SUMMARY
The question is:
IS JESUS DIVUS JULIUS?
(IS JESUS THE HISTORICAL FIGURE OF DIVUS JULIUS, THE GOD TO WHICH JULIUS CAESAR WAS ELEVATED?)
Framework of the argumentation:
A) ICONOGRAPHY OF CAESAR DO NOT FIT OUR IDEA OF HIM.
In our minds Caesar is a field marshall and a dictator. However, authentic images (statues and coins) portray the idea of the clementia Caesaris, a clement Caesar. The bust of Caesar in the Torlonia Museum resembles Jesus significantly. Even the wreath he wears, the oak wreath of the soter, the Savior, corresponds in form and significance to the crown of thorns worn by the Holy One.
B) JESUS’ LIFE IS CONGRUENT TO THE LIFE OF CAESAR.
Both Julius Caesar and Jesus began their careers in northern countries: Caesar in Gaul, Jesus in Galilee; both cross a fatal river: the Rubicon and the Jordan; both then enter cities: Corfinium and Cafarnaum; Caesar finds Corfinium occupied by a man of Pompey and besieges him, while Jesus finds a man possessed by an impure spirit. There is similarity in structure as well as in place names: Gallia > Galilaea; Corfinium > Cafarnaum; occupied/besieged > possessed (both obsessus in Latin). The similarities remain consistent throughout (when occupation or besieging is referred to in the one text, possession is used in the other, etc.)
C) PEOPLE IN THE STORIES OF CAESAR AND OF JESUS ARE STRUCTURALLY THE SAME PEOPLE, EVEN BY NAME AND LOCATION:
Caesar > Jesus
Pompey > John (the Baptist)
Antonius > Simon
Lepidus > Peter
(Decimus) Junius (Brutus) > Judas
(Marcus Junius) Brutus > Barabbas
Octavianus (Augustus) > John (the disciple)
Nicomedes of Bithynia > Nicodemus of Bethania
Cleopatra > (Mary) Magdalene
Julia (widow of Marius) > Mary
The Senate > The Sanhedrin
Gaul > Galilee
Rubicon > Jordan
Corfinium > Cafarnaum
Rome > Jerusalem
etc.
People and places have the same function in both stories:
Pompey is the political godfather of Caesar and competes with him in the same way John the Baptist does with Jesus.
Antony and Lepidus became Caesar’s successors, the first as flamen, high priest of the Divus Julius cult, the second as pontifex maximus, just as Simon and Peter do with Jesus (they both melt into one figure – Simon Peter).
Decimus Junius Brutus betrays Caesar as Judas betrays Jesus.
The other Brutus is Caesar’s murderer and Barabbas is a murderer.
Octavian is the young Caesar, his posthumously adopted son. John is adopted by Jesus as he is dying on the cross.
Nicomedes of Bithynia was said to have had nightly meetings with Caesar as did Nicodemus of Bethany with Jesus.
Cleopatra had a special relationship with Caesar as did Mary Magdalene with Jesus.
Julia, Caesar’s aunt and widow of Marius plays the same role as Mary, the mother of Jesus.
The Senate is Caesar’s enemy, just as the Council is Jesus’ Satan.
Caesar comes from Gaul, in the north, at the beginning of the Civil War, while Jesus also comes from the north, Galilee, at the beginning of his public life.
Corfinium is the first city Caesar occupies and Cafarnaum is the first city Jesus enters.
Rome is the capital, where Caesar first triumphs and later is assassinated. Jerusalem is the city where Jesus is celebrated on Palm Sunday and later put to death.
Names resemble each other in writing and phonetically – Gallia and Galilaia, Corfinium and Cafarnaum, (Julia) Mària and Marìa, Nicomedes of Bithynia and Nicodemus of Bethania, etc. Other examples are not as obvious but can still be recognized: Junius (Brutus) and Judas, Brutus and Barabbas, Senatus and Satanas, etc., or even ROMA and HieROsolyMA, Antonius and Simona (mirror images, from right to left, as if it were written in Aramaic), etc.
D) CAESAR’S MOST FAMOUS QUOTATIONS ARE FOUND IN THE GOSPELS – IN STRUCTURALLY SIGNIFICANT PLACES.
Most quotes are word for word, sometimes with insignificant differences:
«He who does not take sides is on my side» reoccurs as «For he that is not against us is for us.».
«I am not King, I am Caesar» appears as «We have no king but Caesar».
«The best death is sudden death» appears as «What you are going to do (lead me to death), do quickly».
«Did I save them, that they might destroy me?» is «He saved others; he cannot save himself.»
Only in two cases are there slight, yet meaningful distortions:
«Alea iacta est(o)», «The die is cast», became «… casting (a net into the sea): for they were fishers» (confusion of lat. alea, die, and gr. (h)aleeis, fishers) – the miraculous netting of fish).
«Veni vidi vici», «I came, I saw, I conquered”, changed to «I came, I washed and I saw.» (confusion of enikisa, I won, and enipsa, I washed) – the healing of the blind.
