christians why what they believe is wrong. That’s totally fine and, in fact, I encourage it. A little debate and critical thinking are good for everyone. But do it intelligently. Get to know the Bible, so you actually know what you’re disagreeing with when you form an argument. Brush up on your theology so that you can explain why it’s so wrong. And have some compassion, for Christ’s sake – be polite and respectful when you enter into a debate, even when the person you’re debating with loses their cool. You want to prove that you’re better, more enlightened than Christians? Great, do it by remaining rational and level-headed in the face of someone who’s willing to stoop to personal attacks. To behave otherwise is to be just as bad as the people you’re debating.
Anyway, I hope you guys have a fantastic long weekend, no matter how you spend it. If your holiday involves chocolate, then I hope you enjoy that. If not, just enjoy the extra day or two off work and the (hopefully) warm weather. No matter what you believe in, I think that we can all agree that the end of winter and the rebirth of spring is worth celebrating.
And also? Richard Dawkins? You need to fact-check yourself before you fact-wreck yourself. Spreading this kind of misinformation to your foundation’s 637,000 fans is just plain irresponsible, especially coming from someone like you. Get with the program, buddy.
ETA: The post now seems to be removed from The Richard Dawkins’ Foundation for Science and Reason’s FB page. Thanks Richard!
ETA Part Deux: Oh. It looks like it was deleted from their timeline but not the photo album. Welp.
*It should be noted that the only actual historical evidence that we have of sacred prostitution comes from Herodotus (I’ve included an excerpt from Herodotus’ Histories below) and no one is really sure how accurate it is. Herodotus is known for making shit up, like giant ants for example. But it makes for an amazing story and people still make the association between Ishtar and sacred prostitution, so I decided to mention it here.
The foulest Babylonian custom is that which compels every woman of the land to sit in the temple of Aphrodite and have intercourse with some stranger once in her life. Many women who are rich and proud and disdain to mingle with the rest, drive to the temple in covered carriages drawn by teams, and stand there with a great retinue of attendants. But most sit down in the sacred plot of Aphrodite, with crowns of cord on their heads; there is a great multitude of women coming and going; passages marked by line run every way through the crowd, by which the men pass and make their choice. Once a woman has taken her place there, she does not go away to her home before some stranger has cast money into her lap, and had intercourse with her outside the temple; but while he casts the money, he must say, “I invite you in the name of Mylitta” (that is the Assyrian name for Aphrodite). It does not matter what sum the money is; the woman will never refuse, for that would be a sin, the money being by this act made sacred. So she follows the first man who casts it and rejects no one. After their intercourse, having discharged her sacred duty to the goddess, she goes away to her home; and thereafter there is no bribe however great that will get her. So then the women that are fair and tall are soon free to depart, but the uncomely have long to wait because they cannot fulfil the law; for some of them remain for three years, or four. There is a custom like this in some parts of Cyprus.
That crack about ugly women was totally unnecessary, Herodotus. I am just saying.
**The first written reference we have for Eostre dates back to the 7th century AD and can be found in Venerable Bede’s Temporum Ratione, in a passage explaining that April was often referred to as Eostremonth:
“Eosturmonath” has a name which is now translated “Paschal month”, and which was once called after a goddess of theirs named Eostre, in whose honor feasts were celebrated in that month.
Jacob Grimm said that he found further evidence of Eostre and her associations with Easter, eggs and rabbits when researching his Deutsches Mythologie, although he was unable to discover any written records about her.
The Belle Jar 
at the end. ur blog is pretty good… just like the misinformation/miseducaton of the subject matter. u seem to have a lot of ur opinion of half guesses mixed in with what u call debunking others. yes the fb post u put up is misrepresented in information(they actually mixed there opinions as well with out siting). i c u sited authors that might have wrote on such subjects but never the less u did not really site any solid concrete sources(like codices and tablest etc…). basically my point is that whoever ostara is or the goddess of the germanic tribes comes from much more ancient sources, like sumeria, kemet, kush. way back in the day, and i mean way back, one of the oldest univerities/libraries was alexandria in kemet and in waset was one of the oldest learning centers that opened its doors to all…. this is how the hixos game into power. anywho, all pagan or whatever u want to call it, i call it european mythology, alogory, and religoius systems all come from kemet which “y’all” call egypt. ostara is probably ishtar which probably is asset (isis) which probably is ixchel…
Excellent work. To be honest, that meme has been bothering me, as well.
