Magi
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[[Image:Magi (1).jpg|thumb|right|250px|The [[Biblical Magi|Wise Men]] are given the names [[Gaspar]], [[Biblical Magi|Melchior]], and [[Biblical Magi|Balthasar]] in this [[Romanesque art|Romanesque]] [[mosaic]] from the [[Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo|Basilica of St Apollinarius]] in [[Ravenna]], [[Italy]]. In fact, their number is unknown as it was never stated in the [[Bible]]; only that there were three gifts — the supposition that this implied three givers is speculation.]]
[[Image:France Strasbourg Magi.jpg|thumb|right|250px|[[Gothic architecture|Gothic]] depiction of the adoration of the Magi from [[Strasbourg Cathedral]]]]
[[Image:USA Massachusetts Boston Trinity Nativity-window.jpg|thumb|right|250px|''The Worship of the Magi'' window at [[Trinity Church, Boston]], designed by [[Edward Burne-Jones]] and executed by [[William Morris]], 1882]]
The '''Magi''' (singular '''Magus''', from Latin, via [[Greek language|Greek]] μάγος ; [[Old English language|Old English]]: '''Mage'''; from [[Persian language|Persian]] ''maguš'' and [[Kurdish language|Kurdish]] ''mâgî'') were a tribe from ancient [[Medes|Media]]<ref>Herodotus ''History'', volume i, section 101.</ref>, who — prior to the establishment the [[Achaemenid Empire]] in 550 BC — were responsible for religious and funerary practices of the [[ancient Iranian peoples]].
Later they accepted the [[Zoroastrianism|Zoroastrian]] religion and developed it into [[Zurvanism]], which would become the predominant form of Zoroastrianism during the [[Sassanid Empire|Sassanid era]] (AD 226–650). No traces of Zurvanism exist beyond the [[10th century]]. In English, the term may refer to a [[shamanism|shaman]], [[Magician (paranormal)|sorcerer]] or [[Wizard (fantasy)|wizard]]; it is the origin of the words [[magic (paranormal)|magic]] and magician.
==Etymology==
===In Indo-Iranian languages===
There are two different meanings of the term 'Magi': "From Herodotus' ''Histories'' and from subsequent accounts of them, it is quite clear that the Magi were in fact a [[sacerdotal]] [[caste]] whose ethnic origin <!-- inside direct quote -->is never again so much as mentioned."<ref name="Zaehner_1956">{{cite book| last =Zaehner|first= Richard Charles|title=The Teachings of the Magi|location=New York|publisher= MacMillan| year= 1956}}</ref> In other accounts, "we hear of Magi not only in [[Fars|Persia]], [[Parthia]], [[Bactria]], [[Chorasmia]], [[Aria (satrapy)|Aria]], [[Medes|Media]], and among the [[Sakas]], but also in non-Iranian lands like [[Samaria]], [[Ethiopia]], and [[Egypt]]." "It is, therefore, quite likely that the sacerdotal ''caste'' of the Magi was distinct from the Median ''tribe'' of the same name."<ref name="Zaehner_1956" />
In the texts of the [[Avesta]], the term only appears once, as ([[Avestan language|Younger Avestan]]) ''moghu.tbiš'' meaning "hostile to the ''moghu''", that is, hostile to "both the teaching of Zoroaster and the community that accepted that teaching."<ref name="Zaehner_1939">{{cite journal|last= Zaehner|first=Richard Charles|journal=BSOS|volume=IX|year=1939}}</ref> This sense of the term, which the [[Middle Persian]] authors of the ''Zend'' commentaries adduce to mean 'God's gift', is clearly related to [[Vedic Sanskrit]] ''magha'' (मघा), meaning 'riches' or 'gift'.<ref name= "Zaehner_1956" /> In its adjectival form ''maghavan'', it appears to refer to a person enriched by the teachings of Zoroaster or one "possessed of this gospel."<ref name="Boyce_1975_251">{{cite book|last = Boyce|first= Mary|authorlink=Mary Boyce|title=A History of Zoroastrianism, Vol. I|year=1975|publisher = Brill| location=Leiden/Köln|page=251}}</ref> The adjectival form survives as ''maghvand'' in Classical Persian<!--Pahlavi-->, where it "seems to mean something like 'adorning'."<ref name="Zaehner_1956" />
The other meaning, evident as Herodotus' ''magoi'' for the Median tribe, derives from [[Old Persian]] ''magu'' and [[Proto-Kurdish]] ''magî''. Notwithstanding the similarity to the Avestan language word, "there is no reason to suppose that the western Iranian form ''magu'' (Magus) has exactly the same meaning."<ref name="Zaehner_1956" /> "It may be, however, that Avestan ''moghu'' 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'' (priestly) tribe', hence a priest."<ref name= "Boyce_1975_10_11">{{cite book|last=Boyce|first=Mary|authorlink=Mary Boyce|title=A History of Zoroastrianism, Vol. I|year=1975|publisher=Brill|location=Leiden/Köln|pages= 10–11}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Benveniste|first=Emil|title=Les Mages dans l'Acien Iran|journal= Publications de la Société des Études Iraniennes|volume=15|year=1938}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last= Eilers|first=W. | journal=Abhandlung der Akadamie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur in Mainz|volume=2 | year=1953| pages =74–77<!--77 n. 2-->}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Gershevitch|first=Ilya|journal= JNES |volume=XXIII|year=1964|pages=36}}</ref> [[Persian language|Modern Persian]] ''mobed'', derived from [[Middle Persian]] ''magu-pati'', 'lord priest', is the unequivocal term for a Zoroastrian priest of a certain rank.
