caste of hereditary priests under the Medes and Persians. Some derive their name from mag, or mag, which signifies priest in the Pehlevi language. They were in exclusive possession of scientific knowledge; and so celebrated were they in astrology and enchantment, that their name was given to all other kinds of enchanters and magicians. We find the word also used to denote any men distinguished for their wisdom. Thus the wise men of the east, in Matt. ii. 1, 7, 16, are termed Magi; and it is not difficult to perceive how, in the minds of the superstitious vulgar, this class of men should early come to be regarded under this twofold aspect. The grand doctrine of the ancient Magi, previous to the reformation effected among them by Zoroaster, was that of opposition, or strife, as the parent and original cause of all things. The two great principles which waged continual warfare throughout the universe were those of light and darkness, of good and evil, Ormuzd and Ahriman, which were destined to divide the dominion of the world, now preserving, now destroying finite things, till the final struggle should arrive, when darkness should be swallowed up of light, and the good should reign for ever. To seize upon and master those hostile powers was the chief task of the Magi, and they held that this could be effected by prayer and a true knowledge of the laws of opposition. When once this mastery was obtained, all subject to those powers were at their disposal; they could pry into futurity, raise the dead, and accomplish countless other supernatural triumphs over the limitation and suffering to which man is naturally subjected. That this system had its origin in the endeavours which thoughtful men perpetually exert after an intelligible explanation of the universe, there can be little doubt; and it can be as little doubted that their art, so far as it was real, had its foundation in a superior knowledge of the powers of nature. But what sprung originally from a love of truth, from the scientific tendencies of the human mind, could soon, in the hands of the dishonest and the grasping, be prostituted to fulfil the ends of vulgar avarice and sordid ambition; and hence the degradation of the wise man, the priest of science, into the magician, the wonder-worker, with his magical theurgia and wicked incantations.

Zoroaster reformed the religious doctrines and ceremonies of the Magi. (See ZOROASTER.) The best source of information for the study of the character and religion of the eastern Magi is to be found among the works of Anquetil du Perron, who brought to Europe the celebrated books called the Zendaresta. (See vols. xxxiv. and xxxix. of the Memoires de l'Academie des Inscriptions.) Interesting information may also be obtained respecting the Magi and magic in Kleuker's Zendaresta and Magikon; also, Creuzer's Symbolik und Mythologie; also, Windischmann and Conrad Horst on Magic; and Sir Walter Scott's Demonology and Witchcraft.