So he is saying there are other views about Istar, and that some dispute the connection. He did not prove that Dawkins and company were wrong, only that there are other interpretations. He tells us that Christians based their ideas on ‘belief’. i.e. you can believe anything you like, regardless of its veracity. I am so reassured that we are not falling into a world of superstition and convenience, where rationality can be ‘put aside’ as a nuisance factor that should not disturb ‘sacred’ beliefs. In other words, the article is garbled, defensive and obsequious to Christianity, an apology for dogma.
Which as a Christian I don’t necessarily find helpful either because it’s not like I “just believe” and do so for no reason. That and yeah, if you want to give it a more historically meaningful name for the English language then I’m all for that. The purpose of the holiday for Christianity remains whatever the name chosen for it or whatever other tradition you want to throw on top of it.
If i may respectfully add my thoughts to this interesting article which states some great facts,which i think most Pagans nowadays tend to know & understand. Modern Paganism lacks a full understanding of what cults from the past actually got up to, therefore it relies to a large degree on syncretic ideas(no matter how far off the historical mark). Plutarch moans about such syncretic ideas he considered ridiculous back when he was writing his Isis & Osiris back in the 1st-2nd C.E. Often many Pagans nowadays use books like the Mabinogion & other texts much like the iliad was used by the ancients even though they are of dubious or of slight Pagan pedigree & whose to say the rights or wrongs of belief which is inspired by history,myth,nature,human contact,stories right & wrong. Ishtar sounds so much like Easter & humans being what they are, are bound to conflate the two!? Reckon its always happened & always will.Happy Easter,Eostara,Ishtar,Venus,Bright shinning start to the year-you know what i mean 🙂 trev
This would be a lot easier to read if you weren’t such a smart ass.
“Know what else? Most Christians know this. Or, at least, most of the Christians that I’m friends with (which is, admittedly, a fairly small sampling).”
The ones that are aware aren’t the targets of the message. (And I’d have to differ on the point that most are aware, given my exposure to many, many Christians.) This message was intended for those that bellyache about the evils of bunnies and eggs as a secular corruption of the “true, original meaning” of the holiday.
They’re both the same goddess.
…and I’d like to add that anyone who labels Richard Dawkins as “noted misogynist and eugenics enthusiast” isn’t really interested in truths anyway.
Oh how little this author really knows.
Where do you think the Germanic pagan goddess got her name? You acknowledge that English didn’t exist at the time of Constantine, but do you realize the old Germanic language did not exist at the time of Assyrian and Babylonian rule either. Eostre or Ostara, whichever you prefer to use, was a tradition borrowed from older civilizations. She was Asherah in the old Canaanite tradition, Isis in Egypt, and YES, even Ishtar in Assyria. Before you go about trying to debunk a myth, how about making sure that the story you’re telling isn’t an even bigger fabrication than the one you are trying to tear down.
Oh, and FYI, The origins of the words Easter and Passover have ZERO etymological connection. Just because the two traditions were honored at the same time of year does not mean that one sprang from the other. Most ancient religions had some sort of celebration cycle that followed the positions of the Sun and/or Moon (as does Easter), because virtually every ancient religion was based on astrological activity. Correlation does not equal causation.
” Richard Dawkins? You need to fact-check yourself before you fact-wreck yourself.”
#BEST
thank you for an informative post.
Seems like you’re a little too gleeful in your attempts to pin the blame for this error on Mr. Dawkins, who you seem to carry a grudge against. What seems more likely- that Dawkins manages all the posts and memes on his foundation’s webpage, or that a an eager staffer or other content contributor decided to share? Also, Mr. Dawkin’s support for describing genetic selection as neo-eugenics does not mean he’d approve of the earlier, discredited methods. There’s a significant disparity between embryo-selection and forced sterilization.
Yeah, but his name’s on the page. George Takei doesn’t personally post on his Facebook page either, but I can bet you buckets that if someone told him something offensive was on his page, he’d take it personally and get it removed.
as did Dawkins.
Thanks for the detailed article… another interesting read:
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05224d.htm
Reblogged this on The fault is not in our stars.
Reblogged this on Science and Other Drugs and commented:
I sat down to write a post about Easter, then came across this….which happened to be the exact same post I was going to write, except with more research. I love this approach to skepticism and criticism.
I’m an atheist. I agree with the article. I think we need to create a new title for some of these so called atheists out there. To an (A)theist none of this matters because it is ultimately (at a spiritual level) irrelevant.
Non believers who wish to take issue with “theists” should refer to themselves as anti-theists and stop making the rest of us look like a bunch of intolerant smug idiots.
