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"We Three Kings"

Reflections on the Meaning of the Magi

By Elizabeth Lev

What nativity scene is complete without the three Wise Men? These exotic kings with their luxurious gifts have always been one of the crowning glories of any crèche. But more than just a pious Advent adornment or a kind of Christmas action figure, the Magi have been a staple of Christian art and iconography form its earliest origins.

The Wise Men grace the starkest catacombs and the most splendid chapels in Christendom. From the humblest fresco the most ornate panel, for almost two millennia, the Magi have represented man's recognition of God's epiphany to all mankind in the person of the infant Christ.

The earliest known Christian images are found on the walls of the catacombs. They were hastily painted on chapel walls or martyrs' tombs and the subjects were selected from a rather limited list focusing on Christ's salvific mission.

The Magi were among the first New Testament figures to be represented in Christian art. The oldest image of the Oriental triad (probably from the fourth century AD) can be seen in the Greek chapel of Santa Priscilla.

The fresco is simplicity itself. Three beardless young men in single file seem to hurry towards the Blessed Virgin Mary, who is seated on a throne holding the infant Jesus in her arms. The Magi are depicted in profile and wear the peaked caps that denoted foreigners in the city of Rome.

The Magi are portrayed wearing three different colors: white, red, and green. They possess no other distinguishing characteristics, just the three hues. For the early Christian community still under persecution, who knew and witnessed the sacrifices of the martyrs, those colors referred to all the known world at the time - Asia, Africa and Europe - and to the hope that one day, "all the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee" (Psalm 66:4).

The feast of the Epiphany was enormously significant in this age. The Nativity of Christ itself was still celebrated on January 6 as part of the Epiphany. God's manifestation to man so awed and amazed the early Christians that the illustration of the Adoration of the Magi could be employed to represent the whole Christological cycle from Incarnation to Ascension.

Like all paleo-Christian images, the fresco of the Magi was intended as a symbol. Rather than being a realistic portrait of three men, the image served as a visual pointer to the far more momentous reality of God's self-revelation to the world as the "Lumen gentium" or light of the nations. The swift light brushstrokes that almost dissolve before one's eyes and the simple scene with no background or fine details guided the minds of the faithful from the little fresco in an underground chamber toward an understanding of the universal importance of God's epiphany to the whole world.

With his 313 AD Edict of Milan, Constantine had legalized Christianity, and with its newfound status as an accepted religion, Christianity began to be openly discussed and debated in intellectual circles. In time, heresies appeared, the most problematic being Arianism, the false teaching that Jesus was not God.

In this new historical context, many new images entered the repertoire of Christian art, several highlighting the theophany or God's self-revelation. The Entry Into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, for example, appeared frequently as the counterpoint of the Epiphany. Even the Magi themselves were also subtly transformed to meet new catechetical needs.

One of the most popular media for Christian art in this era was relief sculpture on sarcophagi. The Romans, who had long loved beautiful burial objects, transformed the pagan themes of the sarcophagi into the Christian stories of salvation.

In the marble relief of The Adoration of the Magi found today in the Vatican Museums, the Wise Men retain the same positioning as in the Catacomb of Priscilla fresco, as they rush to recognize the newborn "King of the Jews" (Mt. 2:2). The iconography, however, is patterned on Roman triumphal arches showing conquered peoples bringing tribute to the Roman emperor.

No longer distinguished by color, the Magi are individualized by the gifts they offer to Jesus (see Mt 2:11). The first king brings gold, represented as a wreath or crown, to symbolize Christ's royalty and reflect the beginning of His reign. "May the kings of Tarshish and the islands bring tribute, the kings of Arabia and Seba offer gifts. May all kings bow before him, all nations serve him" (Psalm 71:10-11).

The next gift is frankincense, offered in a basket and portrayed by the sculptor as rounded lumps that look like rolls of bread. Frankincense is a hardened resin which was molded into balls for sale called "tears." It was very expensive and was burned in the temples as the finest, sweetest-smelling incense. This offering of the second king recognized the divinity of Christ, as incense represented an offering of prayer. "Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice" (Psalm 141:2). These gifts were seen as an explicit fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy: "A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall proclaim the praise of the LORD" (Is 60:6).

The third gift was myrrh, a bitter but fragrant substance used primarily for embalming the dead. This is brought in a jar, and alludes to the mortality of Jesus and the suffering he was to endure as the sacrificial lamb for the salvation of the world. In Mark's Gospel, when a woman anoints Jesus' feet at Bethany, he says: "She has anointed my body beforehand for its burial. Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her" (Mk 14:8).

As the fourth century refined the artistic details of the Magi representations, they accentuated the teachings of Christ as God and Man, more deserving of tribute, adoration and honors than the Roman emperor himself. Furthermore, in this relief, the caps and dress of the Magi are accentuated so that contemporaries could identify them with Eastern philosopher/magicians who were the only people of this era to don this sort of dress. But the Eastern magicians of the Epiphany, with their unusual garb and exotic gifts, also represented different philosophical currents buffeting the newly-legalized Christianity.

Each Magus symbolizes a different system of thought. The cult of Orpheus, a philosophical religion derived from the extremely popular Dionysus worship, was one of the most beloved subject matters of pagan funerary art. Orpheus was always represented in a pointed magician's cap, whether he was bringing Eurydice back from the dead or taming wild beasts with his lyre.

