Reply #72: Saint Francis "invented" the nativity scene....

[Bridget Burke]

But any depictions of Jesus & his Mom could pass for Horus & Isis. She was another "foreign" deity worshipped throughout the Roman world. Here's how they envisioned her. (Although the kid in that picture might actually be Harpocrates--oops, my pedantry is showing.)



The Romans did NOT persecute the Christians full time. For much of the Empire, Christianity was one of the cults allowed to exist, as long as Jupiter got his occasional pinch of incense. Then Christianity became the state religion & the other faiths had to close up shop or get out of town.