I am an Atheist and an Anti-Theists, and I agree with this too (except the part of most Christians know this). There are Atheist and Anti-Theist who are morons and sheep and will believe anything that seems to discredit religion. They don’t have a sound understanding of world history, science, or even theology for that matter and they are just as bad as religious fanatics. Unfortunately, there are also many Christians who do not (1) know the pagan roots of Christianity and (2) will not believe you if you point out those connections.
To clarify, I take issue with organized religion for a variety of reasons, but I am not intolerant of anyone who desires to practice educated religion. I also take issue with atheist who behave like idiots and don’t think for themselves. So maybe my issue is really ignorance and those who follow blindly.
I appreciate this post. Perhaps when those who call themselves “atheists” attack theists, it could become common practice for the theists to ask them whether they aren’t, in fact, “anti-theists”. Atheists are “not-theists”, and may or may not have a beef with believers.
i know how smug these sui generis atheists are constantly putting down christianity specifically, as if there were no other religions. i agree 100 percent. and ishtar and inanna and astarte were different names for the same goddess, just like monotheists have different names for their god. like ‘fear of issac’ ‘lord of hosts (armies)’ the plural elohim etc.
I’m a Christian and i thank you Freuds cat and Kristina for you’re tolerance and human decency. I love your posts and the main article.
Kristina as an example of what probably annoys you, you just read what you wanted to read or you don’t read clearly. The article here does not say that Christians know the pagan roots or their religion, it says they know the pagan roots of many of their holidays. There is no REAL historical evidence that ties Christ to Horus or virtually any of that Zeitgeist bunk. But “anti-theists” will eat it all up as it sounds like you do. I agree with you, people should research, as should this author who makes the smug claim that religion is purely faith and no reason, he subtly calls all Christians fools, rather than say it outright. But if God is not real, ethics don’t exist, no wrong can be done, by ignorant Atheists or by the ignorant believers, wrong ceases to exist as a category. Amen
I dislike bad reasoning regardless of where I find it.
Don’t fret, but don’t pat yourself on the back to hard either. Jesus wasn’t a fan of holidays or religion.
Love this 🙂
Well actually, the timing of Easter has nothing to do with Passover. Easter is, and always has been, the first Sunday after the first Full Moon after the Vernal Equinox. Sometimes that coincides with the Jewish Passover, and sometimes it doesn’t.
The events surrounding Easter — that is, the Christian celebration of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus — is reported in the reports that Christians accept (that is, the Gospels — I don’t ask you to believe them, just understand that Christians do), as having taken place during the Passover. In the intervening millennia, some Christians, wishing to acknowledge the religion’s debt to its Jewish roots, have made more of the coincidence, in particular, the image of the sacrificial lamb. Thus it is not quite correct to say “the timing of Easter has nothing to do with Passover”.
Well, really the timing of Easter is in relation to Passover — but because Christians either follow the Gregorian or Julian calendar, and the for religious purposed, Jews follow the lunar calandar, the early Church debated which to follow for Easter. Passover is always on the 15th of the 7 month (or 8th month is years where the Jewish calendar add an extra 29 day month to be more in sync with seasons) — so either fix the date of Jesus’ resurrection with the Jewish lunar calendar, OR fix the date to always fall on a Sunday — and the early Church chose the latter.
Also, Eastern Orthodox churches celebrate Easter the Sunday after Passover.
This is was wonderful. Thank you so much for your hard work, and I hope it inspires others to research and learn as much as it has me.
The Baptist wrote “… if God is not real, ethics don’t exist, no wrong can be done, by ignorant Atheists or by the ignorant believers, wrong ceases to exist as a category. Amen”.
I am amazed that “some” believers (certainly not most that I know) lack the capabilities of basic logic and open mindedness to understand that their god doesn’t own the definition of ethical behavior.
An understanding of right and wrong (wherever that line gets drawn in a given culture) is defined at a societal level. No one ever needed god to tell them that if someone steals from you its sucks so dont do it to others. Its just common sense. That common sense was around for thousands of years before Jesus or (insert your favourite deity) and then as now some believers and non believers choose to ignore it.
