Christian or not, it’s hard to escape the imagery of the Three Magi coming to anoint the baby Jesus. From nativity scenes to the Feast of the Epiphany, the Three Magi are part and parcel of the story and depictions of Christmas.

So, who were they according to the Bible?

For starters, the majority of Christian denominations only acknowledge four canonical Gospels, namely Mark, Matthew Luke and John. The first three are mostly in agreement about the specifics of Jesus’ life and ministry, while John stands alone, thematically, narratively and in terms of date of composition. As a result, Biblical scholars refer to the first three as the Synoptic Gospels; however, even these three early Gospels are not always in agreement.

One consequence of these differing narratives is that some of the most popular recordings of Jesus’ life only appear in a single Gospel. For instance, the Sermon the Mount is only testified in the Gospel of Matthew, chapters 5, 6 and 7; the Wedding at Cana, where Jesus’ turned water into wine, is likewise only mentioned in the Gospel of John, Chapter 2.

So what about the Magi?

Believe it or not, as ubiquitous as they are in Christian culture, they only warrant a single mention in the New Testament, namely in the Gospel of Matthew:

In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.” When King Herod heard this, he was frightened and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet: ‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.'” Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.”

When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another path.

The New Revised Standard Version of Matthew 2:1–12

Now, let’s note a few things. Three gifts are mentioned, but not three wise men. This unnumbered group of wise men are specifically referred to as mágoi (μάγοι) in the Greek, and the place they enter is not a manger, but a house, an oikian (οἰκίαν). Also note that mágoi is where we get the word magic, which comes to us from the Avestan word magâunô, which refers to the Zoroastrian priestly class, known for their astrological/astronomical wizardry.

Also, they aren’t referred to as Kings. That notion is an Old Testament ret-con, or what Biblical scholars call a Typology – an event in the O.T. that purportedly foreshadows a parallel occurrence in the New Testament. In the case of the the Magi being kings, the Old testament typology can be found in the verse “Yea, all kings shall fall down before him: all nations serve him”, a statement directed at the Messiah in Isaiah 60:3, Psalm 68:29, and Psalm 72:10. How this applies directly to the Magi is open to debate

Another element missing from this narrative is the age of Jesus; contemporary depictions, along with the Feast of the Epiphany, would have this visit occur right after the birth of Jesus; however, there is no time-line given in the account, and Herod ordered the execution of all boys up to the age of two. Jesus might well have been a toddler before the appearance of the Magi.

So, the literal, Biblical telling is that an unnumbered group of Eastern Magi – probably from Persia, possibly Zoroastrian astrologers/priests – came to visit a very young (under two years of age) Jesus in the house of his mother, Mary. Prostrating themselves before the child, the offered up gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh, before retreating based on a dream premonition.

Manger? No.

Kings? No.

Three wise men? No.

And did they have names?

I don’t know about you, but I didn’t see any names, let alone countries of origin…

However, for many practicing Christians the world over, they have names, and homelands:

Balthasar of Arabia, Melchior of Persia, and Caspar/Gaspar of India…nowhere to be found in Matthew, or anywhere else in the Bible.

The gifts are spot on, but the rest are folkloric traditions built on a very fragmentary tale.

It’s out of these traditions that we can examine the next question:

Where did the Magi flee to?

Grab your shovels, we’ve got to dig up some bones.

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Marco Polo, globe trotter extraordinaire, reported that he was shown the three tombs of the Magi at Saveh, south of Tehran in modern Iran, when he passed through in the 1270s.

In Persia is the city of Saba, from which the Three Magi set out when they went to worship Jesus Christ; and in this city they are buried, in three very large and beautiful monuments, side by side. And above them there is a square building, carefully kept. The bodies are still entire, with the hair and beard remaining.

— Marco Polo, The Book of the Million, book I, chapter 13

Now, that ports with a Zoroastrian origin for the Magi. however, long before Marco Polo, we have another claim.

Historically, the Byzantine Emperor Constantine was responsible for making Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. While his conversion is usually attributed to a battlefield vision, it’s probably worth noting that his mother, Flavia Julia Helena, was a dedicated Christian.

How dedicated? Well, she’s a saint in the following Christian denominations: Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, Oriental Orthodox, Anglican Communion, and the Lutherans all venerate her.

In her later years, the future St. Helena would tour the Holy Lands, and claim to find many artifacts, from the True Cross (the cross that Jesus was crucified on), to the nails and ropes used for the Crucifixion, to the point of our story, the remains of the three Magi.

To quote cleric John of Hildesheim, writing in Historia Trium Regum (“History of the Three Kings”), circa the 14th century:

Queen Helen… began to think greatly of the bodies of these three kings, and she arrayed herself, and accompanied by many attendants, went into the Land of Ind… after she had found the bodies of Melchior, Balthazar, and Gaspar, Queen Helen put them into one chest and ornamented it with great riches, and she brought them into Constantinople… and laid them in a church that is called Saint Sophia.

John of Hildesham goes on to add many details to the story, embellishing with extreme detail Matthew’s fairly bare-boned account. However, for our purposes, the story continues as follows:

Helena brought the bones back from the Holy Land to the Haga Sophia in Constantinople, sometime between 326-328. In 344, the bodies were held in Milan beneath the city’s Basilica. Here they would lay undisturbed for over eight hundred years, before war forced their removal to Cologne, Germany. By the late 12th century, a proper Shrine to the Three Kings was installed, and is still an active site of worship and pilgrimage to this day.

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So, what’s the take-away?

In the battle between Biblical literalism and Biblical folklore, there are no clear winners. Yes, Protestant literalism has had an impact on Christianity as a whole, but that doesn’t change the fact that almost every (American) town-square has a nativity scene, replete with Santa, Reindeer, Christmas Trees, and last but not least, Three Kings, namely Balthasar of Arabia, Melchior of Persia, and Caspar/Gaspar of India.

Did Marco Polo find the tomb of the magi? Or did St. Helena bring their bodies back to Byzantium, to be enshrined in a reliquary?

Well, for the the faithful, yes.

And that, dear reader, is the literal truth.