text: Christianity borrows many ideas from earlier religions, such as the cult of Apollo. In some early traditions, Christ is entirely a supernatural being who never actually descends beyond the lower regions of the firmament, where he does battle with evil forces and ascends back into the upper regions, the Seventh Heaven, and so on. On the other hand, there were probably a number of actual wandering mystics in the period and scriptural Jesus could be a composite of some of them. I don't think the historicity of Jesus is ever likely to be conclusively settled, though some Biblical scholars are convinced by the rather scant mentions by Roman historians it strikes me as quite thin. As a movement, I think Rome eventually adapted to Christianity rather than the other way round. It's elevation of the low and downtrodden was a powerful subversive message in a society largely composed of slaves.