ph2ter

In the last time we are here witnesses of different wild ideas, so I think that my humble contribution also will not be too much offensive for the forum community.

Regarding possible mythical origins of Christianity:

Important feature of the Sumerian myth of Dumuzid and Inana is that Inana can be raised from the dead only when she hands over her husband Dumuzid in exchange for herself. She was hanged on a hook in the Underworld for three days and three nights and when she was revived and released, Dumuzid approached the same kind of death under The World Tree:
"They released holy Inana, they ...... her. Inana handed over Dumuzid to them in exchange for herself. "As for the lad, we will put his feet in foot stocks. As for the lad, we will put his hands in hand stocks: we will put his neck in neck stocks." Copper pins, nails and pokers were raised to his face. They sharpened their large copper axes. As for the lad, they stood him up, they sat him down. "Let us remove his ...... garment, let us make him stand ......." As for the lad, they bound his arms, they did evil ....... They covered his face with his own garment."
The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature

According to Matthew, Judas hanged himself and according to Acts "falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out".
These details resemble elements of ritual sacrificing. The laceration of meat and entrails of the sacrificial victim is important in pagan rituals and also the hanging of the sacrificial victim was usually done in case of human sacrifice.
Christ died on the cross according to Acts by being hanged on the tree, and Judas also hanged himself. Judas appears here as some kind of counterpart of Jesus. Christ dies, and it looks that Christ to rise, Judas must dye. Judas handed over Christ and successively it looks that Judas handed over himself to enable the resurrection of Christ in the similar way as Inana handed over Dumuzid. The place where Judas died is called in canonical sources 'The Field of Blood' or the "potters field". In Bible the potter is God himself. In turning his wheel, he constantly fashions new vessels, "revolves wheels by his devices" (Job 37:12). As I already noted before, the name for the place where the cross stood and where the Christian god was hanged and pierced was according to the evangelists 'Golgotha', which is from Aramaic gulgulta, Heb. gulgoleth. Golgotha can linguistically be connected with Semitic *galgal- meaning wheeled vehicles. The World Tree turns as the heavens turn around the North pole. So, the potters field is actually the place where the blood of Christ and his counterpart Judas is shed - the field of blood. This is the place where The World Tree stand. Jerusalem as a center of the Biblical world is the right place for that tree.

That this kind of reasoning is not only product of my imagination is strengthen by some apocryphal texts. According to the medieval copies of the Gospel of Barnabas, it was Judas, not Jesus, who was crucified on the cross. Jesus escaped crucifixion by being raised alive to heaven; while Judas Iscariot the traitor was crucified in his place.
In that context it is not surprise that the Gospel of Judas praises Judas above all the other apostles.
Irenaeus also informs readers that some Christians taught that it was Simon of Cyrene who in fact suffered crucifixion in Christ’s stead. Simon having received Jesus’ form, Jesus returned Simon’s and thus stood by and laughed. Simon was crucified and Jesus returned to his father (Irenaeus, Adv. Char., 1, xxiv).
Also, Barabbas serves as some kind of Jesus' counterpart. Barabbas is released in exchange for Jesus, or it was possible Jesus to be released in exchange for Barabbas.
If we ignore docetism which appears in those gnostic and apocryphal texts, the idea can be reduced to the one from the beginning, that Christ to arise someone in exchange must dye.
Traces of that kind can be found already in the canonical texts. So it looks that those canonical texts have mythical background, which was filtered out in most parts, but not completely. Gnostic texts which stress mythical background more strongly look like predecessors of the canonical texts in this context.