maintains[1] that a he-lamb was sacrificed in the
Mithraic mysteries, and he quotes Porphyry as saying[2]
that "a place near the equinoctial circle was assigned to
Mithra as an appropriate seat; and on this account he
bears the sword of the Ram [Aries] which is a sign of Mars
[Ares]." Similarly among the early Christians, it is said,
a ram or lamb was sacrificed in the Paschal mystery.

[1] Pagan Christs, p. 336.

[2] De Antro, xxiv.


Many people think that the association of the Lamb-god
with the Cross arose from the fact that the constellation
Aries at that time WAS on the heavenly cross (the
crossways of the Ecliptic and Equator-see diagram, ch.
iii), and in the very place through which the Sungod
had to pass just before his final triumph. And it is
curious to find that Justin Martyr in his Dialogue with Trypho[1]
(a Jew) alludes to an old Jewish practice of roasting a Lamb on
spits arranged in the form of a Cross. "The lamb,"
he says, meaning apparently the Paschal lamb, "is roasted
and dressed up in the form of a cross. For one spit is transfixed
right through the lower parts up to the head, and one
across the back, to which are attached the legs [forelegs] of
the lamb."

[1] Ch. xl.