Magi

By Pueros

(Tisfun, Parthia, December 19 BC)

‘We three kings of Orient are

Bearing gifts we traverse afar.

Field and fountain, moor and mountain,

Following yonder star.

O star of wonder, star of night,

Star with royal beauty bright,

Westward leading, still proceeding,

Guide us to thy perfect Light.

Born a king on Bethlehem’s plain,

Gold I bring to crown Him again,

King forever, ceasing never

Over us all to reign.

O star of wonder, star of night,

Star with royal beauty bright,

Westward leading, still proceeding,

Guide us to thy perfect Light.

Frankincense to offer have I.

Incense owns a Deity nigh.

Prayer and praising all men raising,

Worship Him, God on high.

O star of wonder, star of night,

Star with royal beauty bright,

Westward leading, still proceeding,

Guide us to thy perfect Light.

Myrrh is mine: Its bitter perfume

Breaths a life of gathering gloom.

Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying,

Sealed in the stone-cold tomb.

O star of wonder, star of night,

Star with royal beauty bright,

Westward leading, still proceeding,

Guide us to thy perfect Light.

Glorious now behold Him arise,

King and God and Sacrifice.

Alleluia, alleluia!

Sounds through the earth and skies.

O star of wonder, star of night,

Star with royal beauty bright,

Westward leading, still proceeding,

Guide us to thy perfect Light.’

The young slave boy was lying besides an open window in Phraates IV’s resplendent palace in the winter capital of Parthia, a powerful kingdom that had frustrated Roman ambitions in the east for many years. The 11 year-old’s sensuous brown eyes were temporarily captivated by the many twinkling stars he could see in the external nighttime firmament, a sight that had always intrigued him.

Nearby below was the confluence of the River Diyala with the mighty Tigris. Many lanterns on the many boats that plied these busy Mesopotamian waterways, even at this late nocturnal hour, illuminated much of the scene. However, these lights were nothing in comparison to the awesome array on the opposite right-bank of the Tigris, which indicated the Hellenistic city of Seleucia. This metropolis had been named after a general of Alexander the Great who had established the short-lived Seleucid Empire in this part of the world three hundred years earlier.

The tendency of Seleucia’s still largely Greek population to welcome Roman incursions into Parthia had encouraged the Kings to establish on the opposite bank of the Tigris their winter base in their new city of Tisfun, known by the foreigners of the west as Ctesiphon. The Romans, however, had encountered little success but many disasters against the Parthians, who originated from the area to the east of the Caspian Sea. They were an offshoot of the Scythians, specifically a clan of the Dahae called the Parni.

Roman invaders led by Marcus Licinius Crassus, Governor of Syria, had suffered ignominious defeat by the Parthians near the ancient town of Carrhae in 53 BC. All but 500 of the 6,000-strong legions were wiped out in the battle, which amply demonstrated that Parthian power was then on a par with that of Rome. Many of the survivors of this debacle, including Crassus, were captured, along with their standards, which was a grave blow to Roman pride. Crassus himself was executed and his head delivered to the then Parthian King, Orodes II.

Orodes II was the son of Phraates III. In 57 BC, in conjunction with his brother, Mithradates, he had murdered his father in order to usurp the Parthian throne. He then defeated his sibling and executed him. It was perhaps divine retribution when he himself was murdered in 38 BC by his own offspring, who became Phraates IV. The new King then continued the family tradition by eliminating his thirty brothers and their families to eradicate any rivals. However, such activity did not engender much trust and affection amongst his people and, accordingly, the monarch was forced to endure many rebellions during his reign of 36 years.

Phraates IV also had to face the Romans, who were determined to restore their military honour, reputation and influence in the area by avenging Carrhae and securing the return of the captured standards and any prisoners of war still alive, as well as re-establishing previous regional allegiances. As a consequence of the earlier disaster, Parthia had moved its border westward to the Euphrates, opposite Roman Syria, and, farther north, Armenia had changed affiliations to become an ally of its southern neighbour.

It was Mark Antony who assumed responsibility for securing Roman retribution and restitution of pride in an invasion of Phraates IV’s domains in 36 BC. His army of 16 legions and 80,000 men was much bigger than the size of Crassus’ force of 17 years earlier.

Antony first encouraged Armenia to change sides again before crossing the mountains into Media from the north. He had deliberately chosen this route to deny the formidable Parthian cavalry favourable terrain. However, he had barely arrived into Media when the enemy attacked his siege train and the two defending legions. 10,000 Roman soldiers were massacred and, on hearing of this setback, the Armenians once again deserted the Roman cause.

