SEEKING CHRISTMAS
Magi. The first Gentiles to worship Christ, acc. to Mt. 2:1–12. Guided by a mysterious star, they came from the East to *Bethlehem with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh for the Christ Child. They are called in the NT μάγοι (sages). The idea that they were kings first appears in Christian tradition in *Tertullian, who calls them fere reges (‘almost kings’; Adv. Jud. 9 and Adv. Marc. 3. 13), and it became general from the 6th cent., on the basis of the implied reference in Ps. 72 (71):10. The NT account says nothing of their number. *Origen is the first to give it as three, probably on account of their three gifts, and this has become the general tradition. Their names, Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, are first mentioned in the 6th cent. Excerpta Latina Barbari and later in a work of pseudo-*Bede known as the Collectanea. In the Middle Ages they were venerated as saints, and the Milanese claimed to possess their relics, brought from *Constantinople in the 5th cent. These were taken to Germany by *Frederick Barbarossa in 1162, and are now enshrined in *Cologne Cathedral. The Adoration of the Magi early became one of the most popular subjects of representation in art, the first extant painting being in the ‘Cappella greca’ of the Priscilla Catacomb dating from the 2nd cent. See also EPIPHANY.