In this old folk version told outside the Bible, God made Lilith, like Adam, out of clay, but he used unclean earth. When Adam and Lilith had sex, Lilith balked at being on the bottom all the time. Since she thought that they had been created equally, she wanted to be on top and made the mistake of uttering the unspeakable name of God. For this crime, Lilith was sent away and turned into a demon who haunted men in their sleep, causing the nocturnal emissions, which drained their fertility for ordinary women. She was also thought to cause barrenness and create miscarriages, and frighten babies in their sleep-perhaps a mythic explanation for the modern term "crib death" (or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome).

With the sexually adventurous Lilith gone, the Jewish folklore went on, Adam was lonely, and God created Eve, a more docile woman. There is even the suggestion in some accounts that it was Lilith who came into the Garden of Eden in the guise of the serpent and tempted Eve to taste the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge.

What are three Persian magicians doing in Bethlehem on Christmas?

Perhaps the most beloved of Christian holidays is Christmas, the day celebrating the birth of Jesus, the divine son of God, in Christian belief. It is also a holiday loaded with pagan trappings, hung, like too many ornaments, on the Christmas tree of lore and legend. One vestige of this pagan past is the familiar Nativity tale of "Three Wise Men"-also called "Three Kings"-from the East, who come to honor the newborn Christ child, lying in a manger in Bethlehem, with three famous gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The Gospel of Matthew describes these visitors as "magi," translated from the Greek as "wise men," who follow a miraculous star to Bethlehem. Though their number and names are never specified in the biblical account, "three wise men" are presumed because there are three gifts. Only in medieval times were they given the names Melchior, Balthasar, and Gaspar.

So who were these "wise men"?

Magi were the hereditary members of a Persian priesthood, known for interpreting omens and dreams, for their astrological skills, and for practicing magic ("magi" is where the word "magician" comes from). This vast knowledge of rituals gained them the reputation as the true priests of Zoroastrianism, a religion founded by a Persian prophet named Zoroaster. Little is known of Zoroaster (the more widely used Greek for the Persian name Zarathustra), except that Zoroastrian tradition places him as living around 600 BCE. But many scholars believe that he lived between 1400 and 1000 BCE.

Zoroastrianism holds a belief in one god, Ahura Mazda, who created all things. Zoroaster also taught that the earth is a battleground where a great struggle is taking place between the spirits of good and evil. Ahura Mazda calls upon everyone to fight in this struggle, and each person will be judged at death on how well he or she fought. It is not known whether the magi, whose practices predate Zoroaster, influenced the prophet Zoroaster, or if they became his followers. But the magi became part of Zoroastrian belief and were said to keep watch upon a "Mount of the Lord" until a great star appeared that would signal the coming of a savior. In other words, centuries before Jesus was born, a Middle Eastern religion flourished with one god, a battle between good and evil, a judgment day, and resurrection.

The connection between ancient Persia and Christmas doesn't end there. Mithra was an ancient sun god of the Aryan tribes who settled in ancient Persia. According to Zoroastrian traditions, Mithra was said to be an ally of the supreme god Ahura Mazda, and under Ahura Mazda's leadership, Mithra and other gods fought against the Zoroastrian god of evil.

The Persians spread the worship of Mithra throughout Asia Minor during the period when they dominated Mesopotamia and the Middle East, from about 539 BCE, under King Cyrus, until they were defeated by the Greeks in two wars fought between 490 and 480 BCE. The Persian Empire later fell to Alexander the Great in 330 BCE. Mithraism survived the Persian Empire's fall and eventually became popular in Rome, especially among Roman soldiers. Shrines to Mithra often showed the god slaying a bull, a rite that symbolized the renewal of creation. This ritual supposedly bestowed immortality on Mithra's worshippers, one reason it appealed to soldiers facing combat.

During Roman times, Mithraism ranked as a principal religion competing with Christianity, until the 300s CE. Among its several similarities to Christianity-including a resurrection, judgment day, a Satan-like figure, and guardian spirits much like angels-was a holy day celebrated in Rome on December 25. In 350 CE, Pope Julius I chose this day as the official date of the celebration of Jesus' birth. (Other connections between Roman pagan traditions and Christmas can be found in chapter 4, What were the Bacchanalia and the Saturnalia?)*

CHAPTER FOUR.

THE GREEK MIRACLE.

The Myths of Greece and Rome Having the fewest wants, I am nearest to the gods.

-SOCRATES Prayer indeed is good, but while calling on the gods a man should himself lend a hand.

-HIPPOCRATES Not one of them who took up in his youth with this opinion that there are no gods ever continued until old age faithful to his conviction.

-PLATO Whatever it is, I fear Greeks even when they bring gifts.

-VIRGIL, Aeneid That is the miracle of the Greek mythology-a humanized world, men freed from the paralyzing fear of an omnipotent Unknown. The terrifying incomprehensibilities which were worshipped elsewhere and the fearsome spirits with which earth, air and sea swarmed, were banned from Greece.

