Was Jesus born on December 25? #3: Paganism borrowed December 25 from Christianity!

Continuing from "Was Jesus born on December 25? #2: Pagan origin so shouldn't be celebrated?" with this part #3 of my

[Above (click to enlarge): Sol Invictus silver disc , Roman, 3rd century AD, in British Museum: Wikipedia]

four-part series, "Was Jesus born on December 25?

As we saw in parts #1 & #2, the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society's confused claim is that Christianity's celebration of Christmas on December 25 as the date of Jesus' birth is based on either or both the Roman festivals of Saturnalia on 17-23 December and Sol Invictus ("Unconquered Sun") on 25 December.

Saturnalia was celebrated only in Rome, it was not December 25 and has nothing in common with Christ's birth.

But Saturnalia was celebrated only in Rome, it's primary celebration was December 17 and it ended before December 25 (on the 23rd or 24th), and has nothing in common with Christ's birth:

"One of the ... festivals of ancient Rome was the Saturnalia ... celebrated on December 17-24. ... it was a time of wild merrymaking ..." ("Saturnalia," Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2008).

"Saturnalia is the feast with which the Romans commemorated the dedication of the temple of the god Saturn ... Originally celebrated for a day, on December 17th, popularity grew it to week-long ... ending on the 23rd." ("Saturnalia," Wikipedia, 2008).

Sol Invictus ("Unconquered Sun") was instituted between AD 218-220 and reestablished in AD 274 but the earliest reference to it being celebrated on December 25 is AD 354.

And Sol Invictus was instituted by the 14-year-old Syrian-born Roman Emperor Elagabalus in c. AD 220 in a failed attempt and then reestablished by Aurelian in AD 274 but the earliest reference to it being celebrated on December 25 is AD 354

"Sol ... sun god... The Roman emperor Elagabalus (reigned AD 218-222) built a temple to him as Sol Invictus ... and attempted to make his worship the principal religion at Rome. The emperor Aurelian (reigned 270-275) later reestablished the worship and erected a magnificent temple to Sol ..." ("Sol," Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2008).

"Elagabalus ... was a Roman Emperor ...who reigned from 218 to 222. ... replaced Jupiter, head of the Roman pantheon, with a new god, Deus Sol Invictus ... meaning God the Undefeated Sun ... [in 222] the Praetorians attacked [and killed] Elagabalus ... His religious edicts were reversed ..." ("Elagabalus," Wikipedia, 2008).

"Aurelian ... Roman emperor from 270 to 275. By reuniting the empire, which had virtually disintegrated ... He sought to subordinate the divergent religions of the empire to the cult of the Unconquered Sun (Sol Invictus) and so create the kind of religious unity ..." ("Aurelian," Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2008).

"... The Roman ... emperor Aurelian [c. 214-275] introduced an official cult of Sol Invictus ... in 274. ... the festival ...`birthday of the undefeated Sun', which is recorded in 354 ... as celebrated on the 25th December; but no earlier reference to it exists. " ("Sol Invictus: Aurelian," Wikipedia, 2008).

From the above it can be seen that Sol Invictus was "a new god" first instituted in Rome by emperor Elagabalus between 218-222 AD. But upon Elagabalus' death in 222, Sol Invictus was rejected by the Romans until it was reestablished by emperor Aurelius in 274 AD. But even then, the earliest record of Sol Invictus festival being celebrated on December 25 is 354 AD.

And "the earliest record of the celebration of Christ's birthday on December 25 dates to 243 A.D":

" ... Whether the 'Sol Invictus' festival has a `claim on the responsibility' for the date of Christmas ... has been called into question ... a December 25th date was determined simply by calculating nine months beyond March 25th, regarded as the day of Jesus' conception ... the identification of Christ's birthday pre-dates the Sol Invictus festival ... the earliest record of the celebration of Christ's birthday on December 25 dates to 243 A.D." ("Sol Invictus: Sol Invictus and Christianity," Wikipedia, 2008).

and indeed 22 years before that, "December 25 was first identified as the date of Jesus' birth by Sextus Julius Africanus in 221," by assuming that Jesus' conception was on March 25 and therefore His birth would have been nine months later on December 25:

"December 25 was first identified as the date of Jesus' birth by Sextus Julius Africanus in 221 ... by a priori reasoning that identified the spring equinox ... as the day of Jesus' conception ... March 25 ... December 25, nine months later, then became the date of Jesus' birth." ("Christmas," Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2008).

