MAGDEEL fmag'di-e1), (Heb. 8-7F), mag-dee ale', God is renown).
A descendant of Esau (Gen. xxxvi :43 ; I Chron. i:54), and chief among the Edomites in Mount Seir. (B. C. before 1619.) MAGI (ma'ji), (Heb mag , Gr. iici-yot, mag'oy, A. V. "wise men '' in Matt. ii 1, 7, 16; "sorcerer " in Acts xiii:6, 8).
The Magi were originally one of the srx tribes (Herod i :tot ; Plin. Hist. Nat. v. 29) into which the nation of the Medes was divided, who, like the Levites under the Mosaic institutions, were intrusted with the care of religion: an office which was held in the highest honor, gave the greatest influence, and which they probably acquired for themselves only after a long time, as well as many worthy efforts to serve their country, and when they had proved themselves superior to the rest of their brethren. As among other ancient na tions, as the Egyptians, and Hebrews, for in stance, so among the Medes, the priestly caste had not only religion, but the arts and all the higher culture, in their charge. Their name points im mediately to their sacerdotal character (from Mag or Mog, which in the Pehlevi denotes 'priest'), either because religion was the chief object of their attention, or more probably because, at the first', religion and art were so allied as to be scarcely more than different expressions of the same idea.
Little in detail is known of the Magi during the independent existence of the Median govern ment ; they appear in their greatest glory after the Medes were united with the Persians. This doubtless is owing to the general imperfection of the historical materials which relate to the earlier periods. So great, however, was the influence which the Magi attained under the united empire, that the Medes were not ill compensated for their loss of national independence. Under the Medo Persian sway the Magi formed a sacred caste or college, which was very famous in the ancient world (Xenoph. Cyrop. viii, 1, 23; Ammian. Mar cell. xxiii :6; Heeren, Ideen, i, 451; Schlosser, Universal Uebcrs, 278).
(1) Divination. According to Strabo (tom. ii, p. to84, ed. Falcon.) the Magi practiced dif ferent sorts of divination-0) by evoking the dead ; (2) by cups or dishes (Joseph's divining cup (Gen. xliv :5) ; (3) by means of water. By
the employment of these means the Magi affected to disclose the future. to influence the present, and to call the past to their aid. Even the visions of the night they were accustomed to interpret, not empirically, but :cording to such established and systematic rules as a learned priesthood might be expected to employ (Strabo, xvi, p. 762; Cic. De Divin. 4t ; fElian, V. H. ii, I7)• The success, however, of their efforts over the in visible world, as well as the holy office which they exercised, demanded in themselves peculiar cleanliness of body, a due regard to which and to the general principles of their caste would naturally be followed by professional prosperity, which in its turn conspired with prevailing super stition to give the Magi great social considera tion, and make them of high importance before kings and princes (Diog. Laert. ix, 7, 2)—an in fluence which they appear to have sometimes abused, when, descending from the peculiar duties of their high office, they took part in the strife and competitions of politics. and found them selves sufficiently powerful even to overturn thrones (Herod. iii, 6i, sq.).
Abuses bring reform; and the Magian religion, which had lost much of its original character, and been debased by some of the lowest elements of earthly passions, loudly called for a renovation, when Zoroaster appeared to bring about the need ful change. As to the time of his appearance, and in general the particulars of his history, differ ences of opinion prevail, after all the critical la bor that has been expended on the subject. Winer (Real-wOrt.) says he lived in the second half of the seventh century before Christ. He was not the founder of a new system, but the renovator of an old and corrupt one, being, as he himself intimates (Zendavcsta, i, 43), the re storer of the word which Ormuzd had formerly revealed, but which the influence of Dews had degraded into a false and deceptive magic.