Ιησους probably wasn't born at the winter solstice.
Wasn't that date made up by Rome in the first place? Some say that was Mithras birthday... that he was being worshipped under the title Sol Invictus by the Roman legions. And that they carried this worship into every land they even attempted to conquer. Mithraism is found in crypts and underground grottos... and people seem to think these were Christian sites.
I'd laugh if it weren't so tragic.
I've been researching Messiah's actual birthday, and this is the closest I could get... Skip over the occult (it only means hidden) and mysticism words, and see what you think:
"Now the traditions of the Occult Orders inform us that at last the Magi witnessed a peculiar conjunction of planets; first, the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter, in the Constellation of Pisces, the two planets being afterward joined by the planet Mars, the three planets in close relation of position, making a startling and unusual stellar display, and having a deep astrological significance. Now, the Constellation of Pisces, as all astrologers, ancient and modern, know, is the constellation governing the national existence of Judea. ... the calculations of Modern Astronomy show without possibility of contradiction that in the Roman year 747 (or seven years before the Christian Era)
the planets Saturn and Jupiter farmed a conjunction in the Constellation of Pisces, and that these two planets, still in close position to each other, were joined by the planet Mars in the Spring of 748. The great astronomer Kepler first made this calculation in the year 1604, and it has been since verified by modern calculations. To those who would object that all this occurred seven years before the commonly accepted date of the birth of Christ, we would say that any modern work on New Testament Chronology, or any encyclopedia or reference work on the subject, will show that the former calculations were several years out of the way, and that the records of other events mentioned in the Bible, such as the "enrollment" of the people, which brought Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem, enable modern Biblical scholars to fix the date of the birth of Christ at about six or seven years before the usually accepted time. So that modern research fully corroborates the astrological record and the Mystic traditions."
--Mystic Christianity, by Yogi Ramacharaka
That Magi thing... from Anatolia? (the Greek word for East, or Rising)... all comes from Luke... who wasn't there, so where'd he get his information?
The Syrian mystery cult may have come from Babylon:
Chapter 13: From Babylon to Syria
"The Seleucid Capital Moved West to Antioch"
Chapter 15: The Seleucid Capital Moved West to Antioch
I only just found this website, and haven't checked his source material... so I'm not saying whether or not I believe him... it's just food for thought. And he's not using the Septuagint that I use, either. But it is sort of fascinating, so far. Cumont I have somewhat read... Lenormant speaks of magic in Babylon, so no surprise there, either... given the tablets that were found and translated.
But Mithras I have done some research on... as much as my stomach could take, anyway... and I don't have much doubt about his birthdate of 12/25... the mystery cults are full of solstice and equinox worship-events. It's the main reason why I first started doubting the common-man's date of Messiah's birth.