13 h 52 minAudiobook13 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 13 h 52 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if familiar religious stories belong to a much older argument about how faiths borrow from one another?
In The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors, Kersey Graves argues that the story of Jesus echoes older faiths. His comparisons range across accounts of virgin births, wonders, sacrifice, and resurrection. Published in 1875, this work of religious controversy asks readers to question claims that Christianity stands apart from all other traditions.
Graves gives Krishna a central place, recounting a child threatened by Kansa and hidden among herdsmen. He turns west to Osiris and other accounts of dying and rising gods. His purpose is not neutral inquiry: he challenges churches and creeds. Historians of religion reject his details, making the book best approached as a record of nineteenth-century debate.
What you’ll discover
- A provocative central claim Follow Graves's argument that older religious stories contain elements he identifies within Christianity.
- Krishna at the center Explore the account Graves gives of royal birth, danger, and refuge among herdsmen.
- The cross and tree Examine his claims about sacred signs and sacrifice beyond the Christian story.
- A campaign against dogma Meet a writer whose distrust of churches and creeds drives his comparisons.
- An argument to question Read with care, distinguishing Graves's sweeping claims from an evidence-checked study of ancient religions.
Who will love it
Readers of comparative religion, the history of freethought, and debates about the origins of religious ideas will enjoy this book, especially those who like bold theses and extensive lists of parallels.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Other saviors frame the central question
- Shared images do not settle borrowing
- Divine births follow familiar patterns
- Threatened children share a story shape
- Equal standards test the strongest claims
- Rites and doctrines become inherited customs
- Human wishes explain gods becoming human
- Comparison needs evidence from original sources
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The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors
by Kersey Graves · 1875
Sixteen crucified saviors and a shared December birthday: one author argues Christianity borrowed its story.
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“If Christ was a god, then all were gods.”
In short
What if the story told every December had been told before? The American writer Kersey Graves, who died in 1883, asks exactly that in The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors, also titled Christianity Before Christ.
The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors at a glance
- Reading time
- About 7 h 55 min6 h 15 min fast, 9 h 25 min slow
- Length
- 112,900 words
- Library level
- Challenging long sentences, a rich vocabulary
- First published
- 1875by Kersey Graves
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Many saviors compete for one title
Graves opens with a puzzle. Christians teach that Jesus is the only Son of God, sent to save the whole world. Yet hundreds of millions across other nations reject that claim, and the Gospels report that his own brothers did not believe in him. Graves treats this disagreement as the first fact of his case.
Next he lists the rivals. He says more than twenty beings were honored as saviors or sons of God. They include Chrishna of India, Osiris of Egypt, Odin, Zoroaster, Mithra and Thammuz of Syria. Some were said to be born of virgins, and many were said to be crucified.
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Details
- First published
- 1875
- Language
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- Level
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Cite this edition
Graves, Kersey. The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-worlds-sixteen-crucified-saviors.
Graves, K. (2026). The world's sixteen crucified saviors. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-worlds-sixteen-crucified-saviors (Original work published 1875)
Graves, Kersey. The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-worlds-sixteen-crucified-saviors.
@book{graves2026worlds,
author = {Graves, Kersey},
title = {The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-worlds-sixteen-crucified-saviors},
note = {First published 1875}
}
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What is The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors about?
Kersey Graves argues that the story of Jesus, from virgin birth to crucifixion and rising, was told earlier about gods and saviors in India, Egypt, Persia, Mexico and elsewhere. He concludes that Christianity borrowed its central features from older religions.
Who are the sixteen crucified saviors in the book?
Graves names figures such as Chrishna of India, Sakia, Thammuz, Wittoba, Iao, Quexalcote of Mexico, Quirinus of Rome, Prometheus, Thulis of Egypt, Indra, Bali and Mithra of Persia, and adds a few more cases.
Is the book historically accurate?
Most historians and scholars of religion reject its thesis. Many of its parallels rest on late, secondhand or misread sources, and the supposed crucifixions of Krishna and Mithra are not found in their own scriptures.
The author
Kersey Graves
1813–1883 · American freethinker and writer
Kersey Graves (1813–1883) was an American writer on religion. He was born in Pennsylvania and later lived in Indiana. He wrote The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors, published in 1875, and The Bible of Bibles, published in 1879. He died in Richmond, Indiana, in 1883.
“If Christ was a god, then all were gods.”
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