216 STEELE
- --. ''A Late Babylonian Compendium of Calendrical and Stellar Astrology."]oumal
of Cuneiform Studies 67 (2015): 187-215.
Wainer, Z. "Traditions of Mesopotamian Celestial-Divinatory Schemes and the 4th
Tablet of Summa Sin ina TiimartiSu." In The Circulation ofAstronomical Knowledge
in the Ancient World. Edited by]. M. Steele. In press.
Weidner, E. ''Astrologische Geographie im Alten Orient." Archivfor Orientforschung 20
(1963): ll7-21.
- - -. Gestimdarstellungen auf babylonischen Tontafeln. Vienna: Osterreichischen
Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1967.
CHAPTER lO
The Story of the Magi in the Light of Alexander the
Great's Encounters with Chaldeans
Mathieu Ossendrijver
The story of the magi (Matt 2 :1-12) is not without its parallels. Its similarity
to accounts of Alexander the Great's interactions with Chaldean astrologers
suggests the possibility of a dependence. Two different encounters between
Alexander the Great and Babylonian astrologers1 are reported in various histor-
ical works about th e life of Alexander, henceforth referred to as Alexander his-
tories. The first encounter is said to have taken place when Alexander entered
Babylon in October 331 BCE, after he had defeated the Persians in th e Battle of
Gaugamela. Quintus Curtius Rufus, a Roman historian who lived around so CE,
provides the following account of this event in his History ofAlexander:
A large number of Babylonians (Babyloniorum) had taken up a position
on the walls, eager to have a view of their new king, but most went out
to meet him, including the man in charge of the citadel and royal trea-
sury, Bagophanes. Not to be outdone by Mazaeus in paying his respects
to Alexander, Bagophanes had carpeted the whole road with flowers and
garlands and set up at intervals on both sides silver altars h eaped not
just with frankincense but with all kinds of perfume. Following him were
his gifts-herds of cattle and horses, and lions, too, and leopards, car-
ried along in cages. Next came the magi (magi) chanting a song in their
native fashion, and behind them were the Chaldeans (Chaldaei), who
were not only the diviners (vates) of the Babylonians but also musicians
equipped with their typical instruments. The role of the latter was to sing
the praises of the kings, that of the Chaldeans to reveal th e motions of the
stars and th e regular change of the seasons.2
1 The various different forms of Babylonian astral science, which roughly encompasses obser-
vation, prediction, and astrological interpretation of celestial phenomena, were pursued by
one and the same group of scholars. However, in the absence of a suitable English word cov-
ering these differen t aspects, the term astronomer is here used in the context of observations
or prediction s, and the term astrologer in the context of celestial divination or astrology.
2 Quintus Curtius Rufus, History ofAlexander, v.ug-22. Translation based on]. Rolfe, Quintus
Curtius Rufus: History qfAlexander. Vol. 2: Books VI-X (Cambridge: Harvard University Press,
© KONINKLIJKE S RI LL NV, LEIDEN, 2015 I DO! 10.II 63 / 978900430847 3 _ 0II
218 OSSENDRIJVER
Lucius Flavius Arrianus (Arrian), who lived around 87-145 CE, reports the
same event in his Anabasis ofAlexander:
He [Alexander] was already near Babylon, and was leading his forces in
battle order, when the Babylonians (Babylonioi) came out to meet him in
mass, with their priests and rulers, each of whom individually brought
gifts, and offered to surrender their city, citadel, and money. Entering the
city, he commanded the Babylonians to rebuild all the temples which
Xerxes had destroyed, and especially that of Bel, whom the Babylonians
venerate more than any other god. He then appointed Mazaeus viceroy
of the Babylonians, Apollodorus the Amphipolitan general of the soldiers
who were left behind with Mazaeus, and Asclepiodorus, son of Philo, col-
lector of the revenue. He also sent Mithrines, who had surrendered to
him the citadel of Sardis, down into Armenia to be viceroy there. Here
also he met with the Chaldeans (Chaldaiois ); and whatever they directed
in regard to the religious rites of Babylon he performed, and in particular
he offered sacrifice to Bel according to their instructions. 3
Note that there are no magi in this version. Diodorus Siculus, a Greek historian
who lived in the first century BCE, also briefly discusses the event in his Library
ofHistory. In Book XVII, which deals with Alexander the Great, no encounter
with Chaldean scholars is mentioned, 4 but his account of the history and cus-
toms of the Chaldeans in Book II includes the following passage:
These stars [the planets] it is which exert the greatest influence fo r both
good and evil upon the nativity of men; and it is chiefly from the nature
of these planets and the study of them that they [the Chaldeans] know
what is in store for mankind. And they have made predictions, they say,
not only to numerous other kings, but also to Alexander, who defeated
Darius, and to Antigonus and Seleucus Nicator who afterwards became
kings, and in all their prophecies they are thought to have hit the truth.5
1985); and A. Helier, Das Babylonien der Spiitzeit (7.- 4.]h.) in den klassi.schen und keilschriftli-
chen Quellen (Niirnberg: Verlag Antike, 2010 ), 366.
