View source for Magi

{{short description|Priests in Zoroastrianism}}
{{Redirect|Magus}}

[[File:Gold statuettes from the Oxus Treasure by Nickmard Khoey.jpg|thumb|Zoroastrian priests (Magi) carrying ''[[barsom]]s''. Statuettes from the [[Oxus Treasure]] of the [[Achaemenid Empire]], 4th century BC]]

'''Magi''' ({{abbr|{{sc|plur}}|plural form}}),{{Efn|{{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|eɪ|dʒ|aɪ}}}} or '''magus''' ({{abbr|{{sc|sing}}|singular form}}),{{Efn|{{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|eɪ|g|ə|s}} ({{langx|la|[[wikt:magus#Noun 2|magus]]}}; from {{langx|grc|[[wikt:Μᾰ́γος|μᾰ́γος]]}} and {{langx|peo|𐎶𐎦𐎢𐏁}} {{transliteration|peo|maguš}})}} is the term for priests in [[Zoroastrianism]] and earlier [[Iranian religions]]. The earliest known use of the word ''magi'' is in the trilingual inscription written by [[Darius the Great]], known as the [[Behistun Inscription]]. [[Old Persian]] texts, predating the [[Hellenistic period]], refer to a magus as a [[Zurvanism|Zurvanic]], and presumably Zoroastrian, priest.

Pervasive throughout the [[Eastern Mediterranean]] and [[West Asia]] until [[late antiquity]] and beyond, ''mágos'' (μάγος) was influenced by (and eventually displaced) Greek ''[[The Lesser Key of Solomon#Ars Goetia|goēs]]'' (γόης), the older word for a practitioner of [[magic (paranormal)|magic]], with a meaning expanded to include [[astronomy]], [[astrology]], [[alchemy]], and other forms of [[esoteric]] knowledge. This association was in turn the product of the Hellenistic fascination for [[Pseudo-Zoroaster]], who was perceived by the Greeks to be the [[Chaldea]]n founder of the Magi and inventor of both astrology and magic, a meaning that still survives in the modern-day words "magic" and "[[Magician (paranormal)|magician]]".

In the [[Gospel of Matthew]], [[Biblical Magi|"μάγοι" (''magoi'') from the east]] pay homage to the [[Christ Child]],<ref>About a year and half old, not a newborn (Matthew 2:11)</ref> and the transliterated plural "magi" entered English from [[Latin]] in this context around 1200 AD (this particular use is also commonly rendered in English as "kings" and more often in recent times as "wise men").<ref>[http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%202 Matthew 2 in Greek]</ref> The singular "magus" appears considerably later, when it was borrowed from [[Old French]] in the late 14th century with the meaning ''magician''.

Hereditary Zoroastrian priesthood has survived in India<ref>[https://parsikhabar.net/heritage/the-origins-of-zoroastrian-priesthood-in-india/1612/ The Origins of Zoroastrian Priesthood in India, Parsi Khabar, April 29, 2009]</ref><ref>Dashur FirozeDASTUR M. Kotwal (July 1990), [https://www.jstor.org/stable/24655249 "A Brief History of the Parsi Priesthood"], ''Indo-Iranian Journal'', Vol. 33, No. 3, pp. 165–175.</ref> and Iran. They are termed [[Herbad]], [[Mobad]] (Magupat, i.e. chief of the Maga), and [[Dastur]] depending on the rank.

== History ==

=== Iranian sources ===
[[File:Chopped gold pieces from the Oxus Treasure by Nickmard Khoey213.jpg|thumb|Zoroastrian Magus carrying ''[[barsom]]'' from the [[Oxus Treasure]] of the [[Achaemenid Empire]], 4th century BC|upright]]
The term only appears twice in Iranian texts from before the 5th century BC, and only one of these can be dated with precision. This one instance occurs in the trilingual [[Behistun inscription]] of [[Darius the Great]], and which can be dated to about 520 BC. In this trilingual text, certain rebels have magian as an attribute; in the [[Old Persian]] portion as ''maγu-''<!-- Gershevitch--> (generally assumed to be a loan word from [[Median language|Median]]<!--cf Boyce quotation below -->). The meaning of the term in this context is uncertain.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Burkert |first=Walter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U0kvEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA108 |title=Babylon, Memphis, Persepolis: Eastern Contexts of Greek Culture |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-674-02399-4 |pages=108–109 |language=en}}</ref>