And "While one frequently encounters assertions that Christmas was timed to coincide with the celebration of Sol Invictus, these never seem to be backed up by evidence" e.g. "quotations from the early Christians," therefore it remains "sheer speculation" :

"... Is Christmas a pagan celebration merely because it is celebrated at the same time of the year as ancient pagan feasts .... While one frequently encounters assertions that Christmas was timed to coincide with the celebration of Sol Invictus, these never seem to be backed up by evidence. ... by quotations from the early Christians saying, `We decided to time this celebration to coincide with Sol Invictus, and this is why ... this ought to be reflected in its writings, but it isn't. Witnesses never produce quotes from early Christians saying that Christmas was timed to coincide with a pagan festival. That is sheer speculation." (Evert, 2001, "Answering Jehovah's Witnesses," pp.145-146).

Even "Christian writers frequently made the connection between the rebirth of the sun and the birth of the Son" but "One of the difficulties with this view is that ...the early church was ... intent on distinguishing itself categorically from pagan beliefs and practices":

"Indeed, after December 25 had become widely accepted as the date of Jesus' birth, Christian writers frequently made the connection between the rebirth of the sun and the birth of the Son. One of the difficulties with this view is that it suggests a nonchalant willingness on the part of the Christian church to appropriate a pagan festival when the early church was so intent on distinguishing itself categorically from pagan beliefs and practices." ("Christmas," Encyclopaedia Britannica Online, 27 December 2008).

That both Roman paganism and Christianity held a celebration on the same day, December 25, has three possible explanations:

1. Coincidence - both Roman paganism and Christianity independently chose the same date December 25, the Romans to celebrate the rebirth of a sun-god, and the Christians to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God;

2. Christianity adopted December 25 from Roman paganism - there was a prior Roman festival on December 25 and Christians started celebrating the birth of Jesus on that same date; or

3. Roman paganism adopted December 25 from Christianity - there was a prior Christian celebration of Christ's birth on December 25 and Roman paganism decided to start celebrating the rebirth of a sun-god on that same date.

Of the above:

1. Coincidence is possible. Mere correlation is not causation. That is, Roman paganism and Christianity could have each independently celebrated on the same day, December 25, for different reasons. The `suspicious' similarity in sound between "sun" and "Son" in English does not apply in Latin, where "sun" is sol and "son" is filius. As December 25 was the winter solstice under the then Julian calendar, it is a logical date for the Romans to celebrate the sun-god's rebirth, as the days become longer from that date. Equally, since Christians assumed that Jesus was conceived at the spring equinox, which was March 25 under the Julian calendar, it follows that He would have been born nine months later on December 25.

2. Christianity adopted December 25 from Roman paganism is the least likely explanation, given Christianity's long struggle to distinguish itself from paganism (see above), for which many thousands of Christians had been persecuted, tortured and martyred. Moreover, there is nothing in Christian or pagan writings about the Church adopting December 25 from paganism to celebrate Christ's birth. Nor is there any evidence of December 25 being celebrated by Roman paganism until AD 354. Indeed, "Prior to 274 there's no record of a major sun cult at the Northern Hemisphere's winter solstice":

"... why the church later chose Dec. 25 for Christmas. Two main theories compete. One notes that in A.D. 274, the Roman Emperor Aurelian inaugurated Dec. 25 as the pagan `Birth of the Unconquered Sun' celebration, at the calendar point when daylight began to lengthen. Supposedly, Christians then borrowed the date and devised Christmas to compete with paganism. Aurelian's empire seemed near collapse, so his festival proclaimed imperial and pagan rejuvenation. Prior to 274 there's no record of a major sun cult at the Northern Hemisphere's winter solstice (the year's shortest day, which actually occurs before Dec. 25) ." (Ostling, 2004, "Why is Dec. 25 the date to celebrate Christmas?" North County Times, December 22).

Yet there is evidence of the birth of Jesus being independently calculated as December 25 in AD 211 by a Christian, Julius Sextus Africanus, and it being celebrated in AD 243.

