Ancient Mediterranean peoples did tell stories of miraculous conceptions and births. There were accounts, set in the mythic past, of individuals born to a di vine mother and a human father, for example, Achilles (son of the divine Thetis and the human Peleus—Iliad 20.206–7; 24.59), Aeneas (son of Aphrodite and the mortal Anchises—Iliad 2.819–22; 5.247–48; see also the late first-century BCE through early first-century CE Ovid, Metamorphoses 14.588), and Persephone (daughter of of Demeter and Iasion—Odyssey 5.116–28). In the Iliad 20.199–209, Aeneas and Achilles meet in battle. As custom dictated, they taunted one another before fighting. Those believed to be the offspring of a god and a human mother included Ascle pius (son of Apollo and the mortal Coronis—so the first-century BCE Diodorus of Sicily 4.71.1); Hercules (son of Zeus and the human Alcmene—Iliad 14.315–28; Diodorus of Sicily 4.9.1, 3); Dionysus (son of Zeus and Semele—Iliad 14.315–28); Perseus (son of Zeus and Danae—Iliad 14.315–28); Aristaeus (son of Apollo and Cyrene—Diodorus of Sicily 4.81.1–3); Romulus (son of Mars and the mortal Ilia, or Rhea, or Silvia—so the first-century BCE Cicero, Republic 1.41; 2.2; Plutarch, Par allel Lives, “Romulus,” 2.3–6). Diodorus of Sicily 4.2.1–4 relates what the Greeks say about Dionysus. Cad mus was sent from Phoenicia to search for the maiden Europa. During his travels, in obedience to an oracle, he founded the city of Thebes and settled there. He married Harmonia and had a number of offspring, one of whom was Semele.

In 3.1–3, Plutarch says the story that has the greatest credence is the one given by Diocles of Peparethus and Fabius Pictor. It focuses on a vestal virgin, Ilia, or Rhea, or Silvia who was found to be pregnant, contrary to the law for vestals. She was saved from death by the intercession of the king’s daughter, Antho. The vestal virgin gave birth to two boys, large and beautiful. Plutarch (4.2) says it was the boys’ mother who claimed that Mars was the father. It was said by others, however, that the girl was deceived into doing this by Amulius, who came to her dressed in armor. Stories of miraculous conceptions and births were also told about rulers and philosophers in historical time. Among the philosophers, Pythagoras was said to be the offspring of Apollo and the human Pythais, the most beautiful of the Sami ans (Porphyry, Life of Pythagoras 2); Plato was believed to have been the son of Apollo and Amphictione (Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 3.1–2; 3.45); Apollonius of Tyana was thought to be the son of Proteus, a divinity of Egypt, or Zeus (Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana 1.4.5–9; 1.6). Diogenes Laertius, in the third century CE but citing early sources, says of Plato (Lives of Eminent Philosophers 3:1–2): Plato was the son of Ariston and Perictione….Speusippus in the work titled Plato’s Funeral Feast, Clearchus in the Encomium on Plato, and Anaxilaides in the second book Concerning Philosophers, tell how at Athens there was a story . . . that Apollo appeared to Ariston in a dream; whereupon he did not touch Perictione until the child’s birth.