The other instance appears in the texts of the [[Avesta]], the sacred literature of Zoroastrianism. In this instance, which is in the [[Avestan language|Younger Avestan]] portion, the term appears in the [[Hapax legomenon|hapax]] ''moghu.tbiš'', meaning "hostile to the ''moghu''", where ''moghu'' does not (as was previously thought<!--according to source Boyce-->) mean "magus", but rather "a member of the tribe"<!-- 10, 10, n38 --><ref name= "Boyce_1975_10_11" /> or referred to a particular social class in the proto-Iranian language and then continued to do so in Avestan.<ref name="Gershevitch">{{cite journal|last=Gershevitch |first=Ilya |title= Zoroaster's Own Contribution|journal=Journal of Near Eastern Studies |volume=23 |issue=1 |date=1964 |doi=10.1086/371754 |pages=12–38 [36]|s2cid=161954467 }}</ref>

An unrelated term, but previously assumed to be related, appears in the older Gathic [[Avestan language]] texts. This word, adjectival ''magavan''<!-- not mag*h*avan --> meaning "possessing ''maga-''", was once the premise that Avestan ''maga-'' and Median (i.e. Old Persian) ''magu-'' were [[coeval]] (and also that both these were cognates of [[Vedic Sanskrit]] ''magha-''). While "in the [[Gathas]] the word seems to mean both the teaching of Zoroaster and the community that accepted that teaching",<!-- also Boyce "possessed of this gospel" --> and it seems that Avestan ''maga-'' is related to Sanskrit ''magha-'', "there is no reason to suppose that the western Iranian form ''magu'' (Magus) has exactly the same meaning"<ref name="Zaehner_1961"/> as well. <!--i.e. The [[Avestan]] word ''magâunô'' (see Yasna 33.7: ''ýâ sruyê parê magâunô'' formerly and mistakenly {{by whom}} translated "so I can be heard beyond Magi")--> But it "may be, however", that Avestan ''moghu'' (which is not the same as Avestan ''maga-'') "and Medean<!-- sic (in a quotation) --> ''magu'' were the same word in origin, a common Iranian term for 'member of the tribe' having developed among the Medes the special sense of 'member of ''the''<!-- italics Boyce--> (priestly)<!-- parens Boyce--> tribe', hence a priest."<ref name= "Boyce_1975_10_11">{{citation|last=Boyce|first=Mary|author-link=Mary Boyce|title=A History of Zoroastrianism|volume=I|date=1975| publisher = Brill|location=Leiden|pages=10–11}}</ref><sup>''cf''</sup><ref name="Gershevitch"/>

Some examples of the use of magi in [[Persian poetry]], are present in the poems of [[Hafez]]. There are two frequent terms used by him, first one is ''Peer-e Moghan'' (literally "the old man of the magi") and second one is ''Deyr-e Moghan'' (literally "the monastery of the magi").<ref>{{cite web |title=پیر مغان حافظ كیست، دیرِ مغان حافظ كجاست؟ |url=https://www.irna.ir/news/81795856/%D9%BE%DB%8C%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%BA%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%AD%D8%A7%D9%81%D8%B8-%D9%83%DB%8C%D8%B3%D8%AA-%D8%AF%DB%8C%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%BA%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%AD%D8%A7%D9%81%D8%B8-%D9%83%D8%AC%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%AA |agency=Islamic Republic News Agency |date=12 October 2015 |access-date=13 November 2022|language=FA}}</ref>