3 Arrian, Anabasis, III.16.3- 4· Translation by M. Hammond, Alexander the Great: The Anabasis
and the Indica (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013).
4 Diodorus Siculus, Library of History XVII.64.3-4· Translation by C. Bradford Welles, Diodorus
ofSicil:y: VoLVIII: BooksXVI.66-xvii (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1963).
5 Diodorus Siculus, LibraryofHi.story 11.31.1- 2. Translation by C. H. Oldfather, Diodorus ofSicil:y:
VoL r: Books I-II (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1933).
THE STORY OF T HE M AGI & ENCOUN TERS WITH CHALDEANS 219
Hence Diodorus likewise thought that Alexander had been in contact with
Babylonian scholars. Th e encounter must have also been mentioned in the
sources that were used by Diodorus, Rufus, and Arrian, most of which are
almost completely lost. 6 A Babylonian astronomical diary for the year 331 BC E
confirms that Alexander's visit to Babylon was a public event that drew the
attention of the city's population.7
The Mesopotamian context of Alexander's interactions with Babylonian
scholars was clarified by van der Spek (2003) and Helier (2010). These interac-
tions must be interpreted in the light of celestial divination, a practice that
was an integral part of Mesopotamian religion and ideology of kingship. For
a Mesopotamian king, the heavens were filled with signs, which the gods pro-
duced in order to communicate with humankind. The interpretation of these
signs was a complex scholarly enterprise performed by professional diviners on
the basis of omen compendia, commentaries, and oral deliberations. The main
omen series for celestial divination was called Enii.ma Anu Enlil ("When Anu
and Enlil"), after the incipit of its first tablet. It consists of about 70 tablets that
were probably compiled near the end of the second millennium BC E. Unlike
signs in other realms of nature, celestial omens exclusively concerned king and
country. An example from Enii.ma Anu Enlil Tablet 16, which deals with lunar
eclipses, illustrates the connection with kingship: "If an eclipse occurs on day
14 of the month Duzu and begins and clears in the south: a great king will die."8
Our knowledge of the practical aspects of Mesopotamian celestial divination
is largely based on Neo-Assyrian sources (850-612 BCE ), but Babylonian prac-
tices were probably similar. Letters and reports written by the diviners reveal
that the Assyrian kings were constantly informed about observed or expected
phenomena and their ritual, political, military, and medical implications.9 In
this manner, they were able to construe their rule as being in line with the deci-
sions of the gods.
6 A common source of Curtius Rufus and Diodorus Siculus was Cleitarchus, who lived in
Alexandria near 310 BCE.
7 A.J. Sachs and H. Hunger,AstronomicalDiaries andRelatedTexts.fromBabylonia, I - III (Vienna:
Osterreichische Akademie der Wissen schaften Philosophisch-Historische Klasse, 1988-
1996), Text-330; see also R. van der Spek, "Darius m, Alexander the Great and Babylonian
Scholarship," in A Persian Perspective. Essays in Memory of Heleen Sancisi-Weerdenburg (eds.
W. Henkelman and A. Kuhrt; Leiden: Nederlands Instituu t voor het Nabije Oosten, 2003),
289-346, especially 299.
8 F. Rochberg-Halton, Aspects of Babylonian Celestial Divination: The Lunar Eclipse Tablets of
EnumaAnuEnlil (Horn: Berger & Sohne, 1988), 94·
9 H. Hunger, Astrological Reports to Assyrian Kings, State Archives of Assyria VIII (Helsinki:
Helsinki University Press, 1992).
220 OSSENDRIJVER
In the event of an unfavorable omen, apotropaic rituals were available for
diverting the danger away from the king. As illustrated by the omen quoted
above, eclipses were considered to be particularly dangerous signs. If an
observed or predicted eclipse was thought to affect the king, then the so-called
substitute king ritual could be performed, requiring the king to temporarily
step down from his throne and be replaced by a commoner, who was to bear
the evil.