Antony carried on regardless. However, his endeavours were undermined by the loss of his siege equipment, which made besieging Parthian cities impossibly difficult, and his inability to bring the harassing, very mobile enemy army, which lived off the land, to a conclusive battle. He was therefore eventually compelled to retreat from Media, his forces hindered by the Parthians every step of the way.

By the time the Romans crossed back into Armenia, they had lost 20,000 legionnaires, 4,000 cavalrymen and a large number of light troops. Forced then to leave Armenia at the height of winter, Antony lost another 8,000 men amidst the ambushes and terrible weather encountered during the retreat westward to Syria, with his casualties eventually rivaling Crassus’ at Carrhae and with Rome farther than ever from defeating Parthia.

After this unsuccessful episode, Antony, allied with Cleopatra of Egypt, found himself engaged in a civil war with Julius Caesar’s heir and great-nephew, Octavian, for control of the Roman Empire. Their two mighty fleets clashed at Actium in 31 BC, with Octavian emerging victorious. The defeated Antony, along with Cleopatra, later committed suicide. Octavian became sole ruler of the Roman world and, renamed Augustus, later became the first Emperor.

A dangerous usurper, Tiridates, emerged onto the Parthian scene between 29 and 27 BC. He was initially successful, forcing Phraates IV into exile amongst the Scythians. Tiridates, after subsequently being pushed back out of Mesopotamia, allied himself with Augustus to force his rival to retreat again.

Tiridates celebrated the historically unusual alliance by stamping ‘Friend of the Romans’ on his coins. However, his victory was short-lived and he was eventually defeated and killed by Phraates IV.

Augustus, thwarted in his ambitions of securing a compliant ally on the Parthian throne, was a practical man with few illusions. He wisely recognised that, if the renowned general, Antony, had been unable to subdue Parthia, he was now unlikely to fare any better. He therefore decided to try to resolve Rome’s eastern problem through a mixture of threatened force and diplomacy.

In 20 BC, Augustus took advantage of local disorder to put a new pro-Roman king on the throne of Armenia. He backed up the appointment with a substantial army. With the advantage of this new intimidating alliance, he then struck a deal with the Parthians, whose appetite for war had been reduced by the significant cost, in terms of both finances and manpower, of the previous victories.

It was agreed that, in the north, Armenia would be a buffer state between the two great empires. In the south, Rome recognised the Euphrates boundary and Parthia, in turn, consented to return all captured legionary standards and surviving Roman prisoners of war.

Ever the master of public relations, Augustus celebrated this bloodless pact by stamping ‘Civibus et signis militaribus a Parthia recuperatis’, or ‘Citizens and military standards recovered from Parthia’, on his coins. However, in a sense, the treaty was truly a victory for Rome because, at little cost, the settlement secured pacification of the eastern frontiers for a century.

Augustus also marked the peace settlement with the bisexual Phraates IV with an exchange of gifts. Amongst the largesse despatched from Rome were some slaves. One of these was a girl of Italian stock called Musa, whom the King later made his favourite wife. A product of their marriage was a son, Phraatakes, who would eventually succeed his father onto the Parthian throne.

Another of the slaves sent by Augustus to Phraates IV was a very pretty 11 year-old boy of Greek extraction, whose lovely brown eyes were currently enraptured by the starry night sky.

(Tisfun, Parthia, nearly 16 years later, 12th August 3 BC)

‘I am….the bright and morning star.’

- Revelations (22:16)

Jupiter, customarily allied by astrologers with the birth of kings, emerged in the skies as a morning star and soon the effect became even more dazzlingly spectacular when it came into conjunction near the western horizon with the other brightest planet in the heavens, Venus, traditionally associated with fertility. This happened in the constellation of Leo the Lion, which the Old Testament of the Bible closely connected with the Lion of Judah of the Jewish people, a fact well known by their neighbours. The joining took place very close to the constellation’s brightest star, Regulus, which was also linked to kingship.

There has not been a brighter or closer conjunction of Jupiter and Venus in Leo, so near to Regulus, in over 2000 years before or since. In countries to the east of what was then the Kingdom of Judaea, observers could have interpreted the fused planets and star as a beacon in the direction of Jerusalem, the capital of the Jewish kingdom.

(Bethlehem, Judaea, same time)

‘There shall come a star out of Jacob, and a sceptre shall rise out of Israel.’

