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| WISEMEN-1 ENDNOTES OF SCHOLARLY SOURCES | |||||||||||||
| {Where document name is cited first, it is quoted} | |||||||||||||
| 1. The capitol of Persia under Darius in the sixth century BC was Ecbatana.� When the Parthians took control of Persia 250 BC, the capital was moved to Ctesphon in what today is Iran.� | |||||||||||||
| 2. An ancient tribe of what would become Media and later Persia was the Magi Tribe, as recorded by Herodotus about 450 BC (i:132).� Darius the Great, Emperor of Persia in 522 BC, described a revolt by the Magi tribe which he put down speedily.� Beginning about 300 BC, the Magi became the priestly advisors to the emperors. | |||||||||||||
| 3. From about 250 BC the Parthians (located between Iran and India) ruled Persia for several centuries.� The emperor at the time Jesus was born was Phraattes IV, followed when Jesus was four years old by his son, Phraattes V. | |||||||||||||
| 4. THE BIBLE, MATTHEW 2:1-2 [LBV] - Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem, Judea, during the reign of King Herod.� At about that time some astrologers from eastern lands "....we have seen his star in far-off eastern lands...."� [NOTE:� The wisemen saw the star while in the east, and it appeared in the west toward Palestine.] | |||||||||||||
| 5. THE BIBLE, LUKE 2:9, 13 - Suddenly, God's angel stood among them [shepherds of Bethlehem] and God's glory blazed around them....At once the angel was joined by a huge angelic choir singing God's praises.� [Could the star have been the angels?] | |||||||||||||
| 6. The primary government advisors were the magicians (magi) who analyzed livers of sacrificial sheep, and astrologers who analyzed the heavens.� Sometimes these functions were combined.� These were the earliest of all astrologers (the sky was the playground and battlefield of the gods) and the forerunners of astronomers (the sky was a part of all creation and is to be studied in the same way). | |||||||||||||
| 7.� The Magi, originally a tribe of the Medes, was a priestly caste during the Seleucid (BC 300), Parthians (BC 250) and Sasanian (4 AD) periods.� Herodotus spoke of the Magi Tribe in 1:101. | |||||||||||||
| 8. Persian Magi were credited with profound religious knowledge while the Babylonian Magi were often considered impostors.� It was not until the first century AD that "magi" applied to magicians and soothsayers primarily from Babylon. | |||||||||||||
| 9. Because King Herod of Palestine had all the boy babies in Bethlehem under the age of two killed (see THE BIBLE, MATTHEW 2:16), this indicates about how long it took the wisemen to arrive in Palestine. | |||||||||||||
| 10. THE BIBLE, ESTHER 4:11a - All the king's officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned the king has but one law: that he be put to death.� The only exception to this is for the king to extend the gold scepter to him and spare his life. | |||||||||||||
| 11. Zoroastronism did not become monotheistic until 1278 AD in "Zaratusht-Memah." | |||||||||||||
| 12. THE YASHT, "WORSHIP, INCLUDING SACRIFICE," - MITHRA, the sun god, the god of truth (10, 1); TISHTRYA, the rain god (8, 52ff); ARAMAITI, god of the earth (33, 11); KHSHATRA, god of metals (45, 9); ASHA, god of best righteousness 953, 3); VAYU, god of the air (953, 6f); SRAOSHA, guardian god of death souls(57, 4). | |||||||||||||
| 13. THE ZEND-AVESTA, "SACRED BOOK OF THE PARSIS," [PERSIANS], "The Vendidad" Section - Vohu-Mano, god of good mind and guardian of sheep and cattle (8, 19 and 19, 2); Atar, god of fire (18:27). | |||||||||||||
| 14.� THE BIBLE, DANIEL 2:11-13 - "What the king asks is too difficult.� No one can reveal it to the king except the gods, and they do not live among men."� This made the king so angry and furious that he ordered the execution of all the wise men of Babylon.� So the decree was issued to put the wise men to death, and men were sent to look for Daniel and his friends to put them to death. | |||||||||||||
| 15. Babylon is in today's Iraq. | |||||||||||||
| 16. THE BIBLE, EZRA 5:17; 6:1-2 - [Example of records regarding Jews in Babylonian/Persian archives]� We request that you search in the royal library of Babylon....So King Darius issued orders that a search be made in the Babylonian archives, where documents were stored.� Eventually the record was found in the palace of Ecbatana, in the province of Media [Persia]. | |||||||||||||