ZEITGEIST: THE MOVIE

Also, in the museum in Naples has been kept an ancient marble urn showing the birth/nativity of the
Greek god Dionysus, with two groups of three figures on either side of the god Mercury, who is holding
the divine baby, and a female figure who is receiving him. 208
For more on the subject of the star in the east and three kings appearing at the savior‘s birth in pre-
Christian mythology, see Murdock‘s Christ in Egypt, pp. 198-209.
25. He was a child teacher at 12, at the age of 30 he was baptized by John the Baptist,
and thus began his ministry. Jesus had 12 disciples which he traveled about with
performing miracles such as healing the sick, walking on water, raising the dead, he
was also known as the “King of Kings,” the “Son of God,” the “Light of the World,”
the “Alpha and Omega,” the “Lamb of God,” and many, many others. After being
betrayed by his disciple Judas and sold for 30 pieces of silver, he was crucified,
placed in a tomb and after three days was resurrected and ascended into Heaven.
The above motifs all appear in the canonical gospels, in the New Testament section of the Christian
Bible.
26. First of all, the birth sequence is completely astrological. The star in the east is
Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, which, on December 24 th , aligns with the
three brightest stars in Orion’s Belt. These three bright stars in Orion’s belt are called
today what they were called in ancient times: The Three Kings. The Three Kings and
the brightest star, Sirius, all point to the place of the sunrise on December 25 th . This is
why the Three Kings “follow” the star in the east, in order to locate the sunrise—the
birth of the sun.
This contention is based on general star alignments, as we have already seen abundantly concerning
other gods such as Osiris and Horus. Also, this astrotheological symbolism likely goes back much farther
in time; we simply do not know when it was initially recognized. Regardless, the alignment on December
24 th is obvious enough: The three stars of Orion clearly line up with Sirius and point to the east, where the
sun rises.
The moniker of ―Three Kings‖ for these stars in the belt of Orion is documented all over the world. For
example, South Africans call Orion‘s Belt Drie Konings—―Three Kings‖—while in French they are the
―Trois Rois.‖
In this regard, Carpenter remarks:
Go out next Christmas Evening, and at midnight you will see the brightest of the fixed stars,
Sirius, blazing in the southern sky—not however due south from you, but somewhat to the left of
the Meridian line. Some three thousand years ago (owing to the Precession of the Equinoxes)
that star at the winter solstice did not stand at midnight where you now see it, but almost exactly
on the meridian line. The coming of Sirius therefore to the meridian at midnight became the sign
208 Carus, 49; Mangasarian, 74. For the illustration, Carus cites: ―After Mus. Bord., I., 49, from Baumeister, Plate I., p.
448.‖