- Numbers (24:17)

Towards the close of the Jewish civil year, the man and his heavily pregnant wife had made their way from their tiny home village of Nazareth to Bethlehem. They ventured to the town of their traditional tribal roots in order to participate in a ‘census’, or registration, which was actually an oath of allegiance to Augustus Caesar demanded by the Romans to celebrate the Emperor’s 25th jubilee and the 750th anniversary of the founding of their capital city.

The man had always admired the woman and had willingly married her to prevent her disgrace, and possible execution by stoning, for becoming pregnant to an unknown father out of wedlock. It was now twilight in the busy town, where the couple was staying with relations. However, the census had required them to share accommodation with many other visiting family members and, as late arrivals, they had been allocated room in the basement of the house.

The basement had two accommodation levels. An upper area for people surrounded a lower space where animals usually wintered. However, congestion had forced the husband and wife to use the currently empty latter facility, even during the woman's confinement. There, she gave birth to a healthy baby boy.

A manger was quickly converted from a receptacle for animal feed into a bed for the child, who was admired by many of the family, including the men who looked after the sheep and goats that would later occupy the lower basement at the height of winter.

Meanwhile, in the sky above, Jupiter came into conjunction with Venus and Regulus.

Jupiter then started a phenomenal journey that would include six further conjunctions with other planets and the circling of the star Regulus. The final union comprised a massing of the planets, including Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Mercury, in the constellation of Leo over a year later in August, 2 BC.

(Tisfun, Parthia, 1 year later, 12th August, 2 BC.)

‘He telleth the number of the stars; He calleth them all by their names.’

- Psalm 147 (4)

The astrologer was, as customary at this time of night, on the flat roof of Phraates IV’s palace. As usual, he was ignoring the many lanterns on the boats on the nearby rivers, plus the lights of the cities of Tisfun and Seleucia, in favour of the distant dots that twinkled in the sky above. In particular, the 27 year-old was observing Jupiter, just as he had done every night for over a year. He had already advised his royal master that the planetary movements indicated that something remarkable had occurred somewhere in the world a year previously. Current events suggested an anniversary confirmation to those who were wise enough to realise.

During the past 12 months, Jupiter, the king planet, had united with Venus, the mother, joined itself with the regal star of the first magnitude, Regulus, the star of the Jewish Messiah, in Leo, the royal constellation of Judah, whilst the Sun, the supreme father, was located in Virgo, the virgin. Jupiter’s circling movements around Regulus also seemed to be a formal crowning of the star. Additionally, with each change in direction, the king planet had briefly become apparently stationary within the background of the fixed constellations.

Astrologers interpreted these phenomena in various ways. To the Romans, it seemed as if the gods were giving their approval to the Principate of Augustus and his divine right to world sovereignty. Others believed that the prophecies of Daniel were materialising.

The perceived wisdom from his own astrologers encouraged Phraates IV to send three of them, the youngest a 27 year-old, on a long journey.

(Jerusalem, Judaea, 4 months later, December 2 BC)

‘And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising……..they shall bring gold and incense.’

- Isaiah (60: 3 & 6)

The 27 year-old and his two companions, sent by Phraates IV to seek out the great King, whom the Parthian court astrologers had all agreed would be born to the Jews, were at first mystified at their inability to identify a suitable candidate.

Herod, a client King of the Romans, had initially welcomed the small embassy from neighbouring Parthia, as the two countries now enjoyed peaceful relations. However, his early curiosity at the envoys' mission had turned to concern when he heard that they were seeking a child born, according to the foreign astrologers’ interpretation of recent heavenly occurrences, to be a future great leader of the Jews.

The three envoys had brought gold to present to the regal child as a sign of friendship from Phraates IV. They had supplemented this with precious frankincense, an incense made from aromatic gum, and valuable myrrh, a perfume resin, both produced in southern Arabia and not readily available in Parthia. They had purchased these items in the great trading centre of Petra, through which they had passed during their journey from Tisfun.

No-one in Herod’s family was pregnant or had recently given birth to a baby and the King wanted no rivals to his familial right to Jewish overlordship. He therefore asked the Parthian embassy to appraise him if they eventually identified the child in question.

According to Matthew (2: 8), Herod secretly told them to “Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found Him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship Him also.” Of course, the King did not add that he proposed to have the boy’s throat cut if such a discovery materialised.