Even if Christians in Rome, having become aware of Africanus' calculation in AD 221, had then decided to celebrate December 25 as the date of Jesus' birth by 243 AD, in opposition to an existing pagan celebration (of which there is no historical evidence that there was one at that time), it would have been totally different to the Watchtower's claim that Christians just adopted December 25 from paganism.

3. Roman paganism borrowed December 25 from Christianity is the most likely option. Roman paganism was syncretistic (witness the grafting on of the Syrian god El-Gabal to existing Roman sun-gods Sol and Sol Indiges (see "Sol" and "Elagabalus"). It would be far more likely for syncretistic Roman paganism, struggling against the rising tide of Christianity which had long been celebrating the birth of Jesus on December 25, to institute in AD 274-354, a Sol Invictus celebration on December 25, in competition with Christianity.

In fact, historian William Tighe maintains that December 25 owes "nothing whatsoever to pagan influences," that Aurelian created "a pagan alternative to a date that was already of some significance to Roman Christians" and "the pagans-first theory originated only three centuries ago":

"William Tighe ... champions the exact opposite theory. Aurelian almost certainly created `a pagan alternative to a date that was already of some significance to Roman Christians... Dec. 25 `appears to owe nothing whatsoever to pagan influences,' ... the pagans-first theory originated only three centuries ago in the writings of Protestant historian Paul Ernst Jablonski and Catholic monk Jean Hardouin." (Ostling, 2004, Ibid).

"Many Christians think that Christians celebrate Christ's birth on December 25th because the church fathers appropriated the date of a pagan festival. .. But ... the choice of December 25th is the result of attempts among the earliest Christians to figure out the date of Jesus' birth based on calendrical calculations that had nothing to do with pagan festivals. Rather, the pagan festival of the `Birth of the Unconquered Son' instituted by the Roman Emperor Aurelian on 25 December 274, was almost certainly an attempt to create a pagan alternative to a date that was already of some significance to Roman Christians. Thus the `pagan origins of Christmas' is a myth without historical substance." (Tighe, 2003a, "Calculating Christmas," Touchstone, December).

"The idea that the date was taken from the pagans goes back to two scholars from the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. ... Jablonski ... wished to show that the celebration of Christ's birth on December 25th was one of the many `paganizations' of Christianity ... Hardouin ... tried to show that the Catholic Church adopted pagan festivals ... without paganizing the gospel." (Tighe, 2003b, Ibid).

"In the Julian calendar ... the winter solstice fell on December 25th, and it ... seemed obvious to Jablonski and Hardouin that the day must have had a pagan significance before it had a Christian one. But in fact, the date had no religious significance in the Roman pagan festal calendar before Aurelian's time ... There were two temples of the sun in Rome, one of which ... celebrated its dedication festival on August 9th, the other of which celebrated its dedication festival on August 28th. ... none of these cults ... had festivals associated with solstices or equinoxes." (Tighe, 2003c, Ibid).

"... Aurelian, who ruled from 270 until ... 275, was hostile to Christianity and ... promoted the establishment of the festival of the `Birth of the Unconquered Sun' as a device to unify the various pagan cults of the Roman Empire .... He led an empire that appeared to be collapsing .... In creating the new feast, he intended ... December 25th to be a symbol of the hoped-for `rebirth' ... of the Roman Empire .... If it co-opted the Christian celebration, so much the better." (Tighe, 2003d, Ibid).

Moreover, there is a link between Sextus Julius Africanus, who had calculated December 25 as the birth of Jesus, and the Roman emperor Alexander Severus ( 208-235), who was Elagabalus' heir apparent and succeeded him, and was possibly a Christian:

"Alexander Severus ... (... 208-... 235) ... succeeded, as heir apparent, his despised cousin, the eighteen year old Emperor Elagabalus ... he did much to improve the morals and condition of the people. ... .literature, art and science were encouraged ... ... In religious matters ... he was desirous of erecting a temple to the founder of Christianity [Jesus].." ("Alexander Severus," Wikipedia, 2008).

