Maghrebi. See Aaron ha-Rishon.
Magi is the Latin form of the Greek term fidyoi, magians, rendered '■ wise men" in Matt, ii, 1, 7, 16, and occurring likewise in the singular ^layoc, "sorcerer," with reference to Elyraas (Acts xii, 6, 8). Compare the epithet Simon Magus. The term is still extant on the cuneiform inscriptions (see Olshausen, ad loc. Jlatt.). It corresponds to the Heb. 5'p, ]\[ag. The term magi was used as the name for priests and wise men among the Medes, Persians, and Babylonians. So the word Rul- mag, in our version of Jer. xxxix, 3, used as a proper name, projierly signifies the prince magvs or cliirf of the magi. Wliile the priests and literati were known by the general name of magi, they were also known by the name of irise men, and likewise Chaldwans (Isa. xliv, 52 ; Jer. 1, 35 ; Dan. ii, 12-27 ; iv, 6, 18 ; v, 7, 8, 11, 12, 15). To their number doul)tless belonged the astrologers and star-gazers (Isa, xlvii, 13). So, also, the Chaldee sooth- sayers and dream-interpreters either denote various or- ders of magi, or they are merely different names of the
MAGI
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MAGI
same general class (Dan. i, 20; ii, 2; x, 27; iv, 7; v, 7, 11), See Magician. In the following account of this important and interesting class, we largely use the arti- cles in Kitto's and Smith's Dictionaries.
I. FJymalorjy of the Name. — In the Pehlvi dialect of the Zend, niogh means jyriest (Hyde, Reliri. Vet. Pers. c. 31) ; and this is connected by phiiologists with the San- scrit mukat (great, fiiyac, and marjnus ; Anquetil du Perron's Zend- A vesta, ii, 5o5). The coincidence of a San- scrit miiiia, in the sense of "illusion, magic," is remark- able ; but it is probable that this, as well as the analo- gous (ireek wonl, is the derived rather than the original meaning (comp. Eichhoff, Vergkichung der Sprache, ed. Kaltschmidt, p. 231). Hyde {I. c.) notices another ety- mology given by Arabian authors, which makes the word = cropt-eared (jmrcis aurihus), but rejects it. Prideaux, on the other hand {Connection, under B.C. 522), accepts it, and seriously connects it with the story of the pseu- do-Smerdis Avho had lost his ears in Herod, iii, 69. Spanheim {Dub. Evang. xviii) speaks favorably, though not decisively, of a Hebrew etymology.
II. Their Original Seat. — This name has come to us through the Greeks as the proper designation of the priestly class among the Persians (Herod, i, 132, 140 ; Xenopli., Cyrop. viii, 1, 23; Plato, Alcib. i, 122; Diog. Laert. Promm. 1, 2 ; Cicero, De Divin. i, 41 ; Apul. Apol. p. 32 ed. Casaubon, p. 290 ed. Elmenhorst ; Porphyr. De Ahst. 1. iv. ; Hesych. s. v. Mayoc). It does not appear, however, that JNIagism was originally a Persian institu- tion, and it may be doubted if in its original form it ever existed among the Persians at all.
The earliest notice extant of the magi is in the prophecies of Jeremiah (xxxix, 3, 13), where mention is made of Kab-mag, a term which, though regarded in the A.V. as a proper name, is a compound of H'H and i'S, and signifies chief magus, after the analogy of such terms as D"1S-2'1 {chief eunuch), np/d-'l'^ {chief butler), etc. (.See below, § iv.) The Rab-mag of Jeremiah is the same as the Rab Signin ul kolChakimin (bs "pDSD 3"l ■p'Dpn ?D) of Daniel (ii, 48) ; the twv UQiuiv tTriinjpo- Taroc oi'c Bal3v\oji'ioi KaXoiJat XaXSaiovg of Diodorus Sic. (ii, 24) ; and the apxij-iaYOQ of the later Greek wri- ters (Sozomen, Hist. Eccles. i, 13). This indicates the ex- istence among the Chaldeans of the magian institute in a regular form, and as a recognised element in the state, at a period not later than GOO years B.C. In Jer. 1, 35, it is evidently the same class that is referred to mi- der the designation of the " wise men of Baljvlon." In the time of Daniel we find the institute in full force in Babylon (Dan. ii, 2, 12, 18, 24 ; iv, 3, 15 ; v, 7, 8). From him we learn that it comprised five classes — the Char- tummim, expounders of sacred writings and interpreters of signs (i, 20 ; ii, 2; v, 4) ; the A shaphini, conjurors {ii, 10 ; V, 7, 1 1 ; comp. xlvii, 9, 12) ; the Mekashephim, exor- cists, soothsayers, magicians, diviners (ii, 2 ; comp. Isa. xlvii, 9, 13 ; Jer. xxvii, 9) ; the Gozerim, casters of nativ- ities, astrologists (ii,27; v,7, 11); and the C/ia«(Zj»(, Chal- doeans in the narrower sense (ii, 5, 10 ; iv, 4 ; v, 7, etc. ; compare Ilengstenberg, Beitrdge, i, 343 sq. ; Hiivernick, Comment iib. Daniel, p. 52 ; Gesenius, Thes. ad voc). So much was Magism a Chaldajan institution that the term Chaldcean came to be applied as a synonym for the class (Diod. Sic. ii, 29 sq. ; Strabo, xvi, 7G2 ; Diog. Laertius, Procem. 1 ; Cicero, de Divinat. i, 1 ; Curtius, Hist, iii, 3, 6; Josephus, War, ii, 7, 3 ; Aul. Gellius, xv, 20, 2 ; Apulei- HS, A sin. ii, 228, etc.).
Whether Magism was indigenous in Chald;\?a, and was thence carried to the adjacent countries, or was de- rived by the Chaldreans from Assyria, it is impossible now to determine with any certainty. In favor of its Assyrian origin it has been uri;cd that the word 5'2 is found as the name of the Assyrian fire-priest (:Movers. i. 64, 240), and that the priests of the Assyrian Artemis at Ephesus were called Meg-Abyzi (Strabo, xiv, <;41). But on this nothing can be built, as we find the syllable