=== Greco-Roman sources ===

==== Hellenistic period ====
The oldest surviving Greek reference to the magi&nbsp;– from Greek {{Lang|grc|μάγος}} (''mágos'', plural: ''magoi'') – could be from 6th century BC [[Heraclitus]] (apud [[Clemens of Alexandria|Clemens]] ''[[Protrepticus (Clement)|Protrepticus]]'' 2.22.2<ref>{{Cite book |last=Butterworth |first=G W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xHBBswW6_oYC&pg=PA45 |title=Clement of Alexandria |date=1919 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-99103-3 |edition=Loeb Classical Library|volume =92 |location=Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press |pages=45 |language=en}}</ref>), who cursed the magi for their "impious" rites and rituals.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Bremmer |first1=Jan N. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y02I4FW3om4C&pg=PR18 |title=The Metamorphosis of Magic from Late Antiquity to the Early Modern Period |last2=Veenstra |first2=Jan R. |date=2002 |publisher=Peeters Publishers |isbn=978-90-429-1227-4 |page=2 |language=en}}</ref> A description of the rituals that Heraclitus refers to has not survived, and there is nothing to suggest that Heraclitus was referring to foreigners.

Better preserved are the descriptions of the mid-5th century BC [[Herodotus]], who in his portrayal of the [[Iranian peoples|Iranian]] expatriates living in [[Asia Minor]] uses the term "magi" in two different senses. In the first sense (''[[Histories (Herodotus)|Histories]]'' 1.101<ref>{{Cite book |last=Herodotus |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QsIcxGrq6QAC&pg=PA41 |title=The Histories of Herodotus |date=1904 |publisher=D. Appleton |page=41 |language=en}}</ref>), Herodotus speaks of the magi as one of the tribes/peoples (''ethnous'') of the [[Medes]]. In another sense (1.132<ref>{{Cite book |last=Herodotus |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QsIcxGrq6QAC&pg=PA54 |title=The Histories of Herodotus |date=1904 |publisher=D. Appleton |page=54 |language=en}}</ref>), Herodotus uses the term "magi" to generically refer to a "[[sacerdotal]] caste", but "whose ethnic origin is never again so much as mentioned."<ref name="Zaehner_1961">{{cite book |last=Zaehner |first=Robert Charles |url=https://archive.org/details/dawntwilightofzo0000zaeh/page/162/mode/2up |title=The Dawn and Twilight of Zoroastrianism |date=1961 |publisher=MacMillan |location=New York |page=163|isbn=978-0-297-76892-0 }}</ref> According to [[Robert Charles Zaehner]], in other accounts :<blockquote>"We hear of Magi not only in [[Fars province|Persia]], [[Parthia]], [[Bactria]], [[Chorasmia]], [[Aria (satrapy)|Aria]], [[Medes|Media]], and among the [[Sakas]], but also in non-Iranian lands like [[Arabian Peninsula|Arabia]], [[Ethiopia]], and [[Egypt]]. Their influence was also widespread throughout [[Anatolia|Asia Minor.]] It is, therefore, quite likely that the sacerdotal caste of the Magi was distinct from the [[Median kingdom|Median]] tribe of the same name."<ref name="Zaehner_1961" /></blockquote>As early as the 5th century BC, Greek ''magos'' had spawned ''mageia'' and ''{{Transliteration|grc|magike}}'' to describe the activity of a magus, that is, it was his or her art and practice.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Janowitz |first=Naomi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b_Fnv5MSQ2gC&pg=PA9 |title=Magic in the Roman World: Pagans, Jews and Christians |date=2002 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-63368-5 |page=9 |language=en}}</ref> But almost from the outset the noun for the action and the noun for the actor parted company. Thereafter, ''mageia'' was used not for what actual magi did, but for something related to the word 'magic' in the modern sense, i.e. using supernatural means to achieve an effect in the natural world, or the appearance of achieving these effects through trickery or sleight of hand.<ref name=":0" /> The early Greek texts typically have the pejorative meaning, which in turn influenced the meaning of ''magos'' to denote a conjurer and a charlatan.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Peters |first=Edward |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PoFV65rO59gC&pg=PA1 |title=The Magician, the Witch, and the Law |date=1978 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-0-8122-1101-6 |page=1 |language=en}}</ref> Already in the mid-5th century BC, Herodotus identifies the ''magi'' as interpreters of omens and dreams (''Histories'' 7.19, 7.37, 1.107, 1.108, 1.120, 1.128<ref>{{Cite book |last=Herodotus |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QsIcxGrq6QAC |title=The Histories of Herodotus |date=1904 |publisher=D. Appleton |language=en}}</ref>).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bremmer |first=Jan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=id2wCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA240 |title=Greek Religion and Culture, the Bible and the Ancient Near East |date=2008 |publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-474-3271-5 |page=240 |language=en}}</ref>

