Robert L. STE\yART. MAGDALENE.— See preceding art., and Mary, No. 2.
MAGI ifj-dyoi, AV .and RV 'wise men'). — The only reference to Magi in the Gospels occurs in Mt 2, where we have the well-kno-\\"n stor^- of the visit of the Oriental Magi to the infant Jesus. The following article will deal Mith (1) certain diffi- culties in the n.arrative, (2) the historical value of
the narrative, (3) the legendary additions to the nan-ative.
1. The difficulties are occasioned chiefly by the vague and indefinite character of the record. The first question tliat suggests itself is, What class of people had the Evangelist in his mind Avhen he used the term ixd-yoi ': Sow, according to Herodotus (i. 101), the Magi were a Median tribe Avhich in the time of Gaumata, the pseudo-Smerdis, made a determined attempt to substitute Median for Per- sian rule (ib. iii. 61 tl. ; Ctesias, Pcrs. 41 (10) tt'.; Justin, i. 9. 10 ; Agathias, ii. 26). Through the failure of this revolt the Magi lost all political importance, but they wei-e influential as tlie priestly caste (Herod, i. 132 ; Amm. Marc, xxiii. 6 ; cf. the Levites among the Hebrews, SBE iv. pp. Ixii, Ixiii), and as religious in.'^tructors of the Persian kings (Cic. de Divin. i. 41 ; Philo, de Specifd. Lcff 18 ; Pliny, HN xxx. 1). The intro- duction of this Magian priesthood is ascribed to Cyrus (Xen. C'yr. viii. 1. 23) ; and classical writers conversant with Persian att'airs use the word magus as synonymous with ' priest' (Apul. ApoL i. 25, 26 ; cf. fetralx*, pp. 732, 733 ; Philo, Quod omn. proh. lib. 11; Dio Chrj-sost. Or. 36, p. 449, 49, p. 538; Diog. Laert. ptrocem. 6 ; Porphyr. de Abstinent, iv. 16 ; and the lexicons of Hesych. and Suidas). Darius Hystaspis made Mazdaism the religion of the Empire (Behistun inscr., and Saj'ce, Ancient Empires of the East), and from his time, at any rate, — for how long before, if at all, is disputed,^ the Magi are identified with tiie Zoroastrian wor- ship, and are represented as the disciples of Zoro- aster (Plato, Alrib. i. 122 ; Plutarch, de Is. et Os. 46, 47 ; Pliny, HN xxx. 1 ; Apul. Apol. 26 ; Diog. Laert. procem. 2 ; Amm. Marc, xxiii. 6 ; Agathias, ii. 24 ; Aug. de Civ. Dei, xxi. 14). In the Ave-sta, however, the priests are called, not magi, but dthravan^s ; though even in the sacred texts the word ' magi ' is found in a few instances. Finally, it may be noted that these Median magi are credited with skill in philosojihy (Strabo, pp. 23, 24; Nicol. Damasc. //•. 66 ; Diog. l^&Gxt. procem. 1), natural science (Philo, Quod omn. prub. lib. 11 ; Dio Chrysost. Or. 49, p. 538), and medicine (Pliny, HN xxx. 1, cf. xxiv. 17). They are also described as interpreters of dreams (Herod, i. 107, 120, vii. 19), astrologers (i6. \'ii. 37; Plinj-, HX xxxvii. 9; Amm. Marc, xxiii. 6), soothsayers and diviners (Cic. de Divin. i. 41 ; Strabo, p. 762 ; Pliny, HN xxx. 2 ; Diog. Laert. prooem. 7 ; Aelian, Var. Hist. ii. 17 ; Amm. Marc, xxiii. 6).
In a technical sense, then, nutgi denoted the members of the sacerdotal class in the Per.sian Empire. But in the LXX Daniel the word is used to render the Heb. 'asJishaphim, AV ' astrologers,' of Babylonia (Dn 1-^ 22- w- ^ 4' 5'- "• i«. Some would explain the title Rab-mag in Jer 39^- ^^ as= ' cMef magian,' but without probability). More- over, classical wTiters sometimes confuse the Avords nutgi and Chaldcei (Ctes. Pers. 46 (15) ; Justin, xii. 13). Tiie latter term, however, is projierly used in Daniel (P 2-- *■ ^- i" 4^ o^- ^') and by classical authori- ties (Herod, i. 181, 183; Diod. Sic. ii. 29-31) to represent a class, or the class, of BaVjylonian priests or learned men (Driver, Daniel, pji. 12-16), re- nowned for their skill in astronomy, astrology, and sorcery (Cic. de Divin. i. 41, de Fato, 8, 9 ; Diod. Sic. li. 29-31 ; Strabo, p. 762 ; Curtius, v. 1 ; Apul. Flor. 15 ; Porph. Vit. Pijth. 6 ; Diog. Laert. procem. 6 ; cf. Lenormant, La magie chez les Chal- deens ; R. C. Thompson, Reports of the Magi- cians and Astrologers of Nineveh and Babylon ; W. L. King, Babylonian Magic and Sorcery ; Chantepie de la Saussaye, Lehrbuch der Religions- geschichte ; Jastrow, Religion of Babylonia and Assyria).
Lastly, the words magi and Chaldcei came to be
applied not onlj' to tlie members of a sacerdotal caste, but in a secondary sense to all those who cultivated magic arts (Soph. (Ed. Tyr. 387 ; Tac. Ann. ii. 27, xii. 22, 59; Juv. Sat. x. 94, with Mayor's note ; Dio Clirysost. Or. 36, p. 449). In Rabbinical writers this bad sense is predominant (Edersheim, Life and Times, i. p. 210), and the same may be said of the passages in the NT (other than Mt 2) in which magi are referred to (Ac 8»- 1' Simon Magus, 13«- " Elymas). In the LXX the Egyptian conjuring is described as fiajiKT] rfx*"? (Wis 17''). And Jerome says: 'Consuetude et sermo communis magos pro maleficis accepit ' (Hieron. Com. in Dan. 2, cf. Isid. Ety. viii. 9).