===Greek use of ''magos''===
While, in [[Herodotus]], ''magos'' refers to the priestly caste and tribe of the [[Medes]], (1.101) said to be able to interpret dreams (7.37), it could also be used for any enchanter or wizard, and especially to charlatans or quacks (see also [[goetia]], see also [[theurgy]]), especially by philosophers such as [[Heraclitus]] who took a sceptical view of the art of an enchanter, and in comic literature ([[Lucian]]'s ''[[Lucios or the Ass]]''). In [[Hellenistic civilization|Hellenism]], ''magos'' started to be used as an adjective, meaning "magical", as in ''magas techne'' "ars magica" (e.g. used by [[Philostratus]]).
The [[PIE root]] ''*magh-'' appears to have expressed power or ability, continued e.g. in [[Attic Greek]] ''mekhos'' (cf. [[mechanics]]) and in [[Germanic languages|Germanic]] ''magan'' (English ''may''), ''magts'' (English ''might'', the expression "might and magic" thus being a ''[[figura etymologica]]'').<ref>Pokorny, [[IEW]] s.v. ''magh-''.</ref>
===English language===
The plural ''Magi'' entered the English language in ca. [[1200]], referring to [[Biblical Magi|the Magi mentioned]] in {{bibleref|Matthew|2:1}}, the singular being attested only considerably later, in the late [[14th century]], when it was borrowed from [[Old French]] in the meaning ''magician'' together with ''magic''.
===Arabic Language===
It is speculated that the old Persian word ''maguš'' is the origin of the Arabic word ''[[majus]]'' ([[Arabic]]: مجوس ) which is used generally to describe Old Persian religions.
===Chinese Language===
[[Victor H. Mair]] provides archaeological and linguistic evidence suggesting that Chinese ''wū'' (巫 "shaman; witch, wizard; magician", [[Old Chinese]] *''m<sup>y</sup>ag'') was a loanword from [[Old Persian]] *''maguš'' "magician; magi".<ref>Mair, Victor H. (1990). "Old Sinitic *''Myag'', Old Persian ''Maguš'' and English ''Magician'',” ''Early China'' 15: 27–47.</ref> He describes:
<blockquote>The recent discovery at an early Chou site of two figurines with unmistakably Caucasoid or Europoid feature is startling prima facie evidence of East-West interaction during the first half of the first millennium Before the Current Era. It is especially interesting that one of the figurines bears on the top of his head the clearly incised graph '''☩''' which identifies him as a ''wu'' (< *''m<sup>y</sup>ag'').<ref> Mair, 27.</ref></blockquote>
These figurines, which are dated circa 8th century BCE, were discovered during a 1980 excavation of a [[Zhou Dynasty]] palace in Fufeng County (扶风县, [[Shaanxi]] Province).
The modern [[Chinese character]] [[Wikt:巫|巫]], which combines [[Wikt:工|工]] (''gōng'' "work") and [[Wikt:人|人]] (''rén'' "person") doubled, is simplified from the [[Seal Script]] characters; however, the earliest [[Bronzeware Script]] character for 巫 is a cross with T-shaped [[potent]]s.<ref>Seal and Bronze Characters for 巫[http://www.internationalscientific.org/CharacterASP/CharacterEtymology.aspx?characterInput=%E5%B7%AB&submitButton1=Etymology]</ref>
Mair identifies this ancient Chinese "shaman" character with a Western symbol of magicians, the "Cross Potent" ('''☩''', see [[cross]]), which "can hardly be attributable to sheer coincidence or chance independent origination."
