Later tellings of the story identified the magi by name and identified their lands of origin: Melchior hailed from Persia , Gaspar (also called ” Caspar ” or “Jaspar”) from India , and Balthazar from Arabia.
The Three Kings , or Magi, are mentioned only in the Gospel of Matthew 2:1-12.
They travelled by horse, camel, and elephant (respectively) to present the newborn baby Jesus with three symbolic gifts: gold, because Jesus was royalty as ” King of the Jews;” frankincense, which represented the baby’s holy nature as the Son of God; and myrrh to signify Jesus ‘ mortality.
There is an Armenian tradition identifying the “Magi of Bethlehem” as Balthasar of Arabia, Melchior of Persia, and Gaspar of India.
The wise men brought gold, frankincense and myrrh to the newborn king . Gold, of course, was valuable as currency. Frankincense is a valuable perfume. Myrrh is a precious ointment often used in the burial process.
Magi (/ˈmeɪdʒaɪ/; singular magus /ˈmeɪɡəs/; from Latin magus) were priests in Zoroastrianism and the earlier religions of the western Iranians. The earliest known use of the word magi is in the trilingual inscription written by Darius the Great , known as the Behistun Inscription.
Saint Balthazar; also called Balthasar, Balthassar, and Bithisarea, was according to tradition one of the biblical Magi along with Caspar and Melchior who visited the infant Jesus after he was born. Balthazar is traditionally referred to as the King of Macedonia and gave the gift of myrrh to Jesus.
In the mountains of ancient Persia, lived Artaban, whose study of the planets and the stars led him to predict the birth of the King of Kings.
In religion ” King of Kings ” (βασιλεὺς τῶν βασιλευόντων) is used in reference to Jesus Christ several times in the Bible , notably once in the First Epistle to Timothy (6:15) and twice in the Book of Revelation (17:14, 19:11–16); As such, Βασιλεὺς Βασιλέων in the Byzantine Empire would have meant “Emperor of Emperors”.
Using these methods, most scholars assume a date of birth between 6 and 4 BC, and that Jesus’ preaching began around AD 27–29 and lasted one to three years . They calculate the death of Jesus as having taken place between AD 30 and 36.
The shepherds were quietly getting on with their own business when suddenly an angel appeared to them. The angel’s words to them told them of Jesus and his amazing birth and how they could recognise him in a very crowded town.
Joseph and Mary had been visited by an angel and told that Herod would attempt to kill Jesus , their son. Doing as told, they took their infant son and fled by night into Egypt, where they stayed until Herod had died.
The Annunciation (from Latin annuntiatio), also referred to as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary , the Annunciation of Our Lady, or the Annunciation of the Lord, is the Christian celebration of the announcement by the Archangel Gabriel to the Blessed Virgin Mary that she would conceive and become the mother of
Myrrh (/mɜːr/; from Aramaic, but see § Etymology) is a natural gum or resin extracted from a number of small, thorny tree species of the genus Commiphora. Myrrh resin has been used throughout history as a perfume, incense and medicine.