The next Magus stood for Mithras, the Persian god who was believed to have brought good into the earth by slaying a great sacrificial bull. Mithras was also always shown in a peaked headdress and represented the mysterious Eastern philosophies of Zoroaster.

The final Magus denotes the prophet Daniel, also frequently seen in art with the foreigner's cap. Daniel's wisdom, given to him by God, prevailed where the magician's art failed. Stories from the Book of Daniel provided many subjects for early Christian painting symbolizing the Christian hope for salvation.

These three men from ancient intellectual and religious traditions were associated with the Magi to symbolize how the new religion, the Gospel of Jesus, superseded all others.

The Magi remained an important and frequent subject in Christian art even when Christians started to employ biblical stories more liberally. A splendid version of the Epiphany, dating from about 450 AD, adorns the triumphal arch of Santa Maria Maggiore.

In the wake of the Council of Ephesus in 431, the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore was built by Pope Sixtus III to proclaim Mary theotokos, "Mother of God." Built in one of the wealthiest quarters of fifth-century Rome, the elegant church and its precious ornament bespoke a very sophisticated congregation comprising the ruling class of Rome.

In this cosmopolitan milieu, The Adoration of the magi bore a very different stamp. The medium is mosaic, tiny multi-colored glass pieces placed side by side, one of the most costly art forms. The luxurious homes on the Esquiline Hill boasted mosaic floors, and Romans who frequented Santa Maria Maggiore would have recognized the high quality of the mosaic.

Even more eloquent to them would have been the image of Jesus, not seen as an infant, but as a youth seated alone on a throne. A star hovers above His head and He is surrounded by attendant angels wearing tunics with a broad dark stripe, similar to robes of the senatorial class of Rome.

Mary sits next to her son like a regent empress as the three Magi gather around the throne, two on the right and one on the left. Their brilliantly colored outfits are embellished with pearls and other jaunty ornamentation. These extraordinary costumes of the Magi reflected the more sophisticated world of the Esquiline where ceremonial costumes and the most elegant fashions were frequently seen and discussed. This extremely beautiful and very urbane representation of the Magi continued to reaffirm the divinity of Christ in the highest and most elite Christian circles in Rome.

The seventh century witnessed a new transformation in the Wise Men. The Magi were given names and their representations reflected the three ages of man. In this 12th-century illustration from Salzburg, the oldest Melchior, with his white hair and beard, kneels before the Christ Child. Following him is Balthasar, seen as a mature man with a beard, holding his gift as he stands awaiting his turn. Caspar (or Gaspar), the youngest, hurries impetuously from behind, his youthfulness denoted by a round, clean-shaven face.

These Magi reflected the Christian notion of time, the Alpha and the Omega: the time before Christ, the present after the Redemption of Man, and the future Last Judgment. In this century, the Magi attracted a great deal of new interest as the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa had taken the relics of the Wise Men from their resting place in Milan and brought them to Cologne in Germany, where they remain today.

The Renaissance brought about the acme of Magi imagery as the wealthy families of Florence seized upon this subject matter.

The Adoration of the Magi by Gentile Fabriano, painted in Florence in 1423, is a spectacular panel of exotic pomp and pageantry. Crafted for the Strozzi family of successful bankers, the altarpiece illustrated how the rich can also serve and honor God.

As individual families in Florence became increasingly affluent, the Gospel warning that it is easier "for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God" (Mt 19:24) acquired ever more pertinence.

In response to this, many of Florence's grandest citizens poured money into all kinds of charitable activities. Notably, one of these institutions, a society founded to help orphaned children, was called the Compania dei Magi.

Gentile's Wise Men are shown as kings, with splendid, shimmering finery and surrounded by exquisite accessories such as golden spurs and bejeweled bridles. By contrast, the shepherds gawking at the dazzling procession appear crude and rough.

The noble mien of the Magi, their stunning robes and their striking retinue allude to the privileged of this world, reminding them that for the gifts of beauty, wealth or intelligence to have meaning, they must be placed in the service of God.

This same era which saw the discovery of the New World also left its mark on the Magi. The Renaissance began the custom of representing the Magi as Caucasian, Middle Eastern and African to show all the lands of the earth. Andrea Mantegna's panel from about 1500 opens a window on these three visages pressed close to the Baby Jesus.

Melchior, the European, has known of the coming of Christ for a long time and leads the others in adoring Him.

Olive-skinned Balthasar represents the Muslims and the constant desire for their conversion.

Youthful Caspar, with his dark skin, symbolizes Africa and the countries yet to be evangelized. This heterogeneous group calls to mind the endless mission of Christians to bring the Word of God to all.

In the Renaissance, Magi imagery came full circle. The first tri-color Magi in the catacomb of St. Pricilla culminated in the three different ethnicities of Mantegna enjoining all the nations to bow before Christ to represent the need to spread the Gospel to every corner of an ever-growing world.

As we set out our Nativity scenes this Advent, we should take a minute to remember that Melchior, Balthasar and Capsar provide more than just a colorful accessory. They proclaim the universality of Christ's message across boundaries, philosophies, status and time.

INSIDE THE VATICAN December 2006

Elizabeth Lev lectures on art history in Rome.