An additional confirmation is that the words as well as actions of Caesar and Jesus reoccur in the same place and in the same sequence, while preserving the same chronology. This is easily demonstrated by comparing the different chapter and verse (paragraph) numbers of the quotes used above:
alea/aleeis (the die / fishers):
App. BC 2.35; Plut. Caes. 32 / Mk 1:16
no side / not against us:
App. BC 2.37; Plut. Caes. 33; Caes. Civ. 1.33, 1.85 / Mk 9:40
veni vidi vici / I came, washed and saw:
App. BC 2.91; Plut. Caes. 50 / Jh 9:7-11 =ca. Mk 8:24
not King / no king:
App. BC 2.108; Plut. Caes. 60 / Jh 19:15 (=ca. Mk 15:15)
sudden/quickly:
App. BC 2.115; Plut. Caes. 63 / Jh 13:27 (=ca. Mk 14:21)
save/save:
App. BC 2.146; (=ca. Plut. Caes. 68)/ Mk 15:31
The only apparent inconsistency is in the second example. That quote, however, in general repeated by Caesar as proof of strategical focus also appears in different places in classical historians (twice in Caesar’s own report of the Civil War, 1.33 and 1.85, while Sueton, who uses the quote a total of 89 times, uses it for the first time in Chapter 75 of his biography of Caesar). The sequence inversion in the 4th and 5th example is not relevant because their position in Mark is only hypothetically determined by John who is known for not taking chronology too exactly (even so, both quotes are closely aligned)
There is an easily recognized pattern: the miraculous victories of Caesar become the victorious miracles of Jesus.
Accordingly Caesar’s clashes with the Caecilii, Claudii and Metelli mutate into the healing of the blind (lat. caecilius = blind), lame (lat. claudius = the lame) and crippled (metellus mistakenly from mutilus = mutilated)
There appear to be alterations in the text which must have taken place during the long copy process: the Gospel would therefore have originated from a mis-copying of a report on the Roman Civil War – first from cumulative copying mistakes and then a final «logical» editing.
Other observations confirm these results. Ex:
E) THE EASTER LITURGY DOES NOT FOLLOW THE GOSPEL, BUT THE BURIAL RITUAL OF CAESAR (as Ethelbert Stauffer proved, cf. Jerusalem und Rom im Zeitalter Jesu Christi, Bern 1957, p. 21).
Fire does not appear in the Gospels, but it is of utmost importance in the Easter Vigil as it is in the cremation of Caesar. Nevertheless in the Gospels fire does not disappear completely: the PYRA mutates into MYRA, the stake into myrrh (which is given to Jesus with wine and vinegar respectively).
Consequently, the suit of armor of Vercingetorix, which should have hung at the trophy, the cruciform memorial of victory, at the head of Caesar’s bier, was replaced by Anthony with a wax representation of the assassinated body of Caesar, stripped of his blood splattered toga and exposed to all the mourning who perceived it as a cross.
The corresponding dates of death, the Ides of March and the 15th day of Nizan are a further chronological confirmation of the Easter Vigil representing Caesar’s death.
What emerges from the comparison is the fact that no matter what the comparison the same structures and sequences are found and differences are reduced to the simple mix up of letters. What really changes is the perception.
All of these similarities—there is a complete synopsis of Caesar’s biography and Mark’s gospel in the German text; the lectures stress the gems found in writing mistakes and mutations; the iconography studied stresses the fact that typical Jesuanic traits, such as the Pieta-face, the crown of thorns, the long hair, the beard, the clothing, the crosier, the aureole, all variations of the cross, the Resurrection, the Ascension, etc. previously occur on coins with Caesar’s likeness and are still evident in those minted by Antony and Octavian Augustus – cannot be attributed to pure chance and require an explanation.
The most convincing one is:
THE CULT SURROUNDING JESUS IS ACTUALLY THE CULT OF DIVUS JULIUS, MODIFIED OVER THE COURSE OF CENTURIES IN VETERAN COLONIES IN THE EASTERN PART OF THE EMPIRE.
The proximity of languages offered a convenient breeding ground for this change with the Latin of the colonies slowly giving way to the Greek of the surroundings (with occasional emergence of the Aramaic substratum).
The political changes which occurred with Vespasian and Titus after the Jewish war, such as the necessity of integrating Jews into the empire, led to the development of a cult and texts ad usum Iudaeorum: Divus Julius became the Messiah. Adding quotes from the Biblia Iudaica, which replaced the classical one, helped to make the most Roman of all histories a Jewish story.
SUMMATION: The protoevangelium seems to be the Historiae of Asinius Pollio, which were not only the basis for the works of future historians (particularly Appian and Plutarch), but also the basis for liturgical texts used throughout the entire empire in the caesarea, the temples of Divus Julius.
This popular version, anchored in the daily and religious life of the people, was transformed by the cult and changed during the copying and translation process – traduttore traditore – and eventually became our Gospel. The fact that the Church always claimed that St. Mark’s Gospel was written in Latin, in Rome twelve years after the Lord departed is confirmed in an impressive way.
RESULT: The century long debate as to whether the Gospels are history or literature, a product of tradition or editing, is traced back to objective and verifiable proofs and proven. The question as to whether Jesus was actually a historical figure is also solved: Jesus is the historically transmitted figure of Divus Julius.
