Virtual Nativity - The Wise Men

Adoration of the Magi

A Roman fresco from the third century shows the scene of Adoration of the Magi which is located on the the arch dividing the room in the Greek Chapel in the Catacomb of Priscilla in Rome.

A Third Century Funerary Slab

A third century funerary slab from the Vatican’s Museum Collection.

A third century funeral slab offers rough images of the Magi with a general lack of detail. They are not distinguished from one another, although their offerings are. On the right-hand side of the slab is an image that is the first we have of a scene depicting the Magi. Three identical figures, wearing the traditional dress of Persians in Roman art, approach a woman seated in a wicker chair with a baby in her lap. They are bearing objects in their hands that they hold out as gifts. Behind