-EDITH HAMILTON, Mythology Where did the Greeks get their myths?

Was Greece ever a theocracy?

Who kept the "family tree" of the gods in ancient Greece?

How do you get Creation from castration?

Who's Who of the Olympians How did man get fire?

What was in Pandora's "box"?

Why does Zeus send a great flood to destroy man?

Which mythical monster has the worst "bad hair day"?

What kind of hero kills his wife and children?

Which great hero gets "fleeced"?

Which Argonaut was a god of healing?

Was Hippocrates a man or myth?

Was Atlantis ever discussed in Greek myth?

Is Theseus and the Minotaur just another "bull" story?

What was the Delphic Oracle?

Do all little boys want to kill their father and sleep with their mother?

Is Homer just a guy from The Simpsons?

How did Homer fit a ten-year war into a poem?

Is the Iliad all there is to go on when it comes to the Trojan War?

Was there really a Trojan War?

Which crafty Greek hero can't wait to get home?

Did the Romans take all their myths from the Greeks?

Who were Romulus and Remus?

Was Homer on the Romans' reading list?

What were the Bacchanalia and the Saturnalia?

MYTHICAL MILESTONES.

Greece and Rome Before the Common Era (BCE) c. 3000 The early Minoan civilization is established on the island of Crete.

c. 2000 Greek-speaking Indo-European peoples begin to migrate into the Aegean Sea area.

Palace of Knossos is built on Crete.

Egyptian-influenced hieroglyphic script used on Crete.

1900 Potter's wheel introduced to Crete.

1750 Linear A, an early form of script, used on Crete.

16001400 Height of Minoan civilization on Crete.

1628 Volcanic eruption on the island of Thera (modern Santorini).

c. 1600 Rise of Mycenaean civilization on Greek mainland.

14501400 Fall of Minoan civilization on Crete after invasions and volcanic disasters; Mycenaeans take control of Crete.

1400 Mycenaean civilizations dominate the Greek mainland. Mycenaeans adapt Linear B script.

c.12801184 Trojan War with Mycenaean Greeks.

11501100 Collapse of Mycenaean dominance. Possible Dorian invasions from the North.

1100800 Beginning of the so-called Dark Ages in Greece.

c. 1000 Worship of Zeus grows at Olympia.

c. 900800 Archaic Age begins; growth of the Greek city-states, or poleis-independent cities ruled by a variety of governments.

900700 Early books of Hebrew Bible composed.

776 First documented Olympic games are held at Olympia.

753 Traditional date for the founding of Rome by Romulus.

750700 Homer's Iliad and Odyssey are first written down.

750 Greek colonization of Mediterranean spreads. First evidence of use of Greek alphabet.

700 Hesiod's Theogony, Works and Days composed.

621 Draco and the first written law cod e in Athens.

600 Thales of Miletus; birth of philosophy (Ionian School). First Greek coins used in Lydia.

594 In Athens, Solon is given extraordinary powers; he reforms government, establishes rules for public recital of Homeric poems.

580 Sappho and the flowering of Greek lyric poetry.

570 Anximander develops systematic cosmology.

525 Pythagoras begins philosophical-religious brotherhood; develops mathematical, scientific, and mystical ideas.

520 Xenophanes, philosopher-poet, develops ideas of human progress, philosophical monotheism, skepticism toward deities.

509 Foundation of Roman Republic.

508 Democratic reforms instituted in Athens.

490 First Persian invasion of Greece; Greeks defeat the Persians at the Battle of Marathon.

480 Second Persian invasion, led by Xerxes. The Persians win at Thermopylae; Athens is sacked; the Persians are defeated in the naval Battle of Salamis; Persian troops withdraw after loss at Plataea in 479.

480336 The Classical Age-the culminating years of Greek achievement.

476 Massive new Temple of Zeus built at Olympia to celebrate Greek freedom, combined with Olympic Games. The temple, including a massive statue of Zeus, is completed c. 420. The temple and statue are among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

460430 The Golden Age of Pericles in Athens.

The three great tragedians flourish: Aeschylus (525456), Sophocles (496406), and Euripides (485406).

447 In Athens, work begins on the Parthenon. Completed in 432, the temple, dedicated to the goddess Athena, stands on a hill called the Acropolis, overlooking the city. It is the crowning achievement of the Golden Age under Pericles.

431 The Peloponnesian Wars commence, with Athens and Sparta as main rivals.

430 Great plague strikes Athens; Pericles dies in 429.

404 Athens surrenders; a period of Spartan domination; oligarchy returns to Athens.

399 Suicide of Socrates, accused of corrupting the youth of Athens.

385 Plato returns to Athens to open his academy; writes The Symposium.

364 Fighting between rival cities during Olympic Games, a traditional time of truce.

359 Plato's Republic completed.