By the time of Alexander, celestial divination was an ancient tradition that
had existed for many centuries, during which the omen texts were copied,
used, and commented on by generations of scholars. When Babylonia lost its
independence after the Persian conquest (538 BeE), the importance of celes-
tial divination certainly diminished. For the Persian and Greek rulers, who
spent only a limited time in Babylonia, it was neither possible nor necessary to
make use of Babylonian divination as intensively as a native king. There is nev-
ertheless ample evidence that they were occasionally consulted by Babylonian
diviners and participated in their rituals, including the substitute king ritual. By
acting as legitimate Mesopotamian rulers, they could gain acceptance among
the Babylonian elites and the general population. Thus, when a lunar eclipse
occurred in Babylonia on 21 September 331 BCE, a few days before the battle
of Gaugamela, it is fully in line with ancient traditions that the Babylonian
astronomers, who had most likely predicted it well in advance, would convey a
favorable interpretation to their new king.10 That this eclipse was the celestial
phenomenon alluded to by Diodorus Siculus is confirmed by Arrian:
There [on the Tigris] he made his army rest, and while doing so, an
almost total eclipse of the moon occurred, and Alexander sacrificed to
the Moon, the Sun, and the Earth, who are all said to cause an eclipse.
Aristander thought that the eclipse was favorable to the Macedonians
and Alexander, that the battle would take place that month, and that the
sacrifices portended victory for Alexander [... ] Such was the result of this
battle, which was fought in the archonship of Aristophanes at Athens,
in the month Pyanepsion; and thus Aristander's prediction was accom-
plished, that Alexander would both fight a battle and gain a victory in the
same month in which the moon was seen to be eclipsed. 11
10 For the parameters of this eclipse, see P. J. Huber and S. De Meis, Babylonian Eclipse
Observationsfrom 750 BC to 1BC (Milano: IsiAO-Mimesis, 2004), 194.
11 Arrian, Anabasis III .7.6; 16.6- 7. Translation based on Hammond, Alexander the Great, and
van der Spek, "Darius Ill , Alexander the Great and Babylonian Scholarship."
THE STORY OF T HE MAGI & ENCO UNTERS WITH CHALDEANS 221
The eclipse is also reported in an astronomical diary from Babylon for year five
of Darius ( 331 B c E ) .12 As shown by van der Spek, the Babylonian claim that the
eclipse signified the demise of Darius and his replacement by an intruder is at
least roughly compatible with the omen compendia. Furthermore, the sacri-
fice mentioned by Arrian makes sense as a distorted reference to hepatoscopy,
a form of divination that was often performed in conjunction with celestial
divination as a means to seek confirmation of a celestial omen,l3
A second encounter between Alexander and Babylonian scholars is reported
to have occurred shortly before his last visit to Babylon in 323 BCE. 14 Diodorus
Siculus provides the following account:
While he was still three hundred furlongs from the city, the scholars
called Chaldeans, who have gained a great reputation in astrology and are
accustomed to predict future events by a method based on age-old obser-
vations, chose from their number the eldest and most experienced. By
the prophetic power of the stars (ton asteron manteias ), they had learned
of the coming death of the king in Babylon, and they instructed their
representatives to report to the king the danger which threatened. [... ]
The leader of the Chaldean envoys, whose name was Belephantes, was
not bold enough to address the king directly but secured a private audi-
ence with Nearchus, one of Alexander's friends, and told him everything
in detail, requesting him to make it known to the king. When Alexander
accordingly learned from Nearchus about the Chaldeans' prophecy, he
was alarmed and more and more disturbed, the more he reflected upon
the ability and high reputation of these people.15
The name of the astronomer, Belephantes, is identifiably Babylonian on
account of the theophoric element Bel (Marduk). Van der Spek (2003) has ten-
tatively reconstructed the original name as Bel-apla-iddin, a known scholar
from Babylon who wrote several astronomical tablets, including a diary for
12 Sachs and Hunger, Astronomical Diaries and Related Texts, Diary- 330.
13 Van der Spek, "Darius m , Alexander the Great and Babylonian Scholarship:' 2gz- gs.
14 A fragmentary Babylonian chronicle mentioning "numerous gifts of the people" may
describe Alexander's reception by the Babylonians in 323 B CE (van der Spek, "Darius 111,
Alexander the Great and Babylonian Scholarship," Text 4).
15 Diodorus Siculus, Library of History xvn .112.2- 4. Translation based on Bradford Welles,
Diodorns ofSicily, www.livius.org, and van der Spek, "Darius Ill, Alexander the Great and
Babylonian Scholarship," 333- 34.
