Resurrection Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Ancient Greek religion=== In [[ancient Greek religion]] a number of men and women have been interpreted as being resurrected and made [[Immortality#Ancient Greek religion|immortal]]. [[Achilles]], after being killed, was snatched from his funeral pyre by his divine mother [[Thetis]] and brought to an immortal existence in either Leuce, the [[Elysium|Elysian plains]] or the [[Fortunate Isles|Islands of the Blessed]]. [[Memnon (mythology)|Memnon]], who was killed by Achilles, seems to have received a similar fate. [[Alcmene]], [[Castor and Pollux|Castor]], [[Heracles]], and [[Melicertes]], are also among the figures interpreted to have been resurrected to physical immortality. According to [[Herodotus]]'s [[Histories (Herodotus)|''Histories'']], the seventh century BC sage [[Aristeas of Proconnesus]] was first found dead, after which his body disappeared from a locked room. He would reappear alive years later.<ref>Endsjø, ''Greek Resurrection Beliefs'', 54-64; cf. Finney, ''Resurrection, Hell and the Afterlife'', 13-20.</ref> However, Greek attitudes towards resurrection were generally negative, and the idea of resurrection was considered neither desirable nor possible.<ref>{{Citation |last=Wright |first=NT |title= The Resurrection of the Son of God: Christian Origins and the Question of God |volume = 3 |publisher = Fortress Press |year = 2003 |isbn=978-0-8006-2679-2 |page=53}}</ref> For example, [[Asclepius]] was killed by Zeus for using herbs to resurrect the dead, but by his father [[Apollo]]'s request, was subsequently immortalized as a star.<ref>Emma and Ludwig Edelstein, ''Asclepius: Collection and Interpretation of the Testimonies, Volume 1, Page 51</ref><ref>[[Sabine G. MacCormack]] ''Concise Encyclopedia of Greek and Roman Mythology'' p.47</ref><ref>Theony Condos, ''Star Myths of the Greeks and Romans'', p.141</ref> Many other figures, like a great part of those who fought in the [[Trojan war|Trojan]] and Theban wars, [[Menelaus]], and the historical pugilist Cleomedes of Astupalaea, were also believed to have been made physically immortal, but without having died in the first place. Indeed, in Greek religion, immortality originally always included an eternal union of body and soul.<ref>Endsjø, ''Greek Resurrection Beliefs'', 21-45, 64-72.</ref> [[Alcestis]] undergoes something akin to a resurrection in her escape from the underworld,<ref> {{cite book | editor1-last = Luschnig | editor1-first = C. A. E. | title = Euripides' Alcestis | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=RLw1yMrIhzgC | series = Oklahoma series in classical culture | year = 2003 | volume = 29 | location = Norman, Oklahoma | publisher = University of Oklahoma Press | publication-date = 2003 | page = 219 | isbn = 9780806135748 | access-date = 2019-11-04 | quote = [...] Alcestis' resurrection and restoration to her home [...] once the three days pass that it will take for Alcestis to be cleansed of her obligations to the Netherworld [...] }} </ref> but without achieving immortality.<ref> {{cite journal | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=GAQ8AAAAMAAJ | journal = Transactions of the American Philological Association | title = Transactions of the American Philological Association | year = 1994 | publisher = Scholars Press | publication-date = 1994 | volume = 124 | issn = 1533-0699 | access-date = 2019-11-04 | quote = And it should be remembered that Alcestis is not immortal — she and Admetus must eventually die their fated deaths. }} </ref>{{Full citation needed |date=August 2023}} Writing his ''Lives of Illustrious Men'' ([[Parallel Lives]]) in the first century, the [[Middle Platonism|Middle Platonic]] philosopher [[Plutarch]] in his chapter on [[Romulus]] gave an account of the king's mysterious disappearance and subsequent deification, comparing it to Greek tales such as the physical immortalization of Alcmene and Aristeas the [[Proconnesian]], "for they say Aristeas died in a fuller's work-shop, and his friends coming to look for him, found his body vanished; and that some presently after, coming from abroad, said they met him traveling towards Croton". Plutarch openly scorned such beliefs held in ancient Greek religion, writing, "many such improbabilities do your fabulous writers relate, deifying creatures naturally mortal."<ref>''[[Parallel Lives]], Life of Romulus 28:4-6''</ref> Likewise, he writes that while something within humans comes from the gods and returns to them after death, this happens "only when it is most completely separated and set free from the body, and becomes altogether pure, fleshless, and undefiled."<ref>Collins, Adela Yarbro (2009), ''"Ancient Notions of Transferal and Apotheosis"'', pp 46,51</ref> The parallel between these traditional beliefs and the later resurrection of Jesus was not lost on the early Christians, as [[Justin Martyr]] argued: "when we say ... [[Jesus Christ]], our teacher, was crucified and died, and rose again, and ascended into heaven, we propose nothing different from what you believe regarding those whom you consider sons of Zeus." ([[First Apology of Justin Martyr|''1 Apol.'' 21]]). 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