Other Greek sources from before the [[Hellenistic period]] include the gentleman-soldier [[Xenophon]], who had first-hand experience at the Persian [[Achaemenid]] court. In his early 4th century BC ''[[Cyropaedia]]'', Xenophon depicts the magians as authorities for all religious matters (8.3.11),<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gera |first=Deborah Levine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uqTIHmg4LsoC&pg=PA56 |title=Xenophon's Cyropaedia: Style, Genre, and Literary Technique |date=1993 |publisher=Clarendon Press |isbn=978-0-19-814477-9 |language=en}}</ref> and imagines the magians to be responsible for the education of the emperor-to-be. [[Apuleius]], a [[Numidians|Numidian]] [[Platonist]] philosopher, describes magus to be considered as a "sage and philosopher-king" based on its Platonic notion.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Too |first1=Yun Lee |title=The idea of the library in the ancient world |date=2010 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=9780199577804 |page=96}}</ref>

==== Roman period ====
[[File:XV14 - Roma, Museo civiltà romana - Adorazione dei Magi - sec III dC - Foto Giovanni Dall'Orto 12-Apr-2008.jpg|thumb|Incised [[sarcophagus]] slab with the ''[[Adoration of the Magi]]'' from the [[Catacombs of Rome]], 3rd century]]

Once the magi had been associated with "magic" – Greek ''{{Transliteration|grc|magikos}}'' – it was but a natural progression that the Greeks' image of Zoroaster would metamorphose into a magician too.<!-- para 7--><ref name="Beck_2003">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Beck |first=Roger |chapter=Zoroaster, as perceived by the Greeks |title=Encyclopaedia Iranica |location=New York |publisher=iranica.com |year=2003 |chapter-url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/zoroaster-iv-as-perceived-by-the-greeks}}.</ref> The first century [[Pliny the Elder]] names <!--(pseudo-)-->"Zoroaster" as the inventor of magic (''[[Pliny's Natural History|Natural History]]'' xxx.2.3), but a "principle of the division of labor appears to have spared Zoroaster most of the responsibility for introducing the dark arts to the Greek and Roman worlds. That dubious honor went to another fabulous magus, [[Ostanes]], to whom most of the pseudepigraphic magical literature was attributed."<ref name="Beck_2003"/> For Pliny, this magic was a "monstrous craft" that gave the Greeks not only a "lust" (''aviditatem'') for magic, but a downright "madness" (''rabiem'') for it, and Pliny supposed that Greek philosophers – among them [[Pythagoras]], [[Empedocles]], [[Democritus]], and [[Plato]] – traveled abroad to study it, and then returned to teach it (xxx.2.8–10).

[[Pseudo-Zoroaster|"Zoroaster"]] – or rather what the Greeks supposed him to be – was for the Hellenists the figurehead of the 'magi', and the founder of that order (or what the Greeks considered to be an [[Religious order|order]]). He was further projected as the author of a vast compendium of "Zoroastrian" [[pseudepigrapha]], composed in the main to discredit the texts of rivals. "The Greeks considered the best wisdom to be exotic wisdom" and "what better and more convenient authority than the distant – temporally and geographically – Zoroaster?"<!--para 4--><ref name="Beck_2003"/> The subject of these texts, the authenticity of which was rarely challenged, ranged from treatises on nature to ones on [[necromancy]]. But the bulk of these texts dealt with astronomical speculations and magical lore.