The Koi San in Southern Africa had no concept of ownership therefore there was no theft, imagine how nice that would be and they where without a Christian God. Even Japan seems to have good moral standards better than most christian nations. I do believe that we as Christians should stop trying to force our moral code on people im sure in most cases they would use common sense and want the same as we do. Im more worried about extremists on both sides and that it could lead to genocide
I happen to be Pagan, have been for many year’s. Yet I have also taken time to educate myself about as many other religion’s as possible. I think what everyone has lost sight of here is that the name of the religion you follow doesn’t matter… it is the belief and the taking responsibility for your moral action’s, why? Because when you boil these religion’s down to the most basic of level’s they pretty much say the same thing. “Play nice with one another” to simplify, treat everyone how you would like to be treated. Do the specific’s of one person’s belief have any more relevance than another’s? Not if you truly follow the basic tenant. Pagan, Christian, doesn’t matter. Stop sniping at one another and just use the tolerance that all these religion’s have at the bottom…
This may have been extensively covered in the previous 341 comments, but just in case:
“In the Christian Bible, Jesus returned to Jerusalem from his forty days in the desert just before Passover. In fact, in the Gospel according to John, Jesus was killed on the day before the first night of Passover, at the time when lambs were traditionally slaughtered for the Passover feast (because Jesus was the Lamb of God, etc. – SYMBOLISM, Y’ALL). There are a few differing accounts of when Jesus actually died, but most Christian texts, philosophers and scholars agree that it was around the time of Passover. Easter is still celebrated the week after Passover, which is why it’s a different day each year, because the Jewish calendar is lunar rather than solar.”
There are two misconceptions in this paragraph. One is that Jesus went straight from the Temptation in the Desert, to the Cross; he didn’t. In the Gospels, the temptation comes at the beginning of his earthly ministry, right after his baptism; all the miracles and healings and teaching and stuff happen next, then the arrest, trial, crucifixion, etc. The Christian calendar puts the 40 days of Lent right before Easter, but nobody ever claimed that the liturgical calendar made any chronological sense!
The second inaccuracy is the claim that Easter is always the week after Passover. It isn’t. In some years, Easter and Passover can be up to a month apart, because the Jewish lunar calendar uses slightly different calculations than those used to determine the date of Easter. I don’t know exactly how the date of Passover is determined, but Easter is ALWAYS the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox.
Those details apart, great article!
For the Orthodox Christian, Pascha is ALWAYS tied to Passover. So, yeah, not universal.
Good post. Easter’s date is actually the Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox, it has nothing to do with Pesach’s date. They change in relation to each other every year, though usually overlap. We have ham about once a decade, otherwise it’s matzo stuffed turkey.
Unless you’re an Orthodox Christian. Then it has everything to do Pesach.
Very nicely written and I to fell for the Ishtar idea but that is not really the point is it. I often try to argue in a polite way with Christians that many of there beliefs have been pulled from other belief systems. In most cases I get hate back at me for even suggesting such an idea. Ah well I will simply post up this excellent write up on my FB and see what happens. Well done!
Actually people often click share because it’s easy. Click, done. I hardly think this sums up who Dawkins is as a person. Plus, the error in the meme is incredibly small to warrant this giant post. Ishtar… Ashtoreth… Eostre… all these goddess pronunciations were evolved from pretty much the same source. Some used eggs, other poles, and as the article writer said, it’s not that simple. This whole “just as bad” thing is ridiculous. We passed around a meme by clicking share. Hardly anything in comparison to the thousand-page meme that has been passed around for centuries and used to hurt millions. Just saying.
I covered this correction with some of my own, in what I like to call a Correctionception: http://biblestudiesfromanasshole.blogspot.com/2013/04/correctionception-easterishtar-issue.html
Nice article, i think that it is very important to know what your talking about when it comes to debates about religion. That being said i think that what makes non Christians so pissed is how Christianity co opted beliefs and rituals from other older pagan religions and with full knowledge of this, still act as if their belief is totally original and better than anyone else.
http://christiananswers.net/q-eden/edn-t020.html#9
http://mystery-babylon.org/easter.html
All I know is, http://www.andywarstar.blogspot.com is the best website in the world!
We too reposted this meme from Dawkins’ page. And even though they took it down, we’re leaving it up. For us, it’s far more interesting to see what sort of discussion and debate it would raise. And that it did. Luckily for us, we have a smart bunch of people following our page, and the discussions that ensued has been interesting, and educational to say the least.
We’re always posting stuff of questionable factual value, because IT RAISES DEBATE. In the end, everyone learns something from it, even if/when it’s wrong.
I knew when posting it, that the information was questionable at best. I did know the history behind “Eostre”, but also understood that there were many other myths and rituals being practiced in other parts of Europe, Eurasia, and even Scandinavia that obviously had influence in their times and regions. This obviously muddles the story even more than the writer of this article is even willing to admit. If you ask someone in Finland about the true history behind Easter/Eostre, you will get a completely different answer than you will from someone in Greece or Turkey.
Great blog by the way! Glad I came across it!
I agree with you, you have no idea what you’re talking about. Entertaining read though.