222 OSSENDRIJVER
the first half of year two of Philip Arrhidaeus, the year following Alexander's
death (322 BCE )_16
A less colorful account of the same event is given by Arrian:
When Alexander had crossed the Tigris with his army on their way to
Babylon he was met by Chaldean seers (Logioi), who took him aside from
the Companions and begged him to stop the advance towards Babylon;
for, they said, they had an oracle from their god Bel that his entry into
Babylon at that time would be dangerous for himP
Unlike Diodorus Siculus, who mentions that the prediction was derived from
"stars," no celestial phenomena are alluded to by Arrian. That the omen was
considered to be lethal is confirmed by passages in the Alexander histories
describing what is now understood to be the substitute king ritual, appar-
ently initiated by the Babylonian scholars in order to divert the evil away from
Alexander.1s The cuneiform sources suggest that this Mesopotamian ritual
was usually triggered by a lunar eclipse. No eclipse was visible in Babylonia
in 323 BCE, but van der Spek rightly points out that the Babylonians might
have performed the ritual because they had predicted an eclipse that did
not materialize.19 This would not be exceptional at all, because the main,
16 Sachs and Hunger, Astronomical Diaries and Related Texts, Text-321, one of only a very
few astronomical diaries mentioning the name of its scribe. The same individual also
wrote two undated astronomical procedure texts from the corpus of mathematical
astronomy (M. Ossendrijver, Babylonian Mathematical Astronomy: Procedure Texts [New
York: Springer, 2012), Texts 5 and g). Bel-apla-iddin was a member of the Musezib fam-
ily, one of Babylon's most prominent scholarly clans, of which at least seven generations
were active in the astral sciences.
17 Arrian, Anabasis VI 1.16.s-6. Translation by Hammond, Alexander the Great.
18 Arrian, Anabasis VII.24.1; Diodorus Siculus, Library of History xvu.u6.4. For a discussion
of the substitute king ritual in connection with Alexander the Great, see van der Spek,
"Darius m, Alexander the Great and Babylonian Scholarship;" I. Huber, "Ersatzkonige
in griechischem Gewand: Die Umformung der sar pu[li-Rituale bei Herodot, Berossos,
Agathias und den Alexander-Historikem," in Van Sumer bis Homer: Festschriftfor Man.fred
Schretter zum 6o. Geburtstag am 25. Februar 2004 ( ed. R. Rollinger; Munster: Ugarit-Verlag,
zoos), 339--79, especially 368-79; and A. Heller, Das Babylonien der Spiitzeit (7.-4.}h. ) in
den klassischen und keilschriftlichen Quellen (Niirnberg: Verlag Antike, 2010), 407-21.
19 Van der Spek, "Darius m , Alexander the Great and Babylonian Scholarship," 336-40. Note
that Huber ("Ersatzkonige in griechischem Gewand," 379) misses the point when refer-
ring to predicted eclipses that do not materialize as hypothetical computational errors.
They are unavoidable by-products of the predictive method and are frequently reported
in the astronomical diaries and related texts, using the phrase "eclipse of the Moon/Sun,
THE STO RY OF THE MAGI & ENCOUNTERS WITH CHALDEANS 223
saros-based predictive method of the Babylonian astronomers yields eclipse
possibilities, of which only a fraction turn out to be observable in Babylonia. In
fact, with this method a lunar eclipse would have been predicted for 28 April
323 BCE, and a solar one for 12 April323 BCE. 20
It is worthwhile to note that there are prophecies among the omens in
Enuma Anu Enlil and related compositions announcing the coming of a
"king of the world;' the earliest of which date to the Old Babylonian period
(18oo-16oo BCE ).21 An interesting and-as far as we know-hitherto over-
looked example appears in a commentary on Tablet 7 of EnumaAnuEnlil: "Sin
[the Moongod], (if) during his rising [or: waxing] one star proceeds behind
him: a king of the world (sar kissati) will rise, but he will not become old."22
The tablet originates from Uruk, where it was found in the house of a scholar
who lived around 385 BCE, when Babylonia was under Achaemenid rule.23 It
is conceivable that a similar omen underlies the prediction of Alexander's
victory, because he is addressed with the same title, "king of the world," in
it passed by." For an example from the Achaemenid era of a Babylonian ritual performed
on the occasion of a predicted eclipse that did not materialize, see P.-A. Beaulieu and
J. P. Britton, "Rituals for an Eclipse Possibility in the 8th Year of Cyrus,"joumaloJCuneiform
Studies 46 (1994): 73-86.
zo For a list of eclipse possibilities predicted with the saros method, see Steele, "Eclipse
Prediction in Mesopotamia," Archivefor the History ofthe Exact Sciences 54 (2000 ): 421-54,
Tables 2 and 4· In many cases, the astronomical texts confirm that they were predicted
and did not occur, but this is not (yet) the case for the above-mentioned eclipse possibili-
ties in 323 BCE.
