Profile & Specific Attributes

• Timeline & Dates:

  
   

  • Claimed Mythicist Date: Active around 725 BCE.

    
     

  • Puranic Chronology: Set in the Treta Yuga (mythological deep time). The city of Mahabalipuram (Mamallapuram in Tamil Nadu, India) contains 7th- and 8th-century CE Pallava dynasty monuments, which 19th-century writers erroneously dated to pre-antiquity.

    
     

• Calendar Date of Birth:

  
   

  • No specific calendar day (like December 25) exists. Celebrated in southern India during the harvest festival of Onam (Chingam month, August/September) and Balipratipada during Diwali (October/November).

    
     

• Manner of Departure & Age:

  
   

  • Claimed Manner: Crucified as an atoning sacrifice and referred to as "Lord Second."

    
     

  • Scriptural Account: Bali did not die violently. When Vamana expanded into Trivikrama and measured the earth and heavens in two strides, Bali offered his own head for the third stride. Pleased with his devotion and humility, Vishnu pushed him down to rule Sutala (a blessed subterranean realm), granting him immortality and the status of the future Indra in the next cosmic cycle (Manvantara).

    
     

• Geographical Locations:

  
   

  • Higgins and Graves confused multiple locations: combining Afghanistan, Orissa (eastern India), and Mahabalipuram (southern India). In Hindu traditions, his reign is associated with the ancient Narmada River basin and the Malabar coast (Kerala).

    
     

Theological & Doctrinal Details

Visual Iconography & Worship

• Visual Depiction:

  
   

  • Classical Indian sculpture depicts King Bali holding a ceremonial water pot (kamandalu) to solemnize his gift to Vamana, or bowing with folded hands beneath the upraised foot of the giant Trivikrama.

    
     

• Worship & Festival:

  
   

  • During the annual Onam festival in Kerala, elaborate floral carpets (Pookkalam) and feasts (Onasadya) welcome Bali’s spirit back to inspect the prosperity of his subjects.

    
     

  • During Balipratipada across Maharashtra and Gujarat, devotees build effigies of Bali to celebrate his boundless charity and righteous governance.

Profile & Biographical Claims

• Timeline & Active Dates:

  
   

  • Claimed Date: ~1170 BCE.

    
     

  • Historical Record: Worship of Cybele and Attis originated in central Anatolia (Phrygia) during the early 1st millennium BCE, reached Greece by the 4th century BCE, and was officially adopted into the Roman Republic in 204 BCE, continuing until the 4th century CE.

    
     

• Calendar Date of Birth:

  
   

  • No ancient text lists a December 25 birth. His festival cycle took place during the Vernal Equinox (March 15–28).

    
     

• Manner of Death, Cause & Age:

  
   

  • Age: Described as a youth/young man of blooming age.

    
     

  • How & Who: After breaking his vow of fidelity to Cybele to marry a mortal princess (Ia/Sagaritis), Cybele struck him with divine madness. In his frenzy, Attis castrated himself under a pine tree and bled to death.

    
     

  • The "Crucified on a Tree" Trope: Graves framed the pine tree as a "crucifixion." In authentic Roman ritual (Arbor Intrat, March 22), a pine tree was cut down, wrapped in woolen bandages like a corpse, decorated with violets, and brought into Cybele’s temple to represent Attis’s body.

    
     

• Geographical Locations:

  
   

  • Pessinus (Phrygia/modern Turkey), Mount Dindymon, and later across Greece, Rome (the Palatine Hill temple), and the wider Roman Empire.

    
     

Theological Details: 19th-Century Claims vs. Classical Sources

Appearance, Worship, and Cult Rites

• Visual Iconography:

  
   

  • Always depicted as an effeminate, beautiful shepherd youth wearing a conical Phrygian cap, an open tunic exposing his midriff/chest, and eastern-style leggings (anaxyrides), often holding a shepherd’s crook (pedum) or syrinx (panpipes).

    
     

• Rites & Worshippers:

  
   

  • The Galli: Priesthood of eunuchs who castrated themselves in ecstatic ritual dance to dedicate their lives to Cybele in imitation of Attis.

    
     

  • Taurobolium: A blood baptism introduced in the imperial era where the initiate stood in a pit beneath a perforated platform while a bull was sacrificed above, symbolizing rebirth into the cult.

    
     

  • The Hilaria Festival: Followed days of fasting and mourning (Dies Sanguinis - Day of Blood) with carnival-like rejoicing to herald the return of spring.
• Roman authors approached the myth and cult of Attis through distinct lenses: the poet Catullus explored the psychological horror and ecstatic fervor of devotion, while Ovid provided an etiological and mythic explanation for Roman civic religion.

• Catullus: Poem 63 (The Frenzy of the Gallus)

  Written in the 1st century BCE, Catullus’s Poem 63 is the most famous literary portrayal of the cult’s ecstatic psychology. Uniquely, the poem is composed in Galliambic meter—a rapid, jarring rhythm mimicking the frantic clashing of cymbals and tambourines used in Cybele’s rites.