One factor for the association with astrology was Zoroaster's name, or rather, what the Greeks made of it. His name was identified at first with star-worshiping (''{{Transliteration|grc|astrothytes}}'' "star sacrificer") and, with the ''Zo-'', even as the ''living'' star.<!-- Beck 523 --> Later, an even more elaborate mytho-etymology evolved: Zoroaster died by the living (''zo-'') flux (''-ro-'') of fire from the star (''-astr-'') which he himself had invoked, and even that the stars killed him in revenge for having been restrained by him.<!-- Beck 523 --><ref name="Beck_1991"/> The second, and "more serious"<!--Beck 523--><ref name="Beck_1991">{{cite book |last=Beck |first=Roger |chapter=Thus Spake Not Zarathushtra: Zoroastrian Pseudepigrapha of the Graeco-Roman World |pages=491–565 |title=A History of Zoroastrianism |volume=3 |editor-last=Boyce |editor-first=Mary |editor2-last=Grenet |editor2-first=Frantz |series=Handbuch der Orientalistik |location=Leiden |publisher=Brill |date=1991}} Abteilung I, Band VIII, Abschnitt 1, p. 516</ref> factor for the association with astrology was the notion that Zoroaster was a [[Chaldea]]n. The alternate Greek name for Zoroaster was Zaratas / Zaradas / Zaratos (''cf.'' [[Agathias]] 2.23–25, [[Clement of Alexandria|Clement]] ''[[Stromata]]'' I.15), which – according to Bidez and Cumont – derived from a Semitic form of his name. <!--The [[Pythagoreanism|Pythagorean tradition]] considered the "founder" of their order to have studied with Zoroaster in Chaldea ([[Porphyry (philosopher)|Porphyry]] ''Life of Pythagoras'' 12, Alexander Polyhistor apud Clement's ''Stromata'' I.15, Diodorus of Eritrea, Aristoxenus apud Hippolitus VI32.2). [[Joannes Laurentius Lydus|Lydus]] (''On the Months'' II.4) attributes the creation of the seven-day week to "the Chaldeans in the circle of Zoroaster and Hystaspes", and who did so because there were seven planets.--> The [[Suda]]'s chapter on ''astronomia'' notes that the [[Babylonian astronomy|Babylonians learned their astrology]] from Zoroaster. [[Lucian|Lucian of Samosata]] (''Mennipus'' 6) decides to journey to Babylon "to ask one of the magi, Zoroaster's disciples and successors", for their opinion.

{{anchor|MatthewMagi}}

== Religious traditions ==

=== Abrahamic ===

==== Judaism ====
In the [[Talmud]], instances of dialogue between the [[Jewish sage]]s and various magi are recorded. The Talmud depicts the Magi as sorcerers and in several descriptions, they are negatively described as obstructing Jewish religious practices.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Secunda |first1=Shai |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qVv7AAAAQBAJ&dq=talmud+magi+sorcerers&pg=PA44 |title=The Iranian Talmud |date=2014 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press, Incorporated |isbn=9780812245707}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Mokhtarian |first1=Jason |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0sU7EAAAQBAJ&dq=talmud+zoroastrian+burial&pg=PA95 |title=Rabbis, Sorcerers, Kings, and Priests |publisher=University of California Press |year=2021 |isbn=9780520385726}}</ref> Several references include the sages criticizing practices performed by various magi. One instance is a description of the Zoroastrian priests exhuming corpses for their burial practices which directly interfered with the Jewish burial rites.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Secunda |first1=Shai |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qVv7AAAAQBAJ&dq=talmud+magi+sorcerers&pg=PA44 |title=The Talmud's Red Fence |date=2020 |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=9780192598882}}</ref> Another instance is a sage forbidding learning from the magi.<ref>Secunda, S. (2016). " This, but Also That": Historical, Methodological, and Theoretical Reflections on Irano-Talmudica. ''Jewish Quarterly Review'', ''106''(2), 233–241.</ref><ref>Secunda, S. (2005). Studying with a Magus/Like Giving a Tongue to a Wolf. ''Bulletin of the Asia Institute'', ''19'', 151–157.</ref><ref>Secunda, S. (2012). Parva – a Magus. In ''Shoshannat Yaakov'' (pp. 391–402). Brill.</ref>