21 See for instance Yale Oriental Series 10, 61:8, an Old Babylonian tablet with extispicy omens:
"a king of the world will be present in the land" (quoted in Chicago Assyrian Dictionary
Vol. K, 458a). For more attestations of the title "king of the world," see M.-J. Seux, Epithetes
royales akkadiennes et sumeriennes (Paris: 1967 ), 310. After Alexander, the title is attested
for the Seleucid king Antiochos Soter, who ruled Babylonia from 281 to 261 BCE.
22 Spiitbabylonische Texte aus Uruk 5 264, rev. u - 12. This passage was pointed out to me
by S. Hoffmann. The commentary is of the so-called cola type, which was common in
Babylonia (E. Frallm,Babylonian andAssyrian Text Commentaries: Origins ofInterpretation
[Miinster: Ugarit-Verlag, 2on), 36, 142). Tablet 7 of EAE, which deals with the horns of the
lunar crescent, is currently not available in a modern edition (as of 2015). For an introduc-
tion, see E. Weidner, "Die astrologische Serie Enfuna Anu Enlil (Fortsetzung)," Archiv for
Orientforschung 14 (1941/1944): 308-18.
23 The tablet probably belonged to the library of the Sangfr-Ninurta family (Ph. Clancier,
Les bibliotheques en Babylonie dans la deuxieme moitie du Ier millenaire av.j-C (Miinster:
Ugarit-Verlag, 2oog]). It is possible that the commentary was composed in the same
period, and that this passage preserves a reflection on the rule of a Persian king, but this
remains speculation.
224 OSSENDRIJVER
the astronomical diary for 331 BCE that was mentioned above. More elabo-
rate predictions about future kings are contained in so-called prophecy texts,
which are essentially anonymized descriptions of the reigns of historical kings.
One of these compositions, known as the Dynastic Prophecy, includes a sec-
tion about Alexander the Great.24 The response of the Babylonian scholars to
Alexander must also be viewed in the light of their interactions with the pre-
ceding Persian kings. In a Babylonian composition known as the Nabonidus
Chronicle, Cyrus's defeat of Nabonidus, the last king of the Neo-Babylonian
Empire, is described as having been ordained by the supreme god Marduk.25
Henceforth Cyrus, perhaps Babylonia's most famous foreign ruler in the cen-
turies before Alexander, was hailed as a divinely sanctioned Mesopotamian
king. It is not clear what role celestial divination played in this, since there
appear to be no Babylonian, Greek, or biblical sources in which the victory of
Cyrus is said to be announced by celestial signs. However, Babylonian astrono-
mers are known to have interacted with later Persian kings, such as Xerxes,26
and there can be little doubt that these experiences shaped their encounters
with Alexander.
The passages from the Alexander histories discussed here exhibit similari-
ties to, but also clear differences with, Matthew's story of the magi. Regarding
Alexander's first visit to Babylon, the following elements may be singled out
for a comparison: Babylonian astronomers observe a celestial phenomenon
(a lunar eclipse), which they interpret as a sign announcing the victory of their
new king, who is a foreigner from a western country. They set out to report
the favorable sign and pay homage to him. Upon his arrival in Babylon, the
king is welcomed by the Babylonians, who offer him gifts, including precious
aromatic substances (compare the gold, frankincense, and myrrh offered to
Jesus). Only in Curtius Rufus' History of Alexander is Alexander also greeted
by magi, but they are not the ones who interpreted the celestial signs. On the
occasion of Alexander's second visit to Babylon, the scholars either observe or
predict a celestial phenomenon, the nature of which is not specified-perhaps
they predicted an eclipse that did not materialize. This time the phenomenon
is interpreted as a sign of the king's death. They report this to him, and they
24 Van der Spek, "Darius m, Alexander the Great and Babylonian Scholarship," Text 5, 3ll-
26. Due to difficulties in interpreting the damaged section about Alexander, it is debat-
able whether the attitude toward him is favorable or not.
25 See Helier, Das Babylonien der Spi:itzeit, 379, 446-47.
26 For instance, Babylonian astronomers reformed the calendar under Xerxes, and they iden-
tified an eclipse as having announced the death of that king (Ossendrijver, Babylonian
Science in the Rei9n ofXerxes [forthcoming, 2016]).
THE STORY OF THE MAGI & ENCOUNTERS WITH CHALDEANS 225
initiate the substitute king ritual in order to avert the danger. No involvement
of magi is mentioned in the sources for these events.
One important difference with Matthew's story of the magi concerns the
identity of the astrologers. In the Alexander histories they are called Chaldeans,
i.e., Babylonian scholars, but in Matthew they are called magi (magoi). This is
itself unusual because, generally speaking, Greek and Roman historians con-
sidered astral science to be a specialty of the Chaldeans, while the magi were
originally a class of Persian or Median priests responsible for rituals and cer-
tain forms of divination, such as dream interpretation, as well as for educating
princesP However, in some sources from the Greco-Roman period 'magi' is
used in a much wider sense, as a generic term for non-Greek scholars.