• • The Act of Madness: The protagonist (named Attis, representing both the mythical youth and the archetypal devotee) sails across the sea to Phrygia, driven by divine frenzy. Rushing into the dark forests of Mount Dindymon, he seizes a sharp flint stone and castrates himself in an act of absolute surrender to Cybele.

    
     

  • Grammatical Shift: Catullus reflects this physical transformation directly in the Latin grammar: as soon as the castration occurs, the pronouns and adjectives describing Attis abruptly shift from masculine (niveis manibus, "his snowy hands") to feminine (notis manibus, "her well-known hands").

    
     

  • The Dawn of Regret: The following morning, when the manic fury subsides, Attis wakes on the shore and laments the irreversible loss of homeland, family, manhood, and Roman civic identity, realizing he is now permanently bound as a servant of Cybele.

    
     

  • Cybele’s Dominance: Seeing Attis’s grief, Cybele unyokes one of the ferocious lions driving her chariot, commanding it to chase Attis back into the wilderness. Terrified, Attis flees into the mountains to remain Cybele’s captive maidservant forever.

    
     

  Ovid: Fasti (Book 4 – The Megalesia and Etiology)

  In the Fasti (an early 1st-century CE poetic calendar of Roman festivals), Ovid records the arrival of Cybele (Magna Mater) in Rome and explains the mythical origins behind her April festival, the Megalesia.

• • The Broken Vow: Ovid frames Attis as a handsome Phrygian shepherd boy with whom Cybele fell in love. Cybele made him the guardian of her temple under a strict oath of eternal chastity ("Promise that you will always remain a boy"). Attis broke this pledge by falling in love with the tree-nymph Sagaritis.

    
     

  • The Goddess's Revenge: Cybele struck the sacred tree containing the nymph's life-force, killing Sagaritis. She then drove Attis into an uncontrollable frenzy. Believing his roof was falling in and that he was pursued by the Furies, Attis fled to Mount Dindymon, mutilated his own body with a sharp sherd, and declared: "These parts have destroyed me; let them perish."

    
     

  • The Etiology of the Galli: Ovid explains that this myth served as the precedent for the real-world Galli (the eunuch priests of the Roman Empire), who castrated themselves to perpetuate Attis’s original penalty.

  Comparative Summary

  Element	Catullus (Poem 63)	Ovid (Fasti, Book 4)
  Perspective	Internal, psychological, and tragic horror.	Narrative, mythographic, and ritual explanation.
  Attis's Character	A Greek youth seduced by foreign religious fervor.	A mythological shepherd who breaks a divine oath of chastity.
  Cause of Frenzy	Religious possession / mania (rabies).	Jealous curse and wrath sent directly by Cybele.
  Tone Toward the Cult	Dread; ends with a prayer asking Cybele to keep her madness far from his own home.	Scholarly curiosity explaining why Roman priests practiced self-mutilation and played loud instruments.

Profile & Specific Attributes

• Time Period & Dates:

  
   

  • Claimed Date: Active around 1200 BCE.

    
     

  • Historical Reality: The region of Chaldea (southern Babylonia) did not emerge as a distinct political entity in historical records until the 9th century BCE, well after 1200 BCE.

    
     

• Calendar Date of Birth:

  
   

  • No specific calendar day, month, or birth records exist in ancient texts.

    
     

• Age at Death & Manner of Slaying:

  
   

  • Claimed Cause of Death: Died as a sacrificial offering, explicitly cataloged by Graves as being crucified. The event was accompanied by cosmic upheaval where "both heaven and earth were shaken to their foundations."

    
     

  • Who Killed Him / Age: Graves and Higgins provide no specific age or named executioner; the death is described as an offering to appease an angry supreme deity.

    
     

• Geographical Locations:

  
   

  • Chaldea (the marshlands and river plains of ancient southern Mesopotamia/Babylonia).

    
     

• Mission & Salvation:

  
   

  • Relegated in 19th-century accounts to the role of an atoning mediator who bore the wrath of the divine on behalf of humanity.

    
     

• Appearance & Visual Record:

  
   

  • There are no genuine ancient statues, reliefs, or cylinder seals depicting "Crite". Actual Chaldean and Babylonian religious art portrays primary gods such as Marduk, Nabu, Enlil, and Ea wearing horned headdresses, multi-tiered robes, and holding divine rods or measuring cords.

    
     

Theological & Doctrinal Categories

Origin of the "Crite" Claim

1. Source Attribution: Kersey Graves copied this entry directly from Godfrey Higgins' work without citing any primary cuneiform tablets or ancient inscriptions.

