Magi

==Iranian sources==
[[File:Chopped gold pieces from the Oxus Treasure by Nickmard Khoey213.jpg|thumb|Zoroastrian Magus carrying ''[[barsom]]'' from the [[Oxus Treasure]] of the [[Achaemenid Empire]], 4th century BC|upright]]
The term only appears twice in Iranian texts from before the 5th century BC, and only one of these can be dated with precision. This one instance occurs in the trilingual [[Behistun inscription]] of [[Darius the Great]], and which can be dated to about 520 BC. In this trilingual text, certain rebels have magian as an attribute; in the [[Old Persian]] portion as ''maγu-''<!-- Gershevitch--> (generally assumed to be a loan word from [[Median language|Median]]<!--cf Boyce quotation below -->). The meaning of the term in this context is uncertain.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Burkert |first=Walter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U0kvEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA108 |title=Babylon, Memphis, Persepolis: Eastern Contexts of Greek Culture |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-674-02399-4 |pages=108–109 |language=en}}</ref>

The other instance appears in the texts of the [[Avesta]], the sacred literature of Zoroastrianism. In this instance, which is in the [[Avestan language|Younger Avestan]] portion, the term appears in the [[Hapax legomenon|hapax]] ''moghu.tbiš'', meaning "hostile to the ''moghu''", where ''moghu'' does not (as was previously thought<!--according to source Boyce-->) mean "magus", but rather "a member of the tribe"<!-- 10, 10,n38 --><ref name= "Boyce_1975_10_11" /> or referred to a particular social class in the proto-Iranian language and then continued to do so in Avestan.<ref name="Gershevitch">{{cite journal|last=Gershevitch |first=Ilya |title= Zoroaster's Own Contribution|journal=Journal of Near Eastern Studies |volume=23 |issue=1 |date=1964 |doi=10.1086/371754 |pages=12–38|s2cid=161954467 }}, p. 36.</ref>

An unrelated term, but previously assumed to be related, appears in the older Gathic [[Avestan language]] texts. This word, adjectival ''magavan''<!-- not mag*h*avan --> meaning "possessing ''maga-''", was once the premise that Avestan ''maga-'' and Median (i.e. Old Persian) ''magu-'' were [[coeval]] (and also that both these were cognates of [[Vedic Sanskrit]] ''magha-''). While "in the [[Gathas]] the word seems to mean both the teaching of Zoroaster and the community that accepted that teaching",<!-- also Boyce "possessed of this gospel" --> and it seems that Avestan ''maga-'' is related to Sanskrit ''magha-'', "there is no reason to suppose that the western Iranian form ''magu'' (Magus) has exactly the same meaning"<ref name="Zaehner_1961"/> as well. <!--i.e. The [[Avestan]] word ''magâunô'' (see Yasna 33.7: ''ýâ sruyê parê magâunô'' formerly and mistakenly {{by whom}} translated "so I can be heard beyond Magi")--> But it "may be, however", that Avestan ''moghu'' (which is not the same as Avestan ''maga-'') "and Medean<!-- sic (in a quotation) --> ''magu'' were the same word in origin, a common Iranian term for 'member of the tribe' having developed among the Medes the special sense of 'member of ''the''<!-- italics Boyce--> (priestly)<!-- parens Boyce--> tribe', hence a priest."<ref name= "Boyce_1975_10_11">{{citation|last=Boyce|first=Mary|author-link=Mary Boyce|title=A History of Zoroastrianism, Vol. I|date=1975| publisher = Brill|location=Leiden|pages=10–11}}</ref><sup>''cf''</sup><ref name="Gershevitch"/>

Some examples of the use of magi in [[Persian poetry]], are present in the poems of [[Hafez]]. There are two frequent terms used by him, first one is ''Peer-e Moghan'' (literally "the old man of the magi") and second one is ''Deyr-e Moghan'' (literally "the monastery of the magi").<ref>{{cite web |title=پیر مغان حافظ كیست، دیرِ مغان حافظ كجاست؟ |url=https://www.irna.ir/news/81795856/%D9%BE%DB%8C%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%BA%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%AD%D8%A7%D9%81%D8%B8-%D9%83%DB%8C%D8%B3%D8%AA-%D8%AF%DB%8C%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%BA%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%AD%D8%A7%D9%81%D8%B8-%D9%83%D8%AC%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%AA |website=IRNA |access-date=13 November 2022|language=FA}}</ref>