The link is that the Syrian Christian, Sextus Julius Africanus, was an "ambassador to Rome about 222" and "became a protégé of the" Syrian "emperor Severus Alexander":

"Sextus Julius Africanus ... born c. AD 180 ... died c. 250. ... . He was named regional ambassador to Rome about 222, when he became a protégé of the emperor Severus Alexander. Africanus' greatest work was Chronographiai (221), a five-volume treatise on sacred and profane history ..." ("Sextus Julius Africanus," Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2008).

So it is highly likely (bordering on certainty) that in 222, the Syrian ambassador to Rome, Sextus Julius Africanus, told his fellow Christians in Rome, as well as his fellow Syrian, Emperor Severus Alexander, of his calculation of December 25 as the date of the birth of Jesus. That would explain the known historical facts that by AD 243 Christians in Rome had begun celebrating the birth of Jesus on December 25, followed by Roman paganism instituting between AD 274-354 a competing celebration of Sol Invictus .

But in that case, Roman paganism borrowed December 25 for its celebration of Sol Invictus from Christianity's existing celebration of the birth of Jesus on that date, not the other way round!

And then, for eighty years and counting, from 1928 to the present, the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society has been totally wrong in its claim that the Christian Church's celebration of Jesus' birth on December 25 is of pagan origin.

Note that none of the above precludes the date of Jesus' birth actually being December 25. Julius Sextus Africanus' calculation of Jesus' conception may well have been an attempt to give additional support to a widely-known tradition handed down from the days of the earliest Church, that Jesus was born on December 25. This is part of the theory I will propose, that Jesus was born on December 25, in the concluding part #4, "Was Jesus born on December 25? #4: The case for.

Quotes referenced above are hyperlinked to the full quote in the `tagline' below (emphasis original italics, emphasis bold mine).

Stephen E. Jones.
My other blogs: CreationEvolutionDesign & TheShroudofTurin

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"Aurelian ... born c. 215 died 275, near Byzantium [now Istanbul, Turkey] ... Roman emperor from 270 to 275. By reuniting the empire, which had virtually disintegrated under the pressure of invasions and internal revolts, he earned his self-adopted title restitutor orbis (`restorer of the world'). Aurelian, born near the Danube River, had established himself as an army officer when, about 260, from outside pressure and internal fragmentation of authority, the frontiers of the empire suddenly collapsed. With his compatriot Claudius, Aurelian led the cavalry of the emperor Gallienus (253-268), and, upon Gallienus's assassination in 268, Claudius became emperor. The new ruler quickly suppressed the rebellion of the usurper Aureolus, but, after a reign of 18 months, Claudius died. His brother Quintillus, who ruled about three months, died or was killed, and in September 270 Aurelian succeeded as emperor. ... Aurelian was an outstanding general and a severe and uncompromising administrator. ... He sought to subordinate the divergent religions of the empire to the cult of the Unconquered Sun (Sol Invictus) and so create the kind of religious unity that came only later with Constantine. Early in 275, while marching to open a campaign against Persia, Aurelian was murdered by a group of officers who had allegedly been misled by his secretary into believing themselves marked for execution. ... The empire remained divided and chaotic until Diocletian's ascension (ad 284)." ("Aurelian," Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. 27 December, 2008).

"The precise origin of assigning December 25 as the birth date of Jesus is unclear. The New Testament provides no clues in this regard. December 25 was first identified as the date of Jesus' birth by Sextus Julius Africanus in 221 and later became the universally accepted date. One widespread explanation of the origin of this date is that December 25 was the Christianizing of the dies solis invicti nati ('day of the birth of the unconquered sun'), a popular holiday in the Roman Empire that celebrated the winter solstice as a symbol of the resurgence of the sun, the casting away of winter and the heralding of the rebirth of spring and summer. Indeed, after December 25 had become widely accepted as the date of Jesus' birth, Christian writers frequently made the connection between the rebirth of the sun and the birth of the Son. One of the difficulties with this view is that it suggests a nonchalant willingness on the part of the Christian church to appropriate a pagan festival when the early church was so intent on distinguishing itself categorically from pagan beliefs and practices. A second view suggests that December 25 became the date of Jesus' birth by a priori reasoning that identified the spring equinox as the date of the creation of the world and the fourth day of creation, when the light was created, as the day of Jesus' conception (i.e., March 25). December 25, nine months later, then became the date of Jesus' birth. For a long time the celebration of Jesus' birth was observed in conjunction with his baptism, celebrated January 6." ("Christmas," Encyclopaedia Britannica Online, 27 December 2008).

