the awe and wonderment they excited; (2) that connected
with the seasons and the very important matter of the
growth of vegetation and food on the Earth; and (3)
that connected with the mysteries of Sex and reproduction.
It is obvious that these three streams would mingle and
interfuse with each other a good deal; but as far as
they were separable the first would tend to create Solar heroes
and Sun-myths; the second Vegetation-gods and personifications
of Nature and the earth-life; while the third
would throw its glamour over the other two and contribute
to the projection of deities or demons worshipped
with all sorts of sexual and phallic rites. All three systems
of course have their special rites and times and ceremonies;
but, as, I say, the rites and ceremonies of one
system would rarely be found pure and unmixed with
those. belonging to the two others. The whole subject
is a very large one; but for reasons given in the Introduction
I shall in this and the following chapter--while not
ignoring phases (2) and (3)--lay most stress on phase (1)
of the question before us.

At the time of the life or recorded appearance of Jesus
of Nazareth, and for some centuries before, the Mediterranean
and neighboring world had been the scene of a
vast number of pagan creeds and rituals. There were
Temples without end dedicated to gods like Apollo or Dionysus
among the Greeks, Hercules among the Romans,
Mithra among the Persians, Adonis and Attis in Syria and
Phrygia, Osiris and Isis and Horus in Egypt, Baal and
Astarte among the Babylonians and Carthaginians, and so