Compared with the [[linguistic reconstruction]]s of many [[Indo-European languages]], the current reconstruction of Old (or "Archaic") Chinese is more provisional. This [[velar]] final ''-g'' in Mair's *''m<sup>y</sup>ag'' (巫) is evident in several Old Chinese reconstructions (Dong Tonghe's *''m<sup>y</sup>wag'', Zhou Fagao's *''mjwaɣ'', and [[Li Fanggui]]'s *''mjag''), but not all ([[Bernhard Karlgren]]'s *''m<sup>y</sup>wo'' and Axel Schuessler's *''ma'').
===Kurdish use of ''mancî''===
The ancient [[Medes]] are said to be one of many Iranic tribes that composed a new [[Kurdish people|Kurdish]] ethnic pool over 2,000 years ago,<ref>V. Minorsky, Studies in Caucasian History. London: Taylor's Foreign Press, 1953</ref> and Magi refers precisely to one priestly caste within the [[Medes]] social structure and the followers of their teachings.<ref>[http://www.ldolphin.org/magi.html Who Were the Magi?<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Scholars affirm that the name ''mâgî'' survives in the modern [[Kurdish language]] through the traditional endonym of Kurds, [[Kurmanji]], used by native speakers and members that comprise the [[Kurds|Kurdish]] ethnic group.<ref>E.B. Soane, Grammar of the Kurmanji or Kurdish Language, Part I, p 5, London 1913</ref> The word ''mancî'' or ''manji'' is a suffix of the word [[Kurmanji|Kurmancî]], which today refers to the sub-group of Kurds who speak a Kurdish dialect of the [[Kurmanji]] branch. The prefix simply means ''child'' or ''children''. Scholars affirm that the Magi were a hereditary priesthood of ancient tribes of Kurdish ancestry.<ref>[http://www.khouse.org/articles/1999/142/ A Christmas Anticipation Who Were the Magi? - Chuck Missler - Koinonia House<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
==History in the Persian Empire==
According to [[Herodotus]] i. 101, which lists the names of the six tribes or castes of the [[Medes]], the Magi were a hereditary caste of priests. They were highly influential in Median society until the unification of the Median and [[Persian Empire]]s in [[550 BC]], after which their power was curtailed by [[Cyrus the Great]] and by Cyrus' son [[Cambyses II]]. The Magi revolted against Cambyses and set up a rival claimant to the throne, one of their own, who took the name of [[Smerdis]]. Smerdis and his forces were defeated by the Persians under [[Darius I of Persia|Darius I]]. The Magi continued to exist in unified Persia, but their influence was limited after this and other political setbacks, and it was not until the [[Sassanid Empire|Sassanid era]] (AD 226–650) that they would again achieve prominence.
The ''[[Book of Jeremiah]]'' ({{bibleverse||Jer|39:3|31}}, {{bibleverse||Jer|39:13|31}}) gives a title ''rab mag'' (Master Mage/Magus/מָג) to the head of the Magi, [[Nergal Sharezar]] ([[Septuagint]], [[Vulgate]] and [[KJV]] mistranslate ''Rabmag'' as a separate character){{Fact|date=February 2008}}. It's also believed by some Christians that the Jewish prophet Daniel was ''rab hartumaya'' (master of sacred scribes) and entrusted a Messianic vision (to be announced in due time by a "star") to a secret sect of the Magi for its eventual fulfillment ({{bibleverse||Dan|4:9|31}}; {{bibleverse||Dan|5:11|31}}).{{Fact|date=March 2008}}
==The Magi in India==
In [[India]] there is a community termed ''[[Maga]]'', ''[[Bhojaka]]'', ''[[Suryadhwaja]]'' or [[Sakaldwipiya]] [[Brahmins]]. Their major centers are in [[Uttar Pradesh|Western UP]], [[Kashmir]], [[Rajasthan]] in [[Western India]] and near [[Gaya, India|Gaya]] in [[Bihar]]. According to [[Bhavishya Purana]] and other texts, they were invited to settle in [[Punjab region|Punjab]] to conduct the worship of Lord Sun ([[Mitra (Vedic)|Mitra]] or [[Surya]] in Sanskrit). Bhavishya Purana explicitly associates them to the rituals of the (now extinct) [[Zurvanism|Zurvanite]] brand of [[Zoroastrianism]]. <ref>http://shakdwipi.com/historyintroduction.htm/</ref> The members of the community still worship in Sun temples in India. They are also hereditary priests in several [[Jain]] temples in [[Gujarat]] and Rajasthan. Bhojakas are mentioned in the copperplates of the [[Kadamba]] dynasty (4-6th cent) as managers of Jain institutions. Images of Lord Sun in India are shown wearing a central Asian dress, complete with boots<ref>The Bhavisya Purana (139, 13-15) records</ref>
<ref>‘Indo-Iranian relations’ by Dr. Tara Chand, p 4.</ref><ref>‘India and Iran: A Dialogue’, paper by Prof. Lokesh Chandra.</ref><ref>`The History of the parsees of India’ paper by P.P. Balsara.</ref>. The term "Mihir" in India is regarded to represent the [[Maga]] influence.