Great article! However we all make mistakes and they pile up. It goes like this: One person makes unawarely mistake, next one trust the first person and repeats info with that mistake. Other quote the second one and so it goes on.
My point is: we have no means to check all informations we come across, we must trust some of the sources and thus we are prone to repeat mistake of others. Especially if one is considered to be an expert on certain field and gained respect and position in society. Such person is felt as trustworthy source, although he/she can be specialist only in one chosen area, while in others, is not better then any John Smith. The lines of expertise area for people are blurry and everything coming from such person is taken as having the same trustworthiness as the thing he/she became famous of.
The same is with your article. It seems very good and trustworthy and I automatically feel it is right but have no means and knowledge to check it. I am prone to repeat you as my trusted source, although I never verified you. Some people will do that as you verified Dawkin’s post, but most cannot afford that (no time, no means or willingness to spend energy in that direction) and just takes the information for granted. It saves time and is very important psychological mechanism but at the same time it can produce flawed results and is prone to be exploited.
Atheists and religious people do it equally, although one group eagerly points out flaws in others.
Reblogged this on Zalbarath's Blog.
But … but … but … you’re taking all the myth of the ‘facts’ away with more facts … the whole point of the mysteries is to confuse people to the point where they give up and just go along with the prevailing flow! While we have access to a vast number of sources and resources, let’s all be mindful of the fact that those who became the early believers in “Easter” or “Paques” or [choose your own word] did not. Religion became important as an explanation of the mysteries (and histories) and were inclined to leave the details up to the ‘experts’ (usually the spiritual con men), allowing them to assume responsibility and authority for the validity or falsehoods they promoted. If the image of the “Ishtar” relief does anything, it inspires you and others to seek other “truths,” shifting responsibility and authority away from the perpetrators and onto the usual suspects.
While the rebuttal is sound, I cannot find the post on the Dawkins page and you have not provided a link back to it. Do you have one? I also note that the fan count is a bit out so I am wondering if the Dawkins facebook posted this last year?
Here it is: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151521973955155&set=a.496176595154.294030.8798180154&type=1&theater¬if_t=photo_reply
Looks like it’s been removed from their timeline, though.
I will add the link into the post, thank you.
It may be worthwhile to note that the “spring rebirth” is also a tradition from earlier times, as those celebrating Easter in the southern hemisphere are heading into autumn.
I didn’t see the meme at all until this evening, so I sent this to a couple people. Scientific American did a post focusing on other religions, too: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/anthropology-in-practice/2013/03/31/beyond-ishtar-the-tradition-of-eggs-at-easter/
On a related note, I’m so sick of these uncredited memes and images going around facebook. I have become a google images ninja as a result, though, so I guess others’ gullibility and/or lack of respect for image producers (in the case of photographs and art) is improving my detective skills.
Thanks for going to the effort, I was going to let this one passover.
well, i like that you are unhappy with incomplete or wrong information, but in this case, please don’t continue yourself with this. Constantin was a byzantine emperor and he spoke greek (middle-greek to be precise, a transition between the ancient greek and the modern greek as we know it now) and if he spoke roman, than only as a foreign language. ( we are speaking of the constantin who christianized the byzantine empire, right?).
then again, it is not correct, that easter (still) is directly linked to the passover-date. the christian connotation is originating from this context as we all know, but the dates are floating and sometimes they meet sometimes they don’t. first, there are 2 different dates for easter, 1 catholic, 1 orthodox. sometimes they happen to be on the same date, sometimes not. all 3 are mostly around the same time, but not exactly matching every year.
the hard boiled eggs might be deriving from passover traditions (where a hard boiled egg is a symbolic part of the table-setup), while the rabbits certainly don’t …
how far some old rites of astarte or artemis might be related with easter is unknown, how far the relation between east and eastern (or ost and ostern in german) is stronger than a relation to a possible goddess named ostara or similar can not be decided from current knowledge. still, if a goddess-figure like astarte made it to AUSTria, germany or england, she would have been coming from east as well. after all, apparently there was a springtime goddess whose name had been deleted by christian tradition. and it really is only english and german, where you can find this name. remains interesting …
Uh. Google “ishtar bunny”. You will find any number of publications confirming that the egg and the bunny were borrowed from this goddess. Ishtar and Easter do in fact sound the same do they not? Ishtar is a word used by Sumerians, one of the oldest known civilizations. It makes sense that concepts of one civilization were integrated into others until the origins of such concepts became irrelevant.
If this type of stuff drives you bananas then you should really consider a more reasoned approach to criticizing people who like to learn and see the bigger picture. I read your whole piece and I still think that Easter probably has a significant connection Ishtar.