==== Christianity ====
{{Main|Biblical Magi}}
[[File:Magi (1).jpg|thumb|Byzantine depiction of the [[Biblical Magi|Three Magi]] in a 6th-century mosaic at [[Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo]]]]
[[File:Adoracao dos magos de Vicente Gil.jpg|thumb|Conventional post-12th century depiction of the [[Biblical magi]] (''Adoração dos Magos'' by Vicente Gil). [[Balthazar (magus)|Balthasar]], the youngest magus, bears [[frankincense]] and represents Africa. To the left stands [[Caspar (magus)|Caspar]], middle-aged, bearing [[gold]] and representing Asia. On his knees is [[Biblical Magi|Melchior]], oldest, bearing [[myrrh]] and representing Europe]] <!-- Commented out because image was deleted: [[image:magi by brian whelan.jpg|thumb|''Magi'' by [[Brian Whelan]]]] -->

The word ''mágos'' (Greek) and its variants appear in both the [[Old Testament|Old]] and [[New Testament]]s.<ref>[[Gospel of Matthew]]2:1–12:9; [[Acts of the Apostles]] 8:9; 13:6, 8; and the [[Septuagint|Septuagint of Daniel]] 1:20; 2:2, 2:10, 2:27; 4:4; 5:7, 5:11, 5:15).</ref> Ordinarily this word is translated "magician" or "sorcerer" in the sense of illusionist or fortune-teller, and this is how it is translated in all of its occurrences (e.g. [[Acts of the Apostles|Acts]] 13:6) except for the [[Gospel of Matthew]], where, depending on translation, it is rendered "wise man" ([[KJV]], [[Revised Standard Version|RSV]]) or left untranslated as ''Magi'', typically with an explanatory note ([[NIV]]). However, early church fathers, such as [[Justin Martyr|St. Justin]], [[Origen]], [[St. Augustine]] and [[St. Jerome]], did not make an exception for the Gospel, and translated the word in its ordinary sense, i.e. as "magician".<ref name="CathEnc">{{citation |last=Drum |first=W. |date=1910 |chapter=Magi |title=The Catholic Encyclopedia |location=New York |publisher=Robert Appleton Company |chapter-url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09527a.htm}}</ref> The Gospel of Matthew states that [[Biblical Magi|magi]] visited the infant [[Jesus]] to do him homage shortly after his birth ({{Bibleverse-nb||Matthew|2:1–2:12|9}}). The gospel describes how magi from the east were notified of the birth of a king in [[Judea|Judaea]] by the appearance of his star. Upon their arrival in [[Jerusalem]], they visited [[Herod the Great|King Herod]] to determine the location of the [[Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament#King of the Jews|king of the Jews]]' birthplace. Herod, disturbed, told them that he had not heard of the child, but informed them of a prophecy that the [[Messiah]] would be born in [[Bethlehem]]. He then asked the magi to inform him when they find the child so that he himself may also pay homage to the child. Guided by the [[Star of Bethlehem]], the wise men found the infant Jesus in a house. They paid homage to him, and presented him with "gifts of gold and of frankincense and of myrrh." (2.11) In a dream they are warned not to return to Herod, and therefore return to their homes by taking another route. Since its composition in the late 1st century, numerous apocryphal stories have embellished the gospel's account.{{Citation needed|date=September 2021}} [[Matthew 2:16]] implies that Herod learned from the wise men that up to two years had passed since the birth, which is why [[Massacre of the Innocents|all male children two years or younger were slaughtered]].

In addition to the more famous story of [[Simon Magus]] found in chapter 8, the ''[[Book of Acts]]'' ({{Bibleverse-nb||Acts|13:6–11|}}) also describes another magus who acted as an advisor of [[Sergius Paulus]], the Roman [[proconsul]] at [[Paphos]] on the island of [[Cyprus]], a Jew named Bar-Iesous (son of Jesus), or alternatively [[Elymas]]. (Another Cypriot magus named Atomos is referenced by [[Josephus]], working at the court of [[Antonius Felix|Felix]] at [[Caesarea Maritima|Caesarea]].)

