Magician (religion)

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Magician ( Persian مغ, DMG muġ or moġ ), also lean , is a wandering word of ancient Iranian origin , which has been used at least since the 4th century BC. Chr. Represents a general name for a Zoroastrian priest . Linguistically it is based on the Indo-European root * magh- with the meaning “can, be able, help”, whose family of words also includes “(be) able”, “power” and “machine”. The meaning of the word before the 4th century BC Chr. Is not completely clarified.

Barsom- bearing golden skimmers from the Oxus treasure

Before the 4th century BC Chr.

In the Avesta

The oldest evidence of the word comes from the Avesta , specifically from the Gathas Zarathustras , and is available in the Avesta language . As a nominative, however, the word occurs only once, and only in one connection, moghu.tbisch , which means "hostile to the Moghu ". From the context it can no longer be guessed, but the Zoroastrian commentaries written 700–1800 years later indicate that theologians understood the term as "hostile to the Zoroastrian community". In adjective form, the term maghavan has the suffix -van with the meaning "in possession ". Mary Boyce translates 'maghavan' accordingly as "filled with the teaching of Zarathustra".

In the Behistun inscription

In the trilingual Behistun inscription of the Persian Great King Dareios I (549–486 BC) certain rebels are labeled "Mager", here in the old Persian version as Magusch . What the term means in this context is also not entirely clear. It is probably not the name of a Mede, as the Behistun inscription was meant to serve as a warning to potential insurgents, and the Great King would not have omitted to mention his closest neighbors.

In the Greek sources

Heraclitus (520-460 BC), who insults the skinny ( ancient Greek μάγος mágos , plural μάγοι magoi ) and others for their “disrespectful” rites, provides a slightly later evidence than the Behistun inscription . Here the skinny are already associated with religious activities.

In the histories of Herodotus (mid-5th century BC) the Greek magoi has two meanings. At one point it appears as the name of one of the six Median tribes . Another time Herodotus uses the word as a general term for Iranian priests, but he does not mention their tribe. It therefore remains unclear whether Herodotus Median people were also a priestly caste. The names of the Median tribes are not confirmed by any other contemporary witness. Herodotus' records also refer only to the Iranian merchant families who lived in Asia Minor. Herodotus himself never set foot on Iranian soil.

Other Greek authors followed, including a. Xenophon , who describes the skinny of the Achaemenid court as experts in all religious matters. In Kyropaedia , his pseudobiography of Cyrus II , Xenophon also states that the skinny are responsible for the training of the future king.

Since the 4th century BC Chr.

In Greek and Roman sources

At the latest in the Greek and Roman texts of the 4th century BC. BC mágos and magus unmistakably serve as the designation of a Zoroastrian priest. In these texts, which extend into our time, Zarathustra himself is mentioned as being lean, and the office is assigned various tasks, from divination to necromancy . During this period, the term often had a negative connotation; Pliny and Plutarch were particularly critical of the skinny.

The astrological interpretations of the "wise men from the Orient" ( Mt 2, 1–12  EU ), called by Matthew Magoi , sometimes also referred to as the "Holy Three Kings", which followed the biblical tradition after a star to Bethlehem , are possibly the best known Example of the view that the skinny were experts in astrology. In German, the connection with the (originally religious) magic arts is preserved in the words 'magic' and ' magician '. The same applies to most modern Germanic and Romance languages .

In Iran

In the Persian Empire itself, the word only appears again in the inscriptions of the Kartir in the early Assanid period. It can be seen from these that the term magu had already developed into a synonym for “priest” among Zoroastrians. The neo-Persian word mobed , which today designates a Zoroastrian theologian, is a linguistic development of the Middle Persian magu-pat , "chief priest" or literally "master / lord of magicians".

In the Arab world

In the Arab world of the 6th century, madschūsi is also a fixed term for a Zoroastrian (and not exclusively for a Zoroastrian priest). During the first Gulf War (1980–1988) between Iran and Iraq, the word was a propaganda term used by Iraqis and was intended to imply that the Iranians were not real Muslims.

literature

Web links

  • Jona Lendering: Magians . In: Livius.org (English)
  • Muhammad A. Dandamayev: Magi . In: Ehsan Yarshater (Ed.): Encyclopædia Iranica , as of May 30, 2012, accessed on October 15, 2019 (English, including references)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Julius Pokorny: Indo-European etymological dictionary ; P. 695
  2. ↑ Boyce, Mary (1975). A History of Zoroastrianism , vol. I. Leiden: Brill, p. 251.
  3. ↑ Quoted in Clemens , Protrepticus 12
  4. ↑ Herodotus names the others Buser, Paretakener, Struchaten, Arizanter and Budier, Historien 1,101 .
  5. ^ Strabo , xvi. 2.39