Intellectual snobbery drives me crazy. Have you spread the discontent of confusion just to feel smarter than everyone else?
Did you read her article AT ALL? Yes Ishtar is an ancient goddess, but no place that worshiped her uses anything that sounds like “Easter” as the name for this holiday. What Christians there are in the lands that were once Babylon call the holiday some variation on “Pasche.”
Also it is relevant to note that Constantine did not rule over the lands where Ishtar was worshiped at the time of his conversion. Furthermore, Constantine legalized Christianity but he was not the Emperor to fully convert the empire.
Finally you are correct that there are relationships between Indo-European cultures and their pantheons, but Eostra correlates to Eos, and other Dawn Goddesses more than to Ishtar. Even if they were cognates, the name still comes from Eostra rather than Ishtar because it is in the lands of people who worshiped Eostra that the name was retained. And also ishtar did not have a symbolic link to either eggs or Rabbits, Eostra did.
I agree their outright claim of “: Pronounced Easter” appears to be unsubstantiated. But your arguments for it being false are just as bad. Just because no one pronounces it ‘Easter’ in the modern day is pretty irrelevant- pronunciation can and does evolve drastically. To make an etymological link between the words is more than reasonable: phonetically you’re only really replacing ‘sh’ with ‘s’, and the two are closely related linguistically (e.g. their Arabic letters are next to each other in the alphabet and distinguishable only by additional dots).
so not christian !!!! but not ishtar either 🙂 🙂
Actually, the meme was wrong to conflate the goddesses Ishtar and Eostre, but it appears that the Christian resurrection story may have drawn elements from the earlier Ishtar story, which rippled through the Ancient Near East in many forms. http://awaypoint.wordpress.com/2013/03/28/ancient-sumerian-origins-of-the-easter-story/
Thank you for that link. It made me note you in my blog response: http://biblestudiesfromanasshole.blogspot.com/2013/04/correctionception-easterishtar-issue.html
Thank you. Dr. Nugent, who I interviewed added this elaboration in response to a commenter who questioned the Ishtar-resurrection story connection he outlined. I’m reposting here since it seems like there are a number of folks on this thread who are interested in knowing what’s real.
A reader elsewhere asked whether this article was simply and outdated universalist approach to comparative mythology from the early 20th Century a la Fraser. Here is Dr. Nugent’s reply (and the original question below).
What I am proposing for the relationship of the story of Jesus’ passion and resurrection to the Mesopotamian Inanna-Dumuzi myth-complex is not “comparative mythology,” ala Frazer, but “connectional mythology.” The biblical tradition inherits and transforms Inanna-Dumuzian themes, and becomes itself an extension of this myth-complex. Like with the biblical flood myth, which is a version of the earlier Mesopotamian flood myth, the myth of the passion and resurrection of Jesus is a version of this earlier Mesopotamian mytheme. I am not recounting the numerous, close parallels between these stories to argue that they are instances of a common “universal” mythic theme, but rather to argue that there is a direct, genetic link between them. The Hebrew Bible, with its many literary figures which also carry Inanna-Dumuzi imprints (Lot, Isaac, Joseph, Moses, David, Jonah, to name some), also provides a primary “missing link” between the New Testament and ancient Mesopotamian worlds.
On another point, regarding the transition from woman-centric to male-centric thought, Yes! Ishtar, the Babylonian-Semitic link between the Sumerian Inanna and various Biblical-Semitic figures, demonstrates the transition, for she is androgynous, with some, mostly earlier, myths reflecting the female side and some, mostly later, myths the male side of this deity. And it is important to remember that both Dumuzi and Jesus represent mythic figures which run counter to the masculinization current running so strongly through the biblical tradition, for they are both very “feminine” men (or, mythically, “god-men,” for both combine the human and divine).
“Dionysius” is also incredibly important, but he’s not really a “dying-rising” god, contrary to what Frazer says. Yes, he is a big part of the Hellenization of the biblical tradition, especially, of course, when it comes to the sacral drinking of wine (Dumuzi is also an alcoholic, but his drink is beer). But the Hellenic-Hellenistic contribution to the Judeo-Christian tradition, like the Egyptian contribution, comes about later than, and is mostly separable from, the Mesopotamian contribution.
Finally, regarding “dubious philology,” not “holding up to the archaeological record,” and “generous extrapolation.” The philological links don’t hold up the argument by themselves, but they add to it—given the sharing of such major themes (such as death-and-resurrection and sacred marriage), as well as specific details (the “3-day period”, etc.), the philological link between Ishtar/Ashtar/Astarte—Esther—Eostre/Easter, for example, doesn’t look too shabby. For philological connections of god-names in the ancient Near East & Eastern Mediterranean regions, see work by John Pairman Brown and Michael Astour.
