Dionysos.
Zagreus was the son of Zeus. He was slain by the Titans, buried at the foot of Mount Parnassus, and rose from the dead as Dionysos. He was the god of fruit and wine. Like those of Christ his most devoted followers were women. He is the beloved son and occupies a throne at the right hand of his father, Zeus. His empty tomb at Delphi was long preserved by his devotees as proof of his death and resurrection.
The stories of the resurrection of Adonis in Phoenicia, of Osiris in Egypt and of Dionysos in Greece were old when Christ was born, and paved the way for the origin and acceptance of the story of his resurrection.
Justin Martyr recognized the analogies between Christianity and Paganism. Addressing the Pagans, he writes: “When we say that the Word, who is the first born of God, was produced without sexual union, and that he, Jesus Christ, our teacher, was crucified and died, and rose again, and ascended into heaven; we propound nothing different from what you believe regarding those whom you esteem sons of Jupiter (Zeus)” (First Apology, ch. xxi).
Festivals, called Lenaea and the Greater Dionysia, corresponding in a measure to the Christmas and Easter of Christians, were celebrated in honor of this god. Prof. Gulick, professor of Greek in Harvard University, describing these festivals, says: “In the winter came various celebrations in honor of Dionysos, god of nature and the vine, the object of which was to wake the sleeping spirit of generation and render him propitious for the coming of spring and the sowing of crops * * * The wine-casks were opened, and all, even slaves, were allowed perfect holiday and liberty to drink in honor of the god. The last day of the festival was a sort of All Souls’ Day, being devoted to the gods of the underworld and the spirits of the dead” (Life of the Ancient Greeks, pp. 274, 275). “The Great Dionysia,” says Prof. Gulick, “held in the spring, was the occasion of display and magnificence” (Ibid, p. 113).
So-called Christian burial is identical with Greek burial. Ancient Greek sepulture is thus described by Ridpath: “To the dead were due the sacred rites of sepulture * * * When a Greek fell into his last slumber, the friends immediately composed the body * * * The corse was clad in white and laid upon a bier. Flowers were brought by the mourning friends, who put on badges of sorrow * * * Cemeteries were arranged outside the city walls * * * Over each [grave] was raised a mound of earth, and on this were planted ivy and roses. * * * Over the grave was erected a memorial stone or monument, and on this was an inscription giving the name of the dead, an effigy perhaps of his person, a word of praise for his virtues, and an epigram composed for his memory” (History of the Word, Vol. II, p. 497).