Título: Magi
Seção: In Median sources
Background: Magi (; singular magus ; from Latin magus) denotes followers of Zoroastrianism or Zoroaster. The earliest known use of the word Magi is in the trilingual inscription written by Darius the Great, known as the Behistun Inscription. Old Persian texts, pre-dating the Hellenistic period, refer to a Magus as a Zurvanic, and presumably Zoroastrian, priest. Pervasive throughout the Eastern Mediterranean and Western Asia until late antiquity and beyond, magos, "magician", was influenced by (and eventually displaced) Greek goes (goes), the older word for a practitioner of magic, to include astrology, alchemy and other forms of esoteric knowledge.

Conteúdo: The Avestan word magauno, i.e. the religious caste of the Medes, (see Yasna 33.7: ya sruye pare magauno "so I can be heard beyond Magi"), seems to be the origin of the term. The term only appears twice in Iranian texts from before the 5th century BCE, 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 BCE. In this trilingual text, certain rebels have 'magian' as an attribute; in the Old Persian portion as magu- (generally assumed to be a loan word from Median). The meaning of the term in this context is uncertain. The other instance appears in the texts of the Avesta, i.e. in the sacred literature of Zoroastrianism. In this instance, which is in the Younger Avestan portion, the term appears in the hapax moghu.tbis, meaning "hostile to the moghu", where moghu does not (as was previously thought) mean "magus", but rather "a member of the tribe" or referred to a particular social class in the proto-Iranian language and then continued to do so in Avestan. An unrelated term, but previously assumed to be related, appears in the older Gathic Avestan language texts. This word, adjectival magavan meaning "possessing maga-", was once the premise that Avestan maga- and Median (i.e. Old Persian) magu- were co-eval (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 communi

user: How do the Median Sources refer to Magi?

assistant: magauno, i.e. the religious caste of the Medes, (see Yasna 33.7: ya sruye pare magauno "so I can be heard beyond Magi"), seems to be the origin of the term.

user: Are there other sources that refer to Magi?

assistant: The term only appears twice in Iranian texts from before the 5th century BCE, and only one of these can be dated with precision.

user: What is one of the appearances in Iranian text?

assistant: This one instance occurs in the trilingual Behistun inscription of Darius the Great, and which can be dated to about 520 BCE.

user: What is the other instance?

assistant: In this trilingual text, certain rebels have 'magian' as an attribute; in the Old Persian portion as magu- (generally assumed to be a loan word from Median).

user: Do we know the names of either of the texts these references are made?

assistant: CANNOTANSWER

user: What is another example of a term used to describe the magi?

assistant: An unrelated term, but previously assumed to be related, appears in the older Gathic Avestan language texts.