I argue that Matthew's magi denote Babylonian astrologers (Chaldeans ).
In order to understand how these different meanings of the term magi came
about, note that by the time of Alexander, Babylonia had been a Persian
satrapy for over two centuries. As a consequence, Babylonia could be referred
to as Persia, and Babylonian customs as Persian. For instance, in Arrian's
Anabasis the eunuchs in Alexander's entourage refer to the incident involv-
ing the stranger who sat himself on Alexander's throne- the Babylonian sub-
stitute king ritual-as a Persian custom (nomos Persikos ).28 Another example
occurs in the Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers by the Greek histo-
rian Diogenes Laertius, who lived in the third century CE: "He [Democritus]
travelled into Egypt to learn geometry from the priests, and he also went into
Persia to visit the Chaldeans as well as to the Red Sea."29 Hence for Laertius,
the Greek philosopher Democritus acquired oriental wisdom from Chaldeans
in Persia, with no mention of Babylonia.
In a related development, the term magi could be a designation not only for
Persian but also for other non-Greek scholars and priests, in particular those
from regions subsumed into the Persian Empire. One example, again deal-
ing with Democritus, is found in Pliny's Natural History: "Both of these phi-
losophers [Pythagoras and Democritus] had visited the magi (magis) of Persia,
Arabia, Ethiopia, and Egypt, and so astounded were the ancients at their recit-
als, as to learn to make assertions which transcend all belief" (Pliny, Natural
History, 25.12-13). A second example occurs in the Stromata of Clement of
Alexandria, who lived in the third century CE: "For he [Democritus] visited
Babylon, and Persis, and Egypt, learning from the magi and the priests. As to
27 See also the contributions by A de Jong and A. Panaino in this volume.
28 Arrian, Anabasis, VI1.24; Helier, Das Babylonien der Spi:itzeit, 415·
29 Diogenes Laertius, Lives and Opinions ofEminent Philosophers, IX.35· Translation in Brill's
New Jacoby, 263 T, fragment 3a.
226 OSSENDRIJVER
Pythagoras, he emulated Zoroaster the Persian magus" (Clement of Alexandria,
Stromata 1.15.6g.1-6).
In some Greco-Roman texts about Persian magi and Zoroaster, a much
greater infusion of Egyptian traditions than previously thought has recently
been identified.30 It is therefore not surprising that the magi could also be
conflated with Chaldean astrologers, especially since they are often men-
tioned together. One example is found in another legend about Democritus
in the Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers by Diogenes Laertius: "He
was a pupil of certain magi (magon ) and Chaldeans (Chaldaion). For when
King Xerxes was entertained by the father of Democritus he left men in charge,
as, in fact, is stated by Herodotos; and from these men, while still a boy, he
learned theology and astronomy."31 In the following passage ascribed to Bolos
of Mendes ("Pseudo-Democritus"), a scholar who was active in the second
century BC E, Democritus is said to have met magi alongside astrologers in
Babylon: "Democritus, son of Damasippus, a native of Abdera discussing with
the gymnosophists among the Indians, and with priests in Egypt, and with
astrologers (astrologois) and magi (magois) in Babylon propounded his sys-
tem [i.e. his atomistic teachings]."32 Whereas the magi in the latter passage
might still be Persian priests, they are clearly Babylonian scholars in other
Greco-Roman texts. For example, the Greek sophist Flavius Philostratus refers
to the "magi of the Babylonians" (VitaApollonii,1.2 ). Perhaps the strongest evi-
dence for a fusion between magi and Babylonian astrologers is found in the
Syriaka by Appian of Alexandria (ea. g6-165 cE). This history of the Syrian
wars includes the following anecdote about magi in Babylon attempting to
prevent the founding of Seleucia-on-the-Tigris as a rival to their own city:
"They say, also, that when the magi were ordered to indicate the propitious
day and hour for beginning the foundations of Seleucia-on-the-Tigris they
falsified as to the hour because they did not want to have such a stronghold
built against themselves."33 Irrespective of whether there is any historical
truth to the anecdote, these magi must be Babylonian astrologers, because it
would otherwise be hard to understand why they are said to defend Babylon.
Two arguments provide further support for this interpretation. First, the
30 J. F. Quack, "Les Mages Egyptianises? Remarks on Some Surprising Points in Supposedly
Magusean Texts," journal ofNear Eastern Studies 65 (zoo6): 267- 82, especially 26g.
