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The Magi (singular Magus, from Latin, via Greek μάγος ; Old English: Mage; from Persian maguš and Kurdish mâgî) were a tribe from ancient Media[1], 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 Zoroastrian religion and developed it into 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. In English, the term may refer to a shaman, sorcerer or wizard; it is the origin of the words magic and magician.
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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."[2] 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 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."[2]
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."[3] 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'.[2] In its adjectival form maghavan, it appears to refer to a person enriched by the teachings of Zoroaster or one "possessed of this gospel."[4] The adjectival form survives as maghvand in Classical Persian, where it "seems to mean something like 'adorning'."[2]
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."[2] "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."[5][6][7][8] Modern Persian mobed, derived from Middle Persian magu-pati, 'lord priest', is the unequivocal term for a Zoroastrian priest of a certain rank.
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 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 magan (English may), magts (English might, the expression "might and magic" thus being a figura etymologica).[9]
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.
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.
Victor H. Mair provides archaeological and linguistic evidence suggesting that Chinese wū (巫 "shaman; witch, wizard; magician", Old Chinese *myag) was a loanword from Old Persian *maguš "magician; magi".[10] He describes:
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 (< *myag).[11]
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 巫, which combines 工 (gōng "work") and 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 potents.[12] 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 reconstructions of many Indo-European languages, the current reconstruction of Old (or "Archaic") Chinese is more provisional. This velar final -g in Mair's *myag (巫) is evident in several Old Chinese reconstructions (Dong Tonghe's *mywag, Zhou Fagao's *mjwaɣ, and Li Fanggui's *mjag), but not all (Bernhard Karlgren's *mywo and Axel Schuessler's *ma).
The ancient Medes are said to be one of many Iranic tribes that composed a new Kurdish ethnic pool over 2,000 years ago,[13] and Magi refers precisely to one priestly caste within the Medes social structure and the followers of their teachings.[14] 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 Kurdish ethnic group.[15] The word mancî or manji is a suffix of the word 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.[16]
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 (Jer 39:3, Jer 39:13) 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)citation needed. 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 (Dan 4:9; Dan 5:11).citation needed
In India there is a community termed Maga, Bhojaka, Suryadhwaja or Sakaldwipiya Brahmins. Their major centers are in Western UP, Kashmir, 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. [17] 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[18] [19][20][21]. The term "Mihir" in India is regarded to represent the Maga influence.
Shepherds in Bihar are also called Maghi.
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Some of those who still practice modern esoteric christianity, choose to practice either traditions of theurgy or goetia choose to identify as mages, adepts, 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 lets 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 grimoires, and common modern roots of renaissance magic, but other ancient texts that described this were also availible, 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.
The idea of calling an esoteric christian (who practices theurgy, goetia, or cabala) a mage or mystic is fairly a new idea, seemingly because in medieval and renaissance periods, a theurgist (magician, mage, etc.) was already considered to be well-known in esoteric and other hermetic philosiphies, and thus no further citation was required on thier part. The word "Mage", or "Magus" in the occult was meant to mean "Master", one who was fully trained and understood in the magical and spiritual arts, and thus was only reserved for those who had over gone many years of study and meditation, and had overgone many years of angelicization, as is the theurgic traditions, or gained control or alliance with angelic spirits, or demonic spirits (depending of tradition). One who was still learning was called an initiate, or if under the guidance of a teacher, he was called, an Apprentince. Any other magickally minded individual who knew the arts, but was not considered, a " master", was called, an Adept.
The Magus by: Francis Barett (www.sacred-texts.com) sub-heading Grimoire ALL The Greater Key of Solomon The Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage http://www.cs.utk.edu/~Mclennan/BA/ETP/V.html (Whole website)
"Magi". Catholic Encyclopedia. (1913). New York: Robert Appleton Company.