One of the non-canonical Christian sources, the [[Syriac Infancy Gospel]], provides, in its third chapter, a story of the wise men of the East which is very similar to much of the story in Matthew. This account cites Zoradascht (Zoroaster) as the source of the prophecy that motivated the wise men to seek the infant Jesus.<ref>{{Cite web |url= https://archive.org/stream/apocryphalnewtes00honeuoft#page/40/mode/2up |title=The Apocryphal Books of the New Testament |last=Hone |first=William |year=1890 |via=Internet Archive |publisher=Gebbie & Co., Publishers, Philadelphia |access-date=20 October 2017}}</ref>

==== Islam ====
{{main|Majus}}
In Arabic, "Magians" (''[[majus]]'') is the term for [[Zoroastrianism|Zoroastrians]]. The term is mentioned in the Quran, in [[sura 22]] verse 17, where the "Magians" are mentioned alongside the [[Islam and Judaism|Jews]], the [[Sabians]] and the [[Nasrani (Arabic term for Christian)|Christians]] in a list of religions who will be judged on the [[Islamic eschatology|Day of Resurrection]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Surah Al-Hajj – 1–78 |url=https://quran.com/al-hajj |access-date=2024-06-21 |website=Quran.com |language=en}}</ref>

=== Eastern ===

==== Dharmic ====
[[File:6th-century Brihat Samhita of Varahamihira, 1279 CE Hindu text palm leaf manuscript, Pratima lakshana, Sanskrit, Nepalaksara script, folio 1 talapatra from a Buddhist monastery, 1v, 2r 2v leaves.jpg|thumb|Brihat Samhita of [[Varahamihira]], 1279 CE palm leaf manuscript, Pratima lakshana, Sanskrit]]
In India, the [[Maga Brahmin|Sakaldwipiya Brahmins]] are considered to be the descendants of the ten Maga (Sanskrit {{Lang|sa|मग}}) priests who were invited to conduct worship of [[Mitra (Hindu god)|Mitra]] ([[Surya]]) at Mitravana ([[Multan Sun Temple|Multan]]), as described in the [[Samba Purana]], [[Bhavishya Purana]] and the [[Mahabharata]]. Their original home was a mythological region called [[Śākadvīpa]]. According to [[Varahamihira]] (c. 505 – c. 587), the statue of the Sun god (Mitra), is represented as wearing the "northern" (Central Asian) dress, specifically with horse riding boots. Some [[Brahmin]] communities of India trace their descent from the Magas. Some classical astronomers and mathematicians of India such are Varahamihira are considered to be the descendants of the Magas.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Puttaswamy |first1=T. K. |title=Mathematical Achievements of Pre-modern Indian Mathematicians |date=2012 |publisher=Newnes |isbn=978-0-12-397913-1 |page=141 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8oVRSu692qoC&q=varahamihira%20maga&pg=PA141 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Biswas |first1=Dilip Kumar |editor1-last=Law |editor1-first=Narendra Nath |title=The Maga Ancestry of Varahamihira |journal=The Indian Historical Quarterly |date=September 1949 |volume=25 |issue=3 |page=175 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.99782/page/n203/mode/2up}}</ref>

Varahamihira specifies that installation and consecration of the Sun images should be done by the Magas. [[al-Biruni]] mentions that the priests of the Sun Temple at Multan were Magas. The Magas had colonies in a number of places in India, and were the priests at [[Konark]], [[Martanda]] and other sun temples.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Chattopadhyaya |first1=Sudhakar |editor1-last=Law |editor1-first=Narendra Nath |title=The Achaemenids and India |journal=The Indian Historical Quarterly |date=June 1950 |volume=26 |issue=2 |pages=100–117 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.99783/page/n116/mode/2up}}</ref>

==== Chinese shamanism ====
{{main|Wu (shaman)#Etymologies}}
[[File:巫-bronze.svg|thumb|upright|Chinese [[Bronzeware script]] for ''[[Wu (shaman)|wu]]'' 巫 "shaman"]]