"Saturnalia ... One of the best-known festivals of ancient Rome was the Saturnalia, a winter festival celebrated on December 17-24. Because it was a time of wild merrymaking and domestic celebrations, businesses, schools, and law courts were closed so that the public could feast, dance, gamble, and generally enjoy itself to the fullest." ("Saturnalia," Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. 26 December 2008).

"Sextus Julius Africanus Christian historian. born c. AD 180, Jerusalem. died c. 250. ... first Christian historian known to produce a universal chronology. His life is not well documented, but evidence indicates that Africanus traveled considerably in Asia, Egypt, and Italy and later lived chiefly at Emmaus, in Palestine, where he served as prefect. He was named regional ambassador to Rome about 222, when he became a protégé of the emperor Severus Alexander. Africanus' greatest work was Chronographiai (221), a five-volume treatise on sacred and profane history from the Creation (which he placed at 5499 BC) to AD 221. Relying on the Bible as the basis of his calculations, he incorporated and synchronized Egyptian and Chaldaean chronologies, Greek mythology, and Judaic history with Christianity. His work raised the prestige of early Christianity by placing it within a historical context. He also wrote a critical work on genealogies of Christ as found in Matthew and Luke." ("Sextus Julius Africanus," Encyclopaedia Britannica Online, 27 December, 2008).

"Sol ... in Roman religion, name of two distinct sun gods at Rome. The original Sol, or Sol Indiges, had a shrine on the Quirinal, an annual sacrifice on August 9, and another shrine, together with Luna, the moon goddess, in the Circus Maximus. Although the cult appears to have been native, the Roman poets equated him with the Greek sun god Helios. The worship of Sol assumed an entirely different character with the later importation of various sun cults from Syria. The Roman emperor Elagabalus (reigned AD 218-222) built a temple to him as Sol Invictus on the Palatine and attempted to make his worship the principal religion at Rome. The emperor Aurelian (reigned 270-275) later reestablished the worship and erected a magnificent temple to Sol in the Campus Agrippae. The worship of Sol as special protector of the emperors and of the empire remained the chief imperial cult until it was replaced by Christianity." ("Sol," Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. 26 December 2008).

"Christmas Is Christmas a pagan celebration merely because it is celebrated at the same time of the year as ancient pagan feasts honoring a sun god? ... the Watchtower seeks to convince the world that to win the favor of pagans, the early `apostate Church' established Christmas at the time of the pagan feast of Sol Invictus. This feast of `the unconquerable sun' celebrated at the time of the winter solstice-was when the sun began to return to the northern skies and the days grew longer. It was essentially a celebration of the return of sunlight. While one frequently encounters assertions that Christmas was timed to coincide with the celebration of Sol Invictus, these never seem to be backed up by evidence. In particular, they are never backed up by quotations from the early Christians saying, `We decided to time this celebration to coincide with Sol Invictus, and this is why ...' If the early Church had deliberately decided to time the celebrations to coincide, this ought to be reflected in its writings, but it isn't. Witnesses never produce quotes from early Christians saying that Christmas was timed to coincide with a pagan festival. That is sheer speculation." (Evert, J., 2001, "Answering Jehovah's Witnesses," Catholic Answers: El Cajon CA, pp.145-146).

" ... why the church later chose Dec. 25 for Christmas. Two main theories compete. One notes that in A.D. 274, the Roman Emperor Aurelian inaugurated Dec. 25 as the pagan `Birth of the Unconquered Sun' celebration, at the calendar point when daylight began to lengthen. Supposedly, Christians then borrowed the date and devised Christmas to compete with paganism. Aurelian's empire seemed near collapse, so his festival proclaimed imperial and pagan rejuvenation. Prior to 274 there's no record of a major sun cult at the Northern Hemisphere's winter solstice (the year's shortest day, which actually occurs before Dec. 25). William Tighe, a church history specialist at Pennsylvania's Muhlenberg College, champions the exact opposite theory. Aurelian almost certainly created `a pagan alternative to a date that was already of some significance to Roman Christians,' Tighe wrote last December in Touchstone, a Chicago-based magazine for Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant traditionalists. True, the Christians later appropriated Aurelian's festival into their Christmas. But Dec. 25 `appears to owe nothing whatsoever to pagan influences,' Tighe asserted. He said the pagans-first theory originated only three centuries ago in the writings of Protestant historian Paul Ernst Jablonski and Catholic monk Jean Hardouin. Tighe acknowledged that the first hard evidence of Christmas occurring on Dec. 25 isn't found until A.D. 336 and the date only became a fixed festival in Constantinople in 379." (Ostling, R., 2004, "Why is Dec. 25 the date to celebrate Christmas? Two explanations compete," North County Times, December 22).

