The essay below is a summary of research I carried out several years ago on the Adoration of the Magi, the account in the Gospel of Matthew of the presence of three Magi at the birth of Christ. Today this story is told throughout the Christian world alongside the narratives of Christ’s birth as the story of the Three Kings from the East or the Three Wise Men.

While I was waiting for the final file of a talk I gave in Sydney two weeks ago—the second part of “Perennial Wisdom from Zarathustra to Jung,” entitled “From Plethon and Ficino to Scoto: The Lost Dreams of the Renaissance”—to be completed, and which I will soon share with you, it occurred to me that with the Christian New Year approaching it might be appropriate to revisit this research. It forms a bridge between Iranian civilization and culture and one of the most sacred occasions in the Christian world: the foretelling of the birth of Christ and the journey of three Iranian Magi to pay homage to him.

Aydin Areta