[[Victor H. Mair]] (1990) suggested that Chinese ''[[Wu (shaman)|wū]]'' (巫 "shaman; witch, wizard; magician") may originate as a loanword from [[Old Persian]] *''maguš'' "magician; magi". Mair reconstructs an [[Old Chinese]] *''{{Transliteration|och|m<sup>y</sup>ag}}''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mair |first=Victor H. |author-link=Victor H. Mair |date=1990 |title=Old Sinitic *Myag, Old Persian Maguš and English Magician |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23351579 |journal=Early China |volume=15 |pages=27–47 |doi=10.1017/S0362502800004995 |jstor=23351579 |s2cid=192107986 |issn=0362-5028 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> The reconstruction of Old Chinese forms is somewhat speculative. The [[Velar consonant|velar]] final ''-g'' in Mair's *''{{Transliteration|och|m<sup>y</sup>ag}}'' (巫) is evident in several Old Chinese reconstructions (Dong Tonghe's *''m<sup>y</sup>wag'', Zhou Fagao's *''mjwaγ'', and [[Li Fanggui]]'s *''mjag''), but not all ([[Bernhard Karlgren]]'s *''m<sup>y</sup>wo'' and Axel Schuessler's *''ma'').

Mair adduces the discovery of two figurines with unmistakably Caucasoid or Europoid features dated to the 8th century BC, found in a 1980 excavation of a [[Zhou dynasty]] palace in [[Fufeng County]], [[Shaanxi]] Province. One of the figurines is marked on the top of its head with an incised '''☩''' graph.{{Citation needed|date=March 2023}}

Mair's suggestion is based on a proposal by [[Jao Tsung-I]] (1990), which connects the "[[cross potent]]" [[bronzeware script]] glyph for ''wu'' {{Lang-zh|c=巫|labels=no}} with the same shape found in Neolithic West Asia, specifically a cross potent carved in the shoulder of a goddess figure of the [[Halaf period]].<ref>''Ming-pao yueh-kan'' 25.9 (September 1990). English translation: [http://sino-platonic.org/complete/spp026_silk_road_writing.pdf Questions on the Origin of Writing Raised by the 'Silk Road'], Sino-Platonic Papers, 26 (September 1991).</ref>

== Usage in contemporary times ==
In the 1980s, [[Saddam Hussein]]'s [[Ba'ath Party]] used the [[quran]]ic term ''[[majus]]'' during the [[Iran–Iraq War]] as an [[List of ethnic slurs|ethnic slur]] against [[Iran]]ians, both verbally and even in official documents. A 2000 paper elaborated the usage's [[propaganda]] significance:<blockquote>"By referring to the Iranians in these documents as ''majus'', the security apparatus [implied] that the Iranians [were] not [[Munafiq|sincere Muslims]], but rather [[Crypto-paganism|covertly practice their pre-Islamic beliefs]]. Thus, in their eyes, Iraq's war took on the dimensions of not only a struggle for [[Ba'athism|Arab nationalism]], but also a [[Jihad|campaign in the name of Islam]]."<ref>{{cite web |author=Al-Marashi, Ibrahim |year=2000 |title=The Mindset of Iraq's Security Apparatus |url=http://www.cambridgesecurity.net/pdf/iraqi-mindset.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080411114823/http://www.cambridgesecurity.net/pdf/iraqi-mindset.pdf |archive-date=2008-04-11 |publisher=Cambridge University: Centre of International Studies |page=5}}</ref></blockquote>

==See also==
* [[Anachitis]] ('stone of necessity') – stone used to call up spirits from water by Magi in antiquity
* [[Epiphany (holiday)|Epiphany]] (January 6) – a Christian holiday marking the visit of the Magi to the Christ Child
* {{annotated link|Fire temple}}

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{citation |last=Lendering |first=Jona |author-link=Jona Lendering |title=Magians |location=Amsterdam |publisher=Livius.org |date=2006 |url=https://www.livius.org/articles/concept/magians/ |access-date=2024-01-06}}.

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080704163709/http://www.paradoxplace.com/Church_Stuff/Christian_Themes/The_Magi.htm  The Magi in Mosaics, Paintings and Sculpture]

[[Category:Magi| ]]
[[Category:Magicians (supernatural)]]
[[Category:History of astrology]]
[[Category:History of magic]]
[[Category:Medes]]
[[Category:Ancient Iranian religion]]
[[Category:Achaemenid Empire]]
[[Category:Zoroastrian priests| ]]
[[Category:Chaldea]]