   
    

2. Philological Errors: 19th-century antiquarians frequently misread classical Greek sources, confused Cretan legends (e.g., Kres/Krete) or Levantine royal epics (the Epic of Keret) with Mesopotamian god lists, and retrofitted Christian theological vocabulary ("Redeemer," "Atoning Offering," "Son of God") onto fragmented notes.

Core Profile & Biography

• Dates & Timeline:

  
   

  • 19th-Century Mythicist Claim: Active around 1200 BCE.

    
     

  • Traditional Hindu Chronology: Born in 3228 BCE and departed in 3102 BCE, marking the onset of the Kali Yuga. Modern scholarship generally dates the composition of his core narratives between 1000 BCE and the early centuries CE.

    
     

• Date of Birth:

  
   

  • Claim: December 25.

    
     

  • Hindu Calendar: Celebrated as Krishna Janmashtami on the 8th day (Ashtami) of the dark fortnight (Krishna Paksha) in the Hindu month of Bhadrapada (falling in August or September on the Gregorian calendar).

    
     

• Age, Cause of Death & Perpetrator:

  
   

  • Claim: Died around age 30, crucified on a tree between two thieves with the sun darkening at noon.

    
     

  • Hindu Scriptures: Lived to approximately 125 years old. Sitting in deep meditation in the forest of Prabhas Patan, his left foot was mistakenly shot by a hunter named Jara, who mistook Krishna's foot for the ear of a deer. He was never crucified.

    
     

• Geographical Locations:

  
   

  • Active across northern and western India: born in Mathura, raised in Gokul/Vrindavan, ruled as king in Dwarka (Gujarat), and delivered the Bhagavad Gita on the battlefield of Kurukshetra (Haryana).

    
     

• Appearance:

  
   

  • Traditionally depicted with dark blue or cloud-complexioned skin (Shyama), wearing yellow silk garments (Pitambara), adorned with a peacock feather crown, playing a bamboo flute (Bansuri), or steering a war chariot.

    
     

Theological Details: Mythicist Claims vs. Hindu Scripture

Linguistic & Etymological Facts

• Krishna vs. Christ:

  
   

  • The Sanskrit word Kṛṣṇa (कृष्ण) derives from the root kṛṣ, meaning "black," "dark," or "all-attractive."

    
     

  • The Greek word Christos (Χριστός) translates the Hebrew Mashiach (Messiah), meaning "the Anointed One."

    
     

  • Modern historical linguistics confirms the two words share no etymological relationship.

    
     

• Worship & Devotees:

  
   

  • Krishna is worshiped through Bhakti Yoga (loving devotional service), temple pujas, kirtan (chanting), and philosophical study of the Bhagavad Gita. His followers encompass millions of Vaishnavas worldwide across all social backgrounds.

The Linguistic & Textual Bridge

1. The Suda Lexicon Connection:

   
    

   • Higgins discovered the name Thulis in the Suda (a 10th-century Byzantine Greek encyclopedia) and the writings of John Malalas.

     
      

   • The entry described a legendary king of Egypt named Thulis who ruled "all the way to the ocean" and consulted the Oracle of Serapis. The oracle told him that God is a Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) and that Thulis’s rule would soon end. Upon leaving the oracle, Thulis was assassinated by his own subjects.

     
      

2. Equating "Thulis" with "Zulis" and "Osiris":

   
    

   • Higgins argued through comparative linguistics (common in 18th- and 19th-century philology) that names across languages evolved from common solar roots. He asserted that Thulis was simply a Hellenized variant of Zulis, which in turn was an epithet or root name for Osiris (or O-Siris / O-Zulis).

     
      

Merging Osiris's Theology into the "Thulis" Profile

• The 28 Lotus Stalks and Lifespan:

  
   

  • In Anacalypsis, Higgins references early French archaeological surveys of temples at Philae and Dendera. In the roof chapels (the western adytum), reliefs depict the body of Osiris on a funerary couch flanked by 28 lotus plants.

    
     

  • In authentic Egyptian mythology (recorded by Plutarch in De Iside et Osiride), Osiris reigned for 28 years—corresponding to the 28 days of the lunar cycle. Higgins interpreted this as evidence that Thulis/Zulis lived an earthly life of 28 years.

    
     

• The Violent Death and Murder:

  
   

  • The murder of King Thulis in the Greek legend was synchronized with the slaying of Osiris by Set (Typhon), framed by Graves as a sacrificial "martyrdom" or "crucifixion" for humanity.

    
     

• Descent, Resurrection, and Cosmic Judge:

  
   

  • In Egyptian religion, Osiris was reassembled, brought back to life through the magic of Isis, and installed as the Lord of the Underworld (Duat), where he judges every soul via the Weighing of the Heart.

    
     

  • Higgins and Graves directly translated this into Christian theological terms: Thulis was a savior who died, descended into the underworld, rose again, ascended to heaven, and acts as the supreme future judge of mankind.

    
     

Higgins vs. Graves: How the Narrative Developed