"Many Christians think that Christians celebrate Christ's birth on December 25th because the church fathers appropriated the date of a pagan festival. Almost no one minds, except for a few groups on the fringes of American Evangelicalism, who seem to think that this makes Christmas itself a pagan festival. But it is perhaps interesting to know that the choice of December 25th is the result of attempts among the earliest Christians to figure out the date of Jesus' birth based on calendrical calculations that had nothing to do with pagan festivals. Rather, the pagan festival of the `Birth of the Unconquered Son' instituted by the Roman Emperor Aurelian on 25 December 274, was almost certainly an attempt to create a pagan alternative to a date that was already of some significance to Roman Christians. Thus the `pagan origins of Christmas' is a myth without historical substance." (Tighe, W.J., "Calculating Christmas," Touchstone, December, 2003a).

A Mistake The idea that the date was taken from the pagans goes back to two scholars from the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Paul Ernst Jablonski, a German Protestant, wished to show that the celebration of Christ's birth on December 25th was one of the many `paganizations' of Christianity that the Church of the fourth century embraced, as one of many `degenerations' that transformed pure apostolic Christianity into Catholicism. Dom Jean Hardouin, a Benedictine monk, tried to show that the Catholic Church adopted pagan festivals for Christian purposes without paganizing the gospel." (Tighe, 2003b Ibid).

"In the Julian calendar, created in 45 B.C. under Julius Caesar, the winter solstice fell on December 25th, and it therefore seemed obvious to Jablonski and Hardouin that the day must have had a pagan significance before it had a Christian one. But in fact, the date had no religious significance in the Roman pagan festal calendar before Aurelian's time, nor did the cult of the sun play a prominent role in Rome before him.. There were two temples of the sun in Rome, one of which (maintained by the clan into which Aurelian was born or adopted) celebrated its dedication festival on August 9th, the other of which celebrated its dedication festival on August 28th. But both of these cults fell into neglect in the second century, when eastern cults of the sun, such as Mithraism, began to win a following in Rome. And in any case, none of these cults, old or new, had festivals associated with solstices or equinoxes." (Tighe, 2003c, Ibid).

"As things actually happened, Aurelian, who ruled from 270 until his assassination in 275, was hostile to Christianity and appears to have promoted the establishment of the festival of the `Birth of the Unconquered Sun' as a device to unify the various pagan cults of the Roman Empire around a commemoration of the annual `rebirth' of the sun. He led an empire that appeared to be collapsing in the face of internal unrest, rebellions in the provinces, economic decay, and repeated attacks from German tribes to the north and the Persian Empire to the east. In creating the new feast, he intended the beginning of the lengthening of the daylight, and the arresting of the lengthening of darkness, on December 25th to be a symbol of the hoped-for `rebirth,' or perpetual rejuvenation, of the Roman Empire, resulting from the maintenance of the worship of the gods whose tutelage (the Romans thought) had brought Rome to greatness and world-rule. If it co-opted the Christian celebration, so much the better." (Tighe, 2003d, Ibid).