Shepherds in Bihar are also called [[Dhangar|Maghi]].
==Esoteric Christianity and Mages==
Some of those who still practice modern [[esoteric christianity]], whose chose to practice either traditions of [[theurgy]] or [[goetia]] choose to identify as mages, or [[mystics]] (see also [[christian mysticism]]). Not all Esoteric Christians practice either theurgy or goetia, but [[Kabbalah]], is also a main practice for the modern esoteric christian today. Esoteric Christianity in both modern and ancient times has been the type of Christianity that let the disciple be able to practice forms of [[High Magic]], as Mages (theurgy, goetia, kabbalah) that was not against biblical laws. The texts the had examples of mages as judeo-christians (see [[Judeo-Christianity]]) and esoteric christians were the [[grimoire]], and common modern roots of [[renaissance magic]], but other ancient texts that described this were also availibe, even the bible. (see also [[magician]])
A Mage may also refer in accordance to Renaissance Magic, once who practices prophetic, grimoiric or solomonic style magic.
== Popular culture ==
* The three Magi are major characters in [[Christopher Moore (author)|Christopher Moore]]'s light-hearted novel about the life of [[Jesus]], ''[[Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal]]''.
* The Magi are the three super-computers, Melchior, Balthasar and Casper, that appear in the anime series ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion (TV)|Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'', which features many images from Judeo-Christian stories.
* In the game [[Chrono Trigger]], the Gurus of Life, Time, and Reason are named Melchior, Belthazar, and Gaspar. Magus is also the name of Frog's Arch Nemesis.
* In the game [[Xenogears]] there are ''Three Wisemen of Shevat'' named Melchior, Balthazar, and Gaspar.
* The [[Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn]] used the title of "Magus" to refer to the second-highest level of attainment in their degree system. This system, with associated titles, would later be adopted by [[Aleister Crowley]] for his occult order [[A∴A∴]], wherein the title "Magus" designated the highest attainable grade of magic (considered the mastery of [[Jesus]], [[Gautama Buddha|Buddha]], [[Lao Tzu]], etc.). To be a Magi means to journey to give gifts.
* In the game ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'', the term Magos is used to describe a high ranking official of the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]], a para-religious cult dedicated to technology.
* In the book ''The Quest'' by Wilbur Smith, the central character, Taita, is referred to as "Magus," a long-lived, all-knowing sage and savant who has mastered the supernatural and attained magical powers. He embodies the Truth and seeks to destroy the Lie.
* The guards of Imhotep's tomb in [[The Mummy (1999 film)|The Mummy]] and [[The Mummy Returns]] are actually an ancient group of people called the [[Medjay]], but people often mistake them for the Magi.
== See also ==
*[[Kalku]]
*[[Les Deux Magots]]
*[[Magician (paranormal)|Magician]]
*[[Magic in the Greco-Roman World]]
*[[Shaman]]
*[[Seid (shamanic magic)]]
*[[Warlock]]
*[[Wizard (fantasy)|Wizard]]
*[[Gabriel]], [[Michael (archangel)]], [[Raphael]]
*[[Wise Men from the East]]
*[[Esoteric Christianity]]
*[[Zoroastrianism]]
*[[Renaissance magic]]
== References ==
{{reflist}}
== External links ==
*[http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=00BfVY The Majoos] (Urdu)
*[http://www.auburn.edu/~vestmon/Gift_of_the_Magi.html The Gift of the Magi] by O. Henry
*[http://www.magoi.org The Holy Order of the Dream Magoi]
*[http://www.thedyinggod.com/chaldeanmagi/index.html The Chaldean Magi]The Complete Online Library of Ancient Sources.
*{{CathEncy|wstitle=Magi}}
* [http://www.livius.org/maa-mam/magians/magians.html Livius.org: Magians]
*[http://www.northernway.org]
[[Category:Astrologers]]
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[[Category:Magic (paranormal)]]
[[Category:Religion in India]]
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