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Although they have become central to the Christmas story, the Gospels tell us very little, almost nothing, about the magi. Not their names, where they lived, or how many of them were really there. They are featured in the second chapter of the Gospel of Matthew only, and the text simply says they are visitors (the original Greek reads magous, literally, “magi”) from the East, arriving at Jerusalem looking for the child. The text reads as follows:
Notice the biblical text doesn’t specify if there were three of them or more. It merely says “they,” and that’s about it. Early Christian art (as early as the Catacombs of Priscilla) is responsible for presenting three magi in the adoration scene. In fact, the text does not even number the gifts. Sure, it says they brought gold, frankincense, and myrrh. But that does not necessarily mean it was one crate of gold, or one jar of myrrh, or one gift per person. The magi might perfectly well have been, for example, two —one bringing frankincense and myrrh, and one just gold.
Matthew only says that, after presenting him with their gifts, they went back to wherever they came from —“they left for their own country,” in the singular. Again, the text is rather scarce in details, but it does says “country,” in the singular (the Greek reads xoran autón, “their own country”) —so assuming they came from different places is, again, just speculation. In truth, the Gospel does not provide any details that might help us deduce whether they were Persian Zoroastrians, Babylonian astrologers, or Indian sages. Some early commentators suggest the magi were indeed Persian, but others affirm they were Yemenite Jews instead.