1. The early third-century church father Origen, Against Celsus 1.37, offers a sup plement to Laertius’s account: It is not absurd to employ Greek stories to talk with Greeks, to show we Christians are not the only people who use a miraculous story like this one [i.e., about Jesus’ conception]. For some (Greeks) think it proper . . . to relate even of recent events that Plato was the son of Amphictione, while Ariston was prevented from having sex ual intercourse with his wife until she gave birth to the one sired by Apollo. Philostratus, in his third-century CE Life of Apollonius of Tyana, says of Apollo nius (1.4.5–9): To his mother, before his birth, came a divinity of Egypt, Proteus. . . . She was not frightened but asked him: “What will I bear?” He said: “Me!” She asked: “Who are you?” He said: “Proteus, the god of Egypt.” Among the rulers spoken of in terms of a miraculous conception and birth, Alexander the Great and Augustus Caesar stand out. At the end of the first or the beginning of the second century CE, Plutarch’s “Alexander” contains this ac count: Philip, after the vision [in a dream, he saw himself putting a lion-shaped seal on his wife’s womb—2.4], sent Chavion of Megalopolis to Delphi. Chavion then brought Philip a word from the god [Apollo], telling him to sacrifice to Ammon and to rever ence this god greatly. He also told Philip that he would lose his sight in the eye with which he had spied on the god, who in the form of a snake, had shared the bed of his wife. Also Olympias, as Eratostheues says, when Alexander was sent upon his ex pedition, told him alone the secret about his begetting. She challenged him to be have worthily of his origins. Others, however, say she rejected the idea and said: “Alexander must stop slandering me to Hera.” (3:1–4).
2. In most of these stories the liaisons between gods and humans involved sexual relations, either with the deity’s identity known (as with Zeus and Semele [Diodorus of Sicily 4.2.1–4] or Proteus and the mother of Apollonius of Tyana [Philostratus, Life of Apollonius 1.4.5–9]) or with the deity taking another form (e.g., when Zeus could not overcome Alcmene’s chastity, he assumed the form of her husband [Diodorus of Sicily 4.9.3], or in a number of cases the deity took the form of a snake [Plutarch, “Alexander,” 3.1–4; Suetonius, “Augustus,” 94.4]). There was, however, another tradition that was averse to thinking of physical sexual contact between deity and humanity; consequently, a begetting that did not involve physical sexual contact was sought. Aeschylus is an early example. In “Suppliants” 17–19, Io is said to be impregnated by Zeus in the form of “the on breathing of his love.” “Prometheus” 848–52 states that at Canobus near the mouth of the Nile, Io will be restored to her senses by Zeus through “the touch of his unterrifying hand.” The offspring will be Epaphus (= touch-born, named from the touch [ephapsis] of the hand of Zeus). Plutarch gives fullest exposition of this point of view. The first is in “Table Talk” VIII, Question 1.2 (Moralia IX, 114–19). The first speaker, Florus, refers to those who attribute Plato’s parentage to Apollo and claim that Ariston, Plato’s father, had a vision in his sleep, which forbade him to have intercourse with his wife for ten months.

1. The second speaker, Tyndares, replies that it is fitting to celebrate Plato with the line: “He seemed the child not of a mortal man but of a god.” When, however, Plato himself speaks of the uncreated and eternal god as father and maker of the cosmos, “it happened not through semen but by another power of God (dunamei tou theou) that God begot in matter the principle of generation, under whose influence it became receptive and was changed.” So, Tyndares says he does not think it strange if “it is not by a physical approach, like a man’s, but by some other kind of contact or touch that a god alters mortal nature and makes it pregnant with a more divine offspring.” Tyndares continues: “The Egyptians say that Apis (= the sacred bull, the incarnation of Osiris) is begotten by the touch (epaphe) of the moon.”
2. There were two main reasons the ancients spoke of miraculous conceptions and divine descent. The first was an attempt to explain an individual’s superiority to other mortals. Generally Mediterranean peoples looked at one’s birth or parent age to explain one’s character and behavior. In Plutarch’s “Romulus,” 7.3– 4, Re mus has been brought before Numitor for punishment. When Numitor sees Remus, he is “amazed at the youth’s surpassing greatness of body and strength, and noting from his face the unsubdued boldness and vitality of his psyche de spite the present circumstances, and hearing that his works and acts were like his appearance, . . . he asked who he was and what were the circumstances of his birth.” Birth explains later deeds and character!
3. For more on the parallels see:
4. Box, G. H. “The Gospel Narratives of the Nativity and the Alleged Influence of Heathen Ideas.” Zeitschrift für neutestamentliche Wissenschaft 6 (1905): 80–101. Brown, Raymond E. The Birth of the Messiah: A Commentary on the Infancy Narratives in Matthew and Luke. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1977. Cartlidge, David R., and David L. Dungan. Documents for the Study of the Gospels. Cleve land, OH: Collins, 1980. Fitzmyer, Joseph A. “The Virginal Conception of Jesus in the New Testament.” Pages 41–78 in To Advance the Gospel: New Testament Studies. New York: Crossroads, 1981. Talbert, Charles H. “Jesus’ Birth in Luke and the Nature of Religious Language.” Heythrop Journal 35 (1994): 391–400. ———. “Prophecies of Future Greatness: The Contribution of Greco-Roman Biographies to an Understanding of Luke 1:5–4:15.” Pages 129–42 of The Divine Helmsman: Studies on God’s Control of Human Events, Presented to Lou H. Silberman. Edited by James L. Cren shaw and Samuel Sandmel. New York: KTAV, 1980.