- Perseus: Born to Danae, who was visited by Zeus in the form of a shower of gold.
- Hercules: While not a virgin birth, his mother was impregnated by Zeus in the form of a swan.
- Alexander the Great: Some accounts claim his mother was visited by Zeus in the form of a snake or lightning.
- Ion: A Greek hero who was said to be the son of Apollo.
- Horus: Said to be conceived by the goddess Isis, who was often depicted as a virgin.
- Qi: The mythical ancestor of the Zhou dynasty, born to Jiang Yuan after she stepped in the giant footprint of Shangdi, a supreme deity.
- Romulus and Remus: The founders of Rome, born to the virgin Rhea Silvia.
- Krishna: The Hindu god, born to Devaka, a virgin.
- Attis: A Phrygo-Roman god, said to be born to Nana, a virgin.
The following is not intended as an apologetic. But merely a critique based on my own knowledge and study of these things.
Firstly: A miraculous, supernatural, or otherwise birth surrounded by profound, mystical, or divine circumstances is not a "virgin birth". If a god impregnates a mortal woman, by definition she isn't a virgin.
Secondly:
- Isis wasn't a virgin, Horus was the son of Osiris, Isis conceived Horus when she had intercourse with the reassembled body of Osiris after he had been slain by his brother Set and his body parts were scattered all over the Nile. Isis used a magical phallus and the reassembled body of Osiris, had sex with Osiris, became pregnant with Horus, and then Osiris was reborn as the lord of the underworld.
- Rhea Silvia was a vestal virgin who gave birth to Romulus and Remus... after becoming pregnant by Mars, the god of war.
- Devaki (Devaka was Devaki's father) wasn't a virgin, she was the wife of Vasudeva, who fathered Krishna.
- Attis was the result of an androgynous daemon called Agdistis who was forced to castrate themselves, when his testicles fell onto the ground, an almond tree grew, a water nymph named Nana found the almond tree, and implanted an almond from the tree within herself. This resulted in Attis being conceived in her, after Attis was born he was abandoned and raised by a he-goat.
The story of Attis is the closest one to a "virgin" birth, though let's be clear that we're talking about testicles, almonds, and impregnation, so we can probably classify this one as subjective and debateable.
The only reason I'm responding is because while it is perfectly valid to point out that lots of mythologies, stories, and religions have fanciful, miraculous, or extraordinary accounts of the births of gods, heroes, or various figures. I have constantly seen claims made that "lots of stories involve virgin births" that have their origins in the pseudo-historical theory of Christomythicism and lack any academic merit. Most of this goes back to 19th century quack theories, such as what's found in works like the Golden Bough. This stuff is to historical and religious studies what Phrenology and Flat Earth is to science. It's quackery.
-CryptoLutheran
