The 12 Days of Christmas come to an end today with the celebration of the Epiphany and the last opportunity for singing such carols as We Three Kings of Orient Are. Traditionally, Christmas comes to an end on January 6th with the arrival of three kings, preferably on camels, having followed a star in the east and bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh for the new-born child in a manger in Bethlehem.
However, the New Testament contains virtually none of these details, and most have been added over the years from sources outside the Bible. The nativity story appears in only two of the Gospels - Matthew and Luke - and only Matthew tells the story of a visit by an unknown number of men from the east.
In Matthew's Greek, the visitors are called magoi, which could mean wise men, but it could also be translated as magicians, dream readers or bringers of omens. In the journal, Sfinx, Dr Adam BulowJacobsen, Professor of History at Aarhus University, points out that the word magoi also meant charlatan or swindler. In Babylon at the time of the Biblical Daniel, they were sometimes looked upon as imposters, and King Nebuchadnezzar decreed their death for failing to interpret his dream.
The Greek historian, Herdodotus, described the magoi as a "priestly caste", but they also dabbled in medicine, astronomy, astrology. Their social standing had dropped dramatically by New Testament times. Philo of Alexandria spoke of them as "venomous creatures" and "parasites" who preyed upon the people with charms and incantations, and in the year 19 AD the Emperor Tiberius banished all astrologers because so many people were falling victim to their counterfeits.
Later portrayals of their majestic arrival stand in sharp contrast to the simple earlier visit of the shepherds. While the shepherds are Jews and poor (and arrive hurriedly on foot at the stable), the wise men are gentiles and rich (and arrive long after the birth at the house, by which time the baby has grown into a child). Their prophetic entrance contrasts with the portrayal of two Magi in later New Testament passages: Simon Magus tried to buy magic powers from the Apostle Peter (Acts 8: 9-24) and at Paphos, in Cyprus, the Apostle Paul rebuked a magus named Bar-Jesus, calling him a "child of the devil" (Acts 13 6-11).
Matthew's crisp writing style leaves us with no description of how the visitors travelled to Bethlehem. Nothing in the Gospel story says they rode on camels - while camels were used at the time by Arab nomads in Arabia, then a minority in the region, an ancient Syriac or Chaldean depiction shows them arriving on horseback. But for all we know, they may have arrived on foot.
Matthew provides no details either about the visitors or their number. In the Eastern Orthodox world, the visitors are 12 in number, perhaps prefiguring the 12 apostles, or - if the Magi are astrologers - corresponding to the number of star signs in the zodiac. In the western tradition, they have become three in number, corresponding to the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, the assumption being one gift for each giver. But three also neatly corresponded with the division of the Old Testament into three sections, the Law, the Prophets and the Writings, and the three future roles of the Christ child as priest, prophet and king, each role corresponding to one of the gifts.
The early church father, Tertullian, said "the East considers Magi almost as kings", but even he did not turn the visitors at the Epiphany into Oriental monarchs. They became kings only as the early Church began to identify them with Old Testament prophecies such as: "Because of the Temple at Jerusalem shall kings bring presents unto thee" (Psalm 68), and "Many kings shall fall down before him" (Psalm 72: 11).
In Syria, they were known as Larvanad, Harmisad, and Gushnasaph. But in the west, by the 6th century, they had become Gaspar (or Casper), Melchior and Balthasar. According to western tradition, Balthasar is often represented as a king of Arabia, Melchior is from Persia, and Gaspar is a king of India. Later, the English monk, Bede, suggested that one king came from Asia, one from Africa and one from Europe.
Syrian and Armenian legends have identified Gaspar with Gondophares, an Indo-Parthian whose kingdom lay in present-day Afghanistan and Pakistan. He ruled until about the year AD 45 and, according to the legends, was converted to Christianity when he was visited by the Apostle Thomas. It is not until as late as the 15th century that a black king appears in western paintings and images.
The earliest extant portrayal of the wise men is a fresco dating from the second century in the Catacomb of Priscilla in Rome. The supposed relics of the Magi were transferred from Constantinople, possibly in the late 5th century, to Milan. From there, they were taken to Cologne by the Emperor Frederick Barbossa in 1164. Devotion to the Magi was especially fervent in the Middle Ages, when they were venerated as the patrons of travellers, but their feast day was celebrated not on January 6th, but on July 23rd.
From the mid-15th century, the Adoration became a popular theme for artists, and the celebrated paintings of The Adoration of the Magi include works by Hans Memlinc (late 15th century), Mantegna (ca 1500), Pieter Breugel the Elder (1564), Pieter Paul Rubens (1624), and Carlo Dolci (1649). In modern poetry, the story has inspired W.B. Yeats's The Magi, and in a deeper and more profound theological way, T.S. Eliot's Journey of the Magi.
The theme continues to provide inspiration today, even for modern humour. A joke on church-related e-mail discussion forums asks: "Do you know what would have happened if it had been three wise women instead of three wise men?" The answer is: "They would have asked directions, arrived on time, helped deliver the baby, cleaned the stable, made a casserole, and brought practical gifts."
While Irish children quickly cast aside Santa's new gifts, the wise men still bring joy to Italian children on January 6th. In the Italian tradition, an old woman named Befana fills children's stockings with gifts on the feast of the Epiphany. Too busy to see the wise men on their journey to the the Christ child, Befana said she would see them on their return instead. But, as Matthew records, they returned by another way and she has been doomed to look for them forever.
Rev Patrick Comerford is a writer on theology and church history and an Irish Times journalist. E-mail: theology@ireland.com