THREE WISE MEN at Jesus birth?
Were the “wise men” kings?
Although in Christmas tradition the visitors are often depicted that way, nowhere does the Bible call them kings. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, that designation was added centuries later as part of the traditions that “embellished the narrative.”
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The birth stories of Jesus in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke were written approximately 50–60 years after his death, generally dated by scholars to between 80 and 100 CE. These narratives were added to the oral tradition and earlier gospels (like Mark, which has no birth story) to provide theological context, with Luke often dated to the 80s or later.
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Matthew and Luke (80–100 CE): The infancy narratives (virgin birth, Magi, shepherds, Bethlehem) appear only in these two Gospels.
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Earliest Writings (50–70 CE): Paul's letters and the Gospel of Mark are earlier but make no mention of the birth story, focusing instead on Jesus's ministry and resurrection.
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Development: The narratives developed as early Christians needed to express Jesus's significance through his origins.
The stories were not written as immediate eyewitness accounts, but rather as narratives fabricated decades later to establish the theological significance of Jesus.
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THE THREE WISE MEN at Jesus's birth
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_Magi
Country of origin and journey
The phrase "from the east" (ἀπὸ ἀνατολῶν, apo anatolon), more literally "from the rising [of the sun]", is the only information Matthew provides about the region from which they came. The Parthian Empire, centered in Iran (Persia), stretched from eastern Syria to the fringes of India. Though the empire was tolerant of other religions, its dominant religion was Zoroastrianism, with its priestly magos class.
Although Matthew's account does not explicitly cite the motivation for the Three Wise Men's journey (other than seeing the star in the east, which the Bible says was the star of the King of the Jews), the apocryphal Syriac Infancy Gospel states in its third chapter that they were pursuing a prophecy from their prophet, Zoradascht (Zoroaster).