Regarding the “archaeological record,” I find it interesting that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is built on the site of Hadrian’s Temple of Venus (Aphrodite), the goddess, like Inanna/Ishtar, of the planet Venus, but I don’t think of this as a pillar of the argument.
“Generous extrapolation”: I think the sheer amount of data relating to ancient Mesopotamia and other early cuneiform cultures (3/4 of a million cuneiform tablets written over a 3300 year period, thus far recovered through archaeological excavations), as well as the increasing understanding, translation, and publication of these texts (knowledge completely unknown 150 years ago) gives us many more “knowns”, so that extrapolation, while always necessary on the cutting edge of knowledge, can yield more and more to interpretation. The less one knows about a subject, of course, the easier it is to outright reject, or uncritically embrace, what someone proposes about that subject.
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ORIGINAL COMMENT/QUESTION: This kind of comparative mythology was really popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries (James Frazer, Robert Graves, etc.). Frazer and others tie the Jesus resurrection more closely to Dionysus – the authors of the Gospels would not have known anything about Ishtar – which makes more immediate sense given the quick Hellenization of Christianity, and the Greek cults that coexisted with it in the early centuries. Graves went as far as to argue that the progression of Judeo-Christian thought was to transform the ancient woman-centric ritual into male-centric ritual, which is why some of these archetypes get rewritten with different cast members.
I think this sort of thing is out of fashion now, though, in large part because these arguments rest on some dubious philology. There’s a bit of creative paralleling that often sounds good but doesn’t hold up to the archaeological record without some generous extrapolation.
Talk about lazy “journalism”, this piece contains some of the most tortured logic I’ve ever encountered! This is what happens when one has a point to make, then assembles information with the only intent being to prove that point. The fact is, all the ancient legendary memes, including the resurrection, have so intertwined over the millenia that they all inform today’s obviously mythological interpretation of “Easter”. And none of it is “real”.
I know, right? I think it’s hilarious when you have to correct a correction. A correctionception let’s call it… lol:
http://biblestudiesfromanasshole.blogspot.com/2013/04/correctionception-easterishtar-issue.html
Great post. Love the engraving you found. I lived in Germany for a year, and the family I lived with walked every Easter morning to collect ‘holy water’ from a natural spring. I understand better now why! It does the world a great favor to collect this type of socio-historical information and remind us that we are all products of so many different blends of cultures over time and geography.
Thank you for this great piece of work,,,I could quibble over one or two minor points, but I’d rather not…
I actually think that the original meme is the best April Fool of the year…yes I know it was a day or so early, but still the best one I’ve seen for a while…so often people believe what they are told if they personally trust the source or the source supports their position…we need to critically examine our personal experiences and those of others and draw our own conclusion…hatred, regardless of belief or dis-belief often leads to unreasoning prejudice…there was another rather unpleasant meme attributed to Bill Cosby doing the rounds recently too but because it agreed with individuals nasty little prejudices it spread like wildfire…
I think April Fools Day is my favourite day of the year. No matter how clever we think we are we all fall for them, we can all be hoodwinked into believing nonsense. I know I can. Saves me from any sense of smug superiority, keeps even the smartest humble. By staying humble re how little we know we can be open to experiences way beyond our knowledge and understanding. I love getting stuff wrong and generally being wrong from time to time…
The great thing about being wrong is that once you can see you are wrong you can admit you are wrong and do what is required to correct what was wrong, you are no longer wrong you are once again right.
Sadly this still alludes some people.
This is a link to piece I wrote last year on April Fools day
http://danny-crosby.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/holy-fools-uncommon-sense.html
Yay for the belljar! “One thread from the tapestry” – I love it.
@OP What makes you so certain that Ostara and Ishtar are ‘different’? It’s like saying, Allah and Jehova are different. Ah, but modern thinking is linear, full of either/or stuff. To my mind, there is only ONE GODDESS (sometimes she appears as a male, too, just for fun, and drops the ‘dess’ part), and, of course, she answers to an infinite number of names.