"Alexander Severus ... Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander, commonly called Alexander Severus, (October 1, 208-March 18, 235) was the last Roman emperor (11 March 222-235) of the Severan dynasty, having succeeded, as heir apparent, his despised cousin, the eighteen year old Emperor Elagabalus who had been murdered along with his mother by his own guards-and as a mark of contempt, had their remains cast into the Tiber river. He became emperor suddenly when a rumor of Alexander's death had circulated, triggering the assassination. He and his cousin were both grandsons of the influential and powerful Julia Maesa, who had arranged for Elagabalus' acclamation by the Legio III Gallica as emperor. ... he did much to improve the morals and condition of the people. ... The luxury and extravagance that had formerly been so prevalent at the court were put down; the standard of the coinage was raised; taxes were lightened; literature, art and science were encouraged ... In religious matters Alexander preserved an open mind. It is said that he was desirous of erecting a temple to the founder of Christianity [Jesus], but was dissuaded by the pagan priests. ("Alexander Severus," Wikipedia, 7 November 2008).

"Saturnalia is the feast with which the Romans commemorated the dedication of the temple of the god Saturn, which was on 17 December. Over the years, it expanded to a whole week, to 23 December. Saturnalia became one of the most popular Roman festivals. It was marked by tomfoolery and reversal of social roles, in which slaves and masters ostensibly switched places. Saturnalia was a public festival in Rome. Originally celebrated for a day, on December 17th, popularity grew it to week-long extravaganza, ending on the 23rd." ("Saturnalia," Wikipedia, 24 December 2008).

"Aurelian ... The Roman gens Aurelia was associated with the cult of Sol. After his victories in the East, the emperor Aurelian [c. 214-275] introduced an official cult of Sol Invictus, making the sun-god the premier divinity of the empire, and wearing his radiated crown himself. He founded a college of pontifices, and dedicated a temple to Sol Invictus in 274. It is possible that he created the festival called dies natalis Solis Invicti, `birthday of the undefeated Sun', which is recorded in 354 ... as celebrated on the 25th December; but no earlier reference to it exists. The cult of Sol Invictus was the leading official cult of the fourth century." ("Sol Invictus: Aurelian," Wikipedia, 19 December 2008).

"Elagabalus (c. 203 - March 11, 222) ... was a Roman Emperor ...who reigned from 218 to 222. ... he was a Syrian by birth ... and in his early youth he served as a priest of the god El-Gabal at his hometown, Emesa.... Elagabalus, barely fourteen years old, ascended to the imperial power and began a reign that was marred by controversies. During his rule, Elagabalus showed a disregard for Roman religious traditions .... Elagabalus replaced Jupiter, head of the Roman pantheon, with a new god, Deus Sol Invictus, and forced leading members of Rome's government to participate in religious rites celebrating this deity, which he personally led. Amidst growing opposition, Elagabalus, only 18 years old, was assassinated and replaced by his cousin Severus Alexander on March 11, 222 ... Since the reign of Septimius Severus, sun worship had increased throughout the Empire. Elagabalus saw this as an opportunity to install El-Gabal as the chief deity of the Roman Pantheon. The god was renamed Deus Sol Invictus, meaning God the Undefeated Sun, and placed over Jupiter. ... A lavish temple called the Elagabalium was built on the east face of the Palatine Hill to house El-Gabal ... By 221 Elagabalus' eccentricities ... increasingly infuriated the soldiers of the Praetorian Guard. ... [in 222] the Praetorians attacked [and killed] Elagabalus ... His religious edicts were reversed and El-Gabal was returned to Emesa." ("Elagabalus," Wikipedia, 26 December 2008).

"Sol Invictus and Christianity ... Whether the 'Sol Invictus' festival has a `claim on the responsibility' for the date of Christmas (Catholic Encyclopedia (1908)) has been called into question by Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, who challenged this theory by arguing that a December 25th date was determined simply by calculating nine months beyond March 25th, regarded as the day of Jesus' conception (the Feast of the Annunciation).[Ratzinger, J., "The Spirit of the Liturgy," Saward, J., trans., Ignatius Press: San Francisco CA, 2000, p.108] The March 25th date coincides with concepts of `new life' and `rebirth' and have been associated by Christianity with Jesus. Other recent Christian commentators [Tighe, W.J., "Calculating Christmas," Touchstone, 2003; Schmidt, A.J., "Under the Influence," HarperCollins, 2001, pp.377-379] also agree that the identification of Christ's birthday pre-dates the Sol Invictus festival, noting the earliest record of the celebration of Christ's birthday on December 25 dates to 243 A.D." ("Sol Invictus: Sol Invictus and Christianity," Wikipedia, 19 December 2008).