31 Diogenes Laertius, Lives and Opinions ofEminent Philosophers, IX.34· Translation in Brill's
New Jacoby, 263 T, fragment 2.
32 Preserved in Hippolytus, Refutationes, 1.13. Translation in Brill's New Jacoby, 263 T, frag-
ment 3d.
33 Appian of Alexandria, Syriaka, chapter 58, 300- 8. Translation at www.livius.org.
THE STORY OF THE MAG I & ENCOUNTERS W I TH CH ALDEAN S 227
bem erological practice of establishing auspicious and inauspicious times for
various human activities is well attested in Babylonia during the first millen-
nium BCE. 34 Furthermore, no other native scholars besides magi are men-
tioned in those sections of the Syriaka that deal with Babylonia. In summary,
there is clear evidence that Babylonian astrologers could be referred to as magi
in the Greco-Roman literature.
From the above considerations, I conclude that Matthew's magi most likely
denote Babylonian astrologers. He may have called them magi for the simple
reason that this was common usage. However, Matthew may also have made a
conscious decision to call them magi rather than Chaldeans. At the time when
he wrote his gospel, Jewish experiences with Babylonia must have been very
much alive. In 586 BCE, shortly after Babylonia had become the dominant
power in the region, King Nebukadnezzar 11 conquered Jerusalem, destroyed
the Jewish temple, and deported the Jewish elite into the Babylonian exile.
These tragedies, inflicted by Babylonians, brought about profound changes in
Jewish religious and political thought that permeate the Hebrew Bible and the
Talmud. The term magi was not burdened with such negative connotations,
since it could denote generic scholars from the East, or priests associated with
the Parthian Empire, where Jews did not suffer the same level of oppression as
under Roman rule.35 Moreover, if Matthew wanted his story to convey the uni-
versal appeal of his message, then a homage to Jesus by magi would be more
suitable than one involving Chaldeans, who represent a specific geographical
region (Babylonia).
Other differences between the Alexander histories and the story of the magi
concern the identity and the role of the celestial phenomena. In the story of
the magi, the phenomenon announcing the new king is a rising star and not a
lunar eclipse. However, this is not without precedent in the Alexander histo-
ries. While Arrian, in the passage quoted above, mentions that the Babylonian
astrologers derived their prediction of Alexander's victory from a lunar eclipse,
Diodorus Siculus and Curtius Rufus only mention "stars:' It seems very likely
that Matthew opted for the generic term star because he did not want to link
the birth of Jesus to a specific, identifiable celestial phenomenon, such as a
particular star, a planet, or a lunar eclipse. More importantly, the function of
the celestial phenomena is rather different. In the Alexander histories, they
feature in their traditional Mesopotamian role as signifiers of the king's future
fate. As a true Mesopotamian "king of the world," Alexander was fully integrated
34 For an edition of the Babylonian h emerologies, see A. Uvingstone, Hemerologies of
Assyrian andBabylonian Scholars (Bethesda: C DL Press, 2013).
35 See the contribution by A. Panaino in this volume.
228 OSSENDRIJVBR
into the Babylonian ideology of kingship. By allowing Babylonian astrologers
to consult him and by taking part in rituals initiated by them, he could present
himself as a legitimate Babylonian king. Obviously these aspects were of no
use to Matthew. Any suggestion that the Star of Bethlehem had an ominous
significance, with the implication that the fate ofJesus was accessible through
celestial divination and perhaps even dependent on apotropaic rituals, would
be incompatible with the message of the gospels. The Star of Bethlehem is not
an ominous phenomenon in the Mesopotamian sense. It is neither a favorable
omen announcing the king's victory nor an unfavorable one that could neces-
sitate the intervention of diviners. Instead, it signifies the birth of a king, which
has already tal<en place, and it directs the magi to him.
Finally, the question of why Matthew included the story of the magi is
beyond the scope of this contribution, since it can only be addressed within
the framework of Judaic and New Testament studies. Here it suffices to point
out that Jewish attitudes towards celestial divination are now known to be
more varied than what is suggested by the official theology underlying the
Hebrew Bible.36 In this connection, I merely want to briefly address the issue
of Jewish familiarity with Babylonian astral science and its possible implica-
tions for the story of the magi.