U people have too much time on your hands
I posted a similar article (much shorter) about this in 2009:
“Was Easter Borrowed from a Pagan Holiday?”
http://www.twoagespilgrims.com/doctrine/?p=2977
I have seen this blog-post often referenced as a rebuttle to this photo. Here are a couple of things to consider: I agree that the English word/symbol “Easter” more directly refers to the goddess Eostre and her symbols. BUT, this post says “her symbols (like the egg and the bunny)” not, her symbols ARE the egg and bunny. In fact, the eight pointed star has often been a symbol of infinite rebirth. Another BUT: Ishtar is first referenced in The Epic of Gilgamesh (probably 10-18th century BC!) not Herodotus, who came many centuries later. It is entirely plausible that the symbolism, and even name sounds (which is all etymology is when we go far back enough to where standardized written language was forming) of subsequent fertility goddesses were influenced by stories of Ishtar, who is without a doubt one of the oldest fertility goddesses in written history.
Reblogged this on The World of The Teigr Princess and commented:
Whoops… I got pulled into that one – apologies to all the archaeologists and historians that actually know their facts – I posted this one on my personal FB page thinking it was real because of where it had come from. *sighs* I hope I didn’t upset anyone!
Was the original intent to tell Christians they aren’t celebrating what they think they are or to inform that current traditions have evolved between varying cultures and societies? I don’t believe Easter started with egg hunts, bunnies, or even with Ishtar or Eostre in flesh-and-blood. I think the point was to prove Easter (and other religious practices/texts) aren’t original ideas within Christianity, not to tell people they are fools because an egg represents fertility. I think you missed the point greatly.
Thank you for this article and your research. I am a Born-again Believer of CHRIST and, I too, posted this picture.
Bottom line is, no matter What the truth is regarding Ishtar, bunnies and eggs, Easter is Not mentioned in the Bible! The death and resurrection of our SAVIOR is, but it’s not called Easter. It’s called, Passover.
You stated, “But they [CHRISTians] don’t care, because they realize that religions evolve and change and that that’s actually a good thing, not a bad thing. The fact that many Christian saints are just re-imagined pagan gods and goddesses doesn’t alter their faith one iota; because faith isn’t about reason or sense, it’s about belief.”
This, is Not true, nor is it Biblical! GOD, and HIS Words, Never Change! Regardless of when they were written, how much time has past, how much the world has changed, how much people change. GOD’s Words Never Change!!
The celebrating of Easter IS pagan! There were No bunnies or eggs or candy or pretty dresses with bonnets, that were around at the death of JESUS!
I’m a born-again Atheist! I love not-God! He/She(dammit) THEY!!! are the best! The Greatest! All others suck except mine! I don’t have to re-imagine my Gods because I have gone that second mile further!!! And even though the Christians parked their bloody churches atop ancient sacred sites to take them over, and holy springs , the old Gods are still laughing! At them! Old Gods never die!!! They just change their names and absorb the new into the old pantheon!!! And one day Jesus will be sidelined but we Atheists won’t! Because we have the only truth while all you religions people are deluded!!!! The Great Pumpkin Himself told me!!!
(And I still love chocolate, sue me …)
Sorry friend you sound a bit deluded to me. You are clearly irrational because of your hatred towards Christianity or Christians that have hurt you. The post was not an attack on you or your beliefs, but a statement on the article. No ones attacking atheists Non belief, Your free to believe what you want and do what you want. Does not every person have the right to their own opinions or beliefs? Even in atheism there are different views and infighting.
Apologies, HOWLER — I was ‘following form’ and simply using the style of so many of the deluded when they deign to reply on atheistic posts.
It’s not easy to be deluded, I discovered … and now I need a new exclamation mark key; but hey, that’s how they do it. Why not me?
Martin Rodriguez THE TRINITY IS NOT NEW
5. What evidence of religious triads, or trinities, do we have from ancient Babylon and Egypt?
5 The religious triad, or trinity, was a prominent feature of worship in Babylon. One Babylonian triad was composed of Sin (a moon-god), Shamash (a sun-god), and Ishtar (a goddess of fertility and war). In ancient Egypt, a god was often viewed as being married to a goddess who bore him a son, “forming a divine triad or trinity in which the father, moreover, was not always the chief, contenting himself on occasion with the role of prince consort, while the principal deity of the locality remained the goddess.” (New Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology) One Egyptian triad consisted of the god Osiris, the goddess Isis, and their son Horus.
6. How would you define the Trinity, and how have we been protected from believing such error?
6 Christendom has its triad—the Trinity. Clerics say that the Father, the Son, and the holy spirit are one God. But that is an assault on the sovereignty of Jehovah, making it seem that he is triune—in effect, only one third of a supposed godhead. Jehovah’s people have been protected from believing such error because they agree with these inspired words: “Listen, O Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah.” (Deut. 6:4) Jesus quoted that statement, and would any true Christian disagree with him?—Mark 12:29.
You totally ROCK.