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Doane also relates Celsus's general impression of Christianity, one reflected by many others and admitted by Christians:

The Christian religion contains nothing but what Christians hold in common with heathens; nothing new, or truly great.31

Regarding Celsus's indictment of Christianity, Doresse remarks:

In this he asserts that the teaching of the Gospel derives, in part, from Plato, from Heraclitus, from the Stoics, the Jews, from the Egyptians and Persians myths and the Cabiri132

Being educated in such philosophies, Celsus had no difficulty determining the biblical narratives as fiction. As Bowersock says, in Fiction as History:

The fiction and mendacity that Celsus wished to expose in his True Discourse were nothing less than the Christian representation of the life and death of Jesus Christ.33

Bowersock continues:

Origen strained every nerve in the third century to confute Celsus's elaborate attempt to expose the Gospel narratives as fiction ... For any coherent and persuasive interpretation of the Roman empire it becomes obvious that fiction must be viewed as a part of its history.34

Under Nero fiction thrived, as the emperor had an insatiable appetite for Greek and Roman literature, such that he sparked a renaissance, no doubt with numerous poets, playwrights and novelists vying for imperial favor and patronage. Such was the atmosphere into and out of which Christianity was born. Bowersock also states:

Parallels in form and substance between the writings of the New Testament and the fictional production of the imperial age are too prominent to be either ignored or dismissed as coincidental. Both Celsus, in his attack on the Christians, and Origen, in his defense of them, recognize the similarities, particularly ... where apparent miracles-such as the open tomb or resurrection of the dead-were at issue.-15

Over the centuries, ancient texts were reworked in order to explain the founding of nations and other auspicious events, as was the case with the Roman book Trojan War, which was suddenly "discovered" centuries after its pretended date and which is a rewriting of The Iliad designed to glorify the foundation of the Roman state.36 Every culture and nation had its heroic epics and legendary foundations, including Greece and Rome. Israel was no exception, and its legendary foundation related in the Old Testament is as fictitious as the tale of Romulus and Remus, the mythical founders of Rome. The foundation of Christianity is no less fictitious, except in the minds of the people who have been told otherwise.

Celsus was not the only vocal and erudite critic of "the new superstition," as Christianity was called. Another detractor, ironically also Origen's teacher after Origen defected from orthodox Christianity, was Ammonius Saccas, a Greek philosopher and founder of the Alexandrian Neoplatonic school of the third century, who taught that "Christianity and Paganism, when rightly understood, differ in no essential points, but had common origin, and are really one and the same thing."37 Higgins reveals another group of "Pagan" critics: ". . . Brahmins constantly tell [Christian] missionaries that [the Christian] religion is only corrupted Brahminism."38

So widespread was the criticism and ridicule that Christian elder Arnobius (4th cent.) complained, "The Gentiles make it their constant business to laugh at our faith and to lash our credulity with their facetious jokes."319 In fact, as Massey states, "The total intelligence of Rome [treated] the new religion as a degrading superstition founded on a misinterpretation of their own dogmas."a° Indeed, in his "On the Incarnation," Saint and Alexandrian Bishop Athanasius (c. 293-373) fretted endlessly about being mocked, particularly for believing that Jesus Christ was historical:

We come now to the unbelief of the Gentiles; and this is indeed a matter for complete astonishment, for they laugh at that which is no fit subject for mockery, yet fail to see the shame and ridiculousness of their own