Fortunately for the child concerned, after a recalculation of that night’s starry firmament led the three Parthian colleagues to another destination close by, they were both too astute and sagely kind to comply with the King’s wish, having recognised the likely motive behind the request. Matthew (2: 12) additionally suggests that the astrologers based their decision on “…. being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod.” They therefore later “departed into their own country another way.”

The town for which the wise men headed from Jerusalem to seek the new-born great King was just five miles to the south west of the Jewish capital.

(Bethlehem, Judaea, 25th December 2 BC)

‘….behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he that is born King of the Jews?” for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him……..and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.’

- Matthew (2:1,2 & 9)

As viewed from Jerusalem, Jupiter had come to an apparently stationary point in the middle of the constellation of Virgo, the Virgin, directly over Bethlehem, with the Sun in winter solstice also seemingly standing still.

The husband and wife had not immediately returned to Nazareth after fulfilling the requirements of the census and the birth of their son. The man had found that carpentry work was more plentiful for him in Bethlehem and so, with three mouths now to feed, the family had stayed with their accommodating relations.

The child Gaspar, Melchior and Balthazar had come to visit was now over 16 months old but they already knew that he would be from their astrological calculations, having backdated his birth to the 12th of August of the previous year. A reference in the New Testament in the original Greek describes the youngster not as a ‘brephos’, or ‘baby’, but as a ‘paidion’, or ‘toddler’, indicating that the nativity itself had been some time before the visit.

There was also only one boy in Bethlehem with the required birth date. The Magi were surprised that he was of such humble birth and surroundings but they knew that their final astrological calculations did not lie and so visited him to present their gifts. All were disarmed by the sleeping infant, still apparently content to repose in a manger.

The child’s name was Jesus, and that of his parents Joseph and Mary.

Roman record-keepers were normally scrupulous but no reliable date for Herod’s eventual death has been found. It is important because the year coincided, according to the Bible, with Jesus’ birth. Mainly from the writings of the 1st century Jewish scholar, Josephus, the year was eventually calculated to be 4 BC but there is considerable alternative indirect evidence that the despot expired slightly later than this.

Shortly after their unexpected but nevertheless welcome and very pleasant visitors had departed to return home, Joseph, Mary and Jesus left their own country for a time. Matthew (2: 13) suggests that this was because “And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.”

(Tisfun, Parthia, same time)

‘He was a murderer from the beginning.’

- John (8: 44)

Following true family tradition, Phraatakes, too impatient to wait for his aged father, Phraates IV, to die from natural causes, poisoned the old man with the help of his mother, Musa. The pair then proceeded to murder most of the late King’s male offspring by his other wives to ensure that Phraatakes’ accession to the Parthian throne went unchallenged. Following Magian custom, mother and son finally married each other.

Musa’s portrait was to appear on Parthian coins alongside that of Phraatakes until the pair were deposed eight years later by the Kingdom’s Senate, who disliked the idea of monarchs with foreign, especially Roman, blood.

(Tisfun, Parthia, 16 years previously, December 19 BC)

‘And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night: and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years.’

- Genesis (1:14).

The slave boy still lay on the bed besides an open window in Phraates IV’s resplendent palace. The beautiful face of the 11 year-old was still tearstained and became more so when his eyes finally wandered from the stars outside to his agonised groin, covered in bandaging.

Gaspar did not know yet why he had been castrated, his incredulity at this terrible turn of events being heightened by a well-founded belief that his original form had pleased the Parthian King. However, he was later to discover that the tutors who educated the monarch’s young catamites had appreciated the slave boy’s intelligence, particularly noticing his ability at, and interest in, mathematics and science. He was therefore considered to be an ideal candidate to be trained to become another court astrologer, a post he could aspire to once his looks had matured and he lost his appeal for his royal master.

The Parthian royal family was very superstitious and they liked the present and future to be foretold by observance of happenings in the skies. Contemporary Romans often preferred reference to oracles, animal entrails and the activities of birds.

Unfortunately for Gaspar’s manhood, Parthian attitudes extended to the King’s many wives and female concubines. A key qualification for the otherwise esteemed court position of astrologer was therefore the inability take advantage of such temptresses and it was considered best for such a fledgling scientist to make this sacrifice as early in life as possible.

Accordingly, 17 years later, it was three eunuchs who brought gifts to the great King, whose recent birth the Sun, Moon, planets and stars had prophesized.

‘Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.’

- Proverbs (4: 7)

THE END

of

‘MAGI’

by Pueros

O star of wonder, star of night,

Star with royal beauty bright,

Westward leading, still proceeding,

Guide us to thy perfect Light!