80; Greg. Turon. Libri Miraculorum,
Paris, 1858, I. 8.)
Several of the fancies that legend has attached to the brief story of the
Magi in St. Matthew, such as the royal dignity of the persons; their
location, now in Arabia, now (as here) at Saba in Persia, and again (as in
Hayton and the Catalan Map) in Tarsia or Eastern Turkestan; the notion
that one of them was a Negro, and so on, probably grew out of the
arbitrary application of passages in the Old Testament, such as: "Venient
legati ex Aegypto: AETHIOPIA praevenit manus ejus Deo" (Ps. lxviii.
31). This produced the Negro who usually is painted as one of the Three.
"Reges THARSIS et Insulae munera offerent: Reges ARABUM et SABA
dona adducent" (lxxii. 10). This made the Three into Kings, and fixed
them in Tarsia, Arabia, and Sava. "Mundatio Camelorum operiet te,
dromedarii Madian et EPHA: omnes de SABA venient aurum et thus
deferentes et laudem Domino annunciantes" (Is. lx. 6). Here were Ava and
Sava coupled, as well as the gold and frankincense.
One form of the old Church Legend was that the Three were buried at
Sessania Adrumetorum (Hadhramaut) in Arabia, whence the Empress Helena
had the bodies conveyed to Constantinople, [and later to Milan in the time
of the Emperor Manuel Comnenus. After the fall of Milan (1162), Frederic
Barbarossa gave them to Archbishop Rainald of Dassel (1159-1167), who
carried them to Cologne (23rd July, 1164). - H. C.]
The names given by Polo, Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, have been
accepted from an old date by the Roman Church; but an abundant variety of
other names has been assigned to them. Hyde quotes a Syriac writer who
calls them Aruphon, Hurmon, and Tachshesh, but says that some call them
Gudphorbus, Artachshasht, and Labudo; whilst in Persian they were termed
Amad, Zad-Amad, Drust-Amad, i.e. Venit, Cito Venit, Sincerus Venit. Some
called them in Greek, Apellius, Amerus, and Damascus, and in Hebrew,
Magaloth, Galgalath, and Saracia, but otherwise Ator, Sator, and
Petatoros! The Armenian Church used the same names as the Roman, but in
Chaldee they were Kaghba, Badadilma, Badada Kharida. (Hyde, Rel. Vet.
Pers. 382-383; Inchofer, ut supra; J. As. ser. VI. IX. 160.)
[Just before going to press we have read Major Sykes' new book on
Persia. Major Sykes (ch. xxiii.) does not believe that Marco visited
Baghdad, and he thinks that the Venetians entered Persia near Tabriz, and
travelled to Sultania, Kashan, and Yezd. Thence they proceeded to Kerman
and Hormuz. We shall discuss this question in the Introduction. - H. C.]
CHAPTER XV.
OF THE EIGHT KINGDOMS OF PERSIA, AND HOW THEY ARE NAMED.
Now you must know that Persia is a very great country, and contains eight
kingdoms. I will tell you the names of them all.
The first kingdom is that at the beginning of Persia, and it is called
CASVIN; the second is further to the south, and is called CURDISTAN; the
third is LOR; the fourth [SUOLSTAN]; the fifth ISTANIT; the sixth SERAZY;
the seventh SONCARA; the eighth TUNOCAIN, which is at the further
extremity of Persia.
