Jesus and Achilles
 

There are a surprisingly large number of ideological links between Jesus and Achilles. For example:

Both are born of a mixed parentage; one parent being mortal, another immortal. Even the mortal lineage was a royal one: Jesus, through Mary, was the son of David, while Achilles, through his father Peleus, king of the Myrmidons, was himself the son of Zeus. I wonder if this adds significance to the fact that the geneologies of Matthew and Luke trace Jesus' lineage not only to Adam, but to God. Both are the designated saviors of their people, and both are born into the world in order to be sacrificed. Both are gifted above and beyond what a normal human being is capable of; among other things, both seem unusually able to discern the thoughts of others. Some sayings are similar.

It seems fairly evident that the Gospel of Mark, in particular, portrays Jesus in a manner that hearkens back to the archetypal heroes that readers would recognize. It's quite interesting, given the discussion we had a few weeks ago regarding Hellenism's effect on Christianity.

Good post.

I have thought that the Aeneid's description of Hector as he visits Aeneas in his dream is very Christ like, with Hector still bearing the horrible wounds form his death day.

True enough, but it would be hard to make much of a connection between the two, given that they were written within 100 years of each other and with cultures that didn't necessarily intermingle. Even though the Romans exercised political and military control over the region, they had not yet exerted much cultural influence in the east, and to a surprising extent, they never did.

I suppose you could make the connection by pointing to common origins.

Yeah, but I bet Jesus would have been able to get the dogs to eat Hector.