Magi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For other uses of Magi and Magus, see Magi (disambiguation)
The Magi (singular Magus, from Latin, via Greek μάγος ; Old English: Mage; from Old Persian maguš) was a tribe from ancient Media, who - prior to the absorption of the Medes into the Persian Empire in 550 BC - were responsible for religious and funerary practices.
Later they accepted the Zoroastrian religion, however, not without changing the original message of its founder, Zarathustra (Zoroaster), to what is today known as "Zurvanism", which would become the predominant form of Zoroastrianism during the Sassanid era (AD 226–650). No traces of Zurvanism exist beyond the 10th century.
The best known Magi are the "Wise Men from the East" in the Bible, whose graves Marco Polo claimed to have seen in what is today the district of Saveh, in Tehran, Iran. In English, the term may refer to a shaman, sorcerer, or wizard; it is the origin of the English words magic and magician.
Contents |
[edit] Etymology
[edit] 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 is never again so much as mentioned."<ref name="Zaehner_1956">Zaehner, Richard Charles (1956). The Teachings of the Magi. New York: MacMillan.</ref> In other accounts, "we hear of Magi not only in Persia, Parthia, Bactria, Chorasmia, Aria, Media, and among the Sakas, but also in non-Iranian lands like Arabia, 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 (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"><ref>Zaehner, Richard Charles (1939). "{{{title}}}". BSOS IX.</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, 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">Boyce, Mary (1975). A History of Zoroastrianism, Vol. I. Leiden/Köln: Brill.</ref> The adjectival form survives as maghvand in Classical Persian, 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.<ref name="Zaehner_1956" /> 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 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">Boyce, Mary (1975). A History of Zoroastrianism, Vol. I. Leiden/Köln: Brill, 10-11.</ref><ref>Benveniste, Emil (1938). "Les Mages dans l'Acien Iran". Publications de la Société des Études Iraniennes 15.</ref><ref>Eilers, W. (1953). "{{{title}}}". Abhandlung der Akadamie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur in Mainz 2.</ref><ref>Gershevitch, Ilya (1964). "{{{title}}}". JNES XXIII.</ref> Modern Persian mobed, derived from Middle Persian magu-pati, 'lord priest', is the unequivocal term for a Zoroastrian priest of a certain rank.
[edit] 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), 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 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[citation needed] (*magh-) appears to have expressed power or ability, continued e.g. in Attic Greek mekhos (cf. mechanics) and in Germanic magan (English may), magts (English might, the expression "might and magic" thus being a figura etymologica).
[edit] English language
The plural Magi entered the English language in ca. 1200, referring to the Magi mentioned in 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.
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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 Empires 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. 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 era (AD 226–650) that they would again achieve prominence.
The Book of Jeremiah (39:3, 39:13) gives a title rab mag "chief magus" to the head of the Magi, Nergal Sharezar (Septuagint, Vulgate and KJV mistranslate Rabmag as a separate character). It's also believed by some Christians that the Jewish prophet Daniel was "rab mag" 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 (Daniel 4:9; 5: 11).
[edit] The Magi in India
In India there is a atv Maga, Bhojaka or Shakadvipi Brahmins. Their major centers are in Rajasthan in Western India and near Gaya in Bihar. According to Bhavishya Purana and other texts, they were invited to settle in Punjab to conduct the worship of Lord Sun (Mitra or Surya in Sanskrit). Bhavishya Purana explicitly associates them to the rituals of the (now extinct) Zurvanite brand of Zoroastrianism. [citation needed]
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. The term "Mihir" in India is regarded to represent the Maga influence.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- The Majoos (Urdu)
- The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry
- The Chaldean MagiThe Complete Online Library of Ancient Sources.de:Mager