After the Persian conquest, Babylonia and Palestine were incorporated as
satrapies of the Achaemenid Empire. However, the Persians had a marginal
presence in Babylonia, and they did not interfere much with local traditions. In
the cuneiform sources, Persian influence is largely confined to the higher levels
of administration. Babylonians and Jews were able to maintain their cultural,
linguistic, and religious identity virtually unhampered. In the Jewish tradition,
Cyrus is credited for having allowed the Babylonian Jews to return to their
homeland, but not all Jews made use of this offer. Cuneiform texts prove that
many were well integrated into Babylonian society. They may have felt little
desire to return to Palestine, the barren land of their forefathers. Moreover,
well before the time of their exile, the Babylonians spoke Aramaic as their first
language, the same language spoken by the Jews. More than other immigrant
communities, Jews could therefore feel at home in Babylonia. While the depth
and the extent of their scholarly interactions with Babylonians are a matter of
debate, it is clear that the common Aramaic language provided the Jews with
the means to have direct access to Babylonian culture.
AB it happened, Babylonian astral science experienced an unprecedented
sequence of developments during the period of Persian domination. This
includes the introduction of the zodiac and the emergence of mathematical
36 See the contribution by K. von Stuckrad in thls volume.
THE STORY OF THE MAGI & ENCOUNTERS WITH CHALDEANS 229
astronomy and horoscopic astrology near 400 BCE. Furthermore, these new
forms of astral science were no longer pursued exclusively for the benefit of the
king. For instance, horoscopes were produced for private individuals. Hence
the general public was increasingly exposed to Babylonian astral science. It
is therefore not surprising that some elements were apparently taken up by
Jewish scholars in Babylonia. For instance, the Babylonian luni-solar calendar
was adopted with identical names of the months as well as an intercalation
practice very similar to the one introduced during the reign ofXerxes. Qurnran
texts and parts of the Babylonian Talmud suggest that Jewish scholars also
adopted certain elementary Babylonian methods for predicting astronomi-
cal phenomena.37 Apart from these examples of knowledge transfer within
Babylonia, the subsequent diffusion of horoscopic astrology across the Greco-
Roman world also affected Jewish attitudes toward astral science, resulting in a
greater acceptance of astrological motives. Matthew could therefore consider
a story about a star announcing the birth of the king of the Jews to be fully
appropriate for his audience.
Bibliography
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Cyrus."journal ofCuneiform Studies 46 (1994): 73-86.
Ben-Dov,J., and S. Sanders, eds. Ancientjewish Sciences and the History ofKnowledge in
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CHAPTER 11
Pre-Islamic Iranian Astral Mythology, Astrology,
and the Star of Bethlehem
Antonio Panaino
This contribution1 will try to outline three2 different but partly related subjects:
1) the origin of Iranian,3 and in particular Mazdaean,4 astral lore and the
beginnings of its evolution in the framework of Late Antique astrology;
1 I would like to thank Dr. Eng. Salvo De Meis (Milan), Dr. Andrea Gariboldi (University of
Bologna), and Prof. Stephan Heilen (Universitiit Osnabri.ick) for their kind suggestions and
improvements.
2 Given the nature of this volume, I will not enter into the many other theories concerning
the explan ation and interpretation of the Star of Bethlehem, but I will try to focus on the
hypothesis that the bright astral object observed by the magi would have been the planet
Jupiter, as suggested by I. Bulmer-Thomas ("The Star of Bethlehem: A New Explanation.
Stationary Point of a Planet," Quarterly journal ofthe Royal Astronomical Society 33/4 [1992]:
363- 74) and, later, by Molnar ("The Magi's Star from the Perspective of Ancient Astrological
Practices; journal ofthe Royal Astronomical Society 36 [1994]: 109-26; The Star of Bethlehem:
The Legacy of the Magi [New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers, 1999]; and a number of other essays
as well).
3 Pre-lslarnic Iranian history can be roughly divided in three periods (apart from the proto-
historical phase of the nomadic migrations of the Indo-Aryans in their historical lands),
which are connected with the most important dynasties that ruled in Iran: 1) the Median
and Achaemenian (or Achaemenid) periods, z) the Seleucid and Parthian periods, and
3) the Sasanian (or Sasanid) period. We should also consider that modern scholars used
to distinguish three different phases in the linguistic history of the Iranian languages: Old
Iranian (from the proto-history of the Iranian peoples to a few centuries after the collapse
of the Achaemenian Empire); Middle Iranian (from the end of the Achaemenian Empire to
the fall of the Sasanian Empire); and Modern Iranian (from the end of the first millennium
CE until the present). It is evident that in the periods of transition, we can find phenomena
belonging to the new phase as well as conservative examples of preservations of much older
linguistic features. Furthermore, the Eastern Iranian languages shared a more conservative
trend than the Western Iranian ones, so that the evolution from one to another was not at all
synchronic in the two areas.
4 'Mazdaean' usually refers to the religion of Ahura Mazda, as attested in the Old Persian
inscriptions and in the Avestan and Pahlavi texts attributed to an Iranian religious school
founded by Zoroaster (av. Zara9ustra), a prophet whose actual historical origin is much
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