MAGI. — Figures who came from the East to Jerusalem, guided by a star, to adore the King of the Jews. Sent by Herod to Bethlehem, they find the Child Jesus and offer him gold, frankincense, and myrrh; then, warned by an angel, they return to their regions by another route (Mt. 2, 1–12). It seems that here the term retains its primitive meaning of followers of Zarathustra.
The Greek μάγος is derived by many from the palazito mahhet (“great”) or from the Pehlevi mog (“priest”). Following the studies of G. Messina, many now think of the Persian maga (“gift”), in the sense of divine revelation announced by Zarathustra. Those who partake of this gift, followers of Zarathustra, are called maga-van, magu, magu.
The Greeks Xantos, Ermodorus, and Aristotle regarded the m. as followers of Zoroaster (Zarathustra). Herodotus (I, 101) believed them to be a tribe (or caste) of Media; later authors, together with Bolos of Mendes, presented the m. as astrologers or sorcerers; they confused them both with the Babylonian Chaldeans and with the Egyptian magicians. In the Roman Empire the term had this pejorative meaning of witch or sorcerer (the magician Elymas, Bariesus, Act. 13, 6–8; Simon μαγεών, Act. 8, 9). In the Vulgate of the Old Testament magus renders various Hebrew terms indicating “diviners” and “enchanters.”
The homeland of the m. is uncertain. The Gospel says only “from the East,” that is, from the regions beyond the Jordan. Many think of Arabia, a few of Babylonia; but the majority connect the m. with Persia: thus, among the ancients, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Diodore of Tarsus, Chrysostom, Ephrem; among more recent scholars, J. Knabenbauer, G. Messina, and G. Ricciotti.
In various Persian circles, the birth was expected at this time of a “helper” (snushyant), who was to be conceived through the bathing of a virgin in Lake Kayanseh, where the seed of Zarathustra was believed to be preserved. This Iranian expectation, combined with the Jewish expectation of Balaam (“A star shall rise from Jacob,” Num. 24, 17) and with the appearance of a strange star, must have led the m. to seek in Jerusalem the newborn King of the Jews.
The “star” of the m. has given rise to a great many opinions. The following deserve mention: according to some, it was a conjunction of planets (Jupiter and Saturn, in 7 B.C.); according to others, a comet (Halley’s, in 12 B.C.). It is better to discern in the “star” a miraculous meteor, low in the atmosphere, which guided the m. until it came to rest above a house (Mt. 2, 9–10). Besides the external star, there was also the inner star that called the m.
The date of the m.’ arrival is indicated with some approximation by the fact that Herod had all the Bethlehemite children “two years old and under” killed, according to the time he had ascertained from the m. (Mt. 2, 16). The Child had not yet passed his second year of life, but probably had reached one year (v. INNOCENTI, STRAGE degli).
The number of the m. is uncertain. The paintings in the Roman catacombs variously show 2, 4, or 6 m. (also 12 among the Syrians and Armenians), but in the majority of monuments and documents the number 3 predominates (perhaps derived from the number of gifts). The popular names (Gaspare, Melchiorre, Baldassarre), with variants, appear around the ninth century. From the twelfth century it was said that Gaspare represented the Japhethites, Melchiorre the Hamites, and Baldassarre the Semites. The title of king is attributed to the m., apparently for the first time, by St. Caesarius of Arles and by certain apocryphal writings: it seems to derive from Ps. 71, 10 or Is. 60, 3.
The historicity of the arrival of the m. is also confirmed by the fact that the episode is narrated not by Luke’s universalist Gospel (which wished to show that the Messiah was a light of revelation for the Gentiles), but by Matthew’s Jewish Gospel. Some rationalists, in order to deny the historicity of the event, declare it to be a legend arising from the visit of Tiridates, king of Armenia, to Nero (cf. Pliny, Hist. nat., 30, 2, 16; Tacitus, Ann., 15, 24, 29; Suetonius, Nero, 13; Cassius Dio, 83, 1). But there is not the slightest similarity between the two journeys, except that Tiridates, on his theatrical journey, had brought with him some m. or “diviners.” That journey, which took place in A.D. 66, did not concern Palestine at all, where Matthew had already written (v.).
The relics of the m. are said to have been transported in the fourth century from Persia to Constantinople, and from there to Milan (to the basilica of S. Eustorgio), whence, in 1161, by order of Frederick Barbarossa, they were transferred to Cologne.
For the m. in archaeology and art, V. EPIFANIA; for non-Christian religions, V. PERSIA.
Pietro De Ambroggi