Asha'man

Yea, I suppose it is just an aesthetic preference. Any real proof has been obliterated by time, so this is just speculation.

I haven't read either yet. I have seen some discussion here about the Jesus Mysteries, and I can see the obvious connections to other mythologies. It is pretty clear that material from other mythologies was used, but perhaps that material was taken to replace or elaborate on real events.

As for the extent of those real events, I believe they were pretty minimal. Some guy named Jesus stirred up some trouble and got killed. He was preaching some sort of religious message, and may have convinced people that he could perform miracles. Jesus was probably illegitimate, and his mother's name might have been Mary. After he was killed, there was some sort of disturbance/confusion regarding the corpse. Given nothing but those (very plausible) events, a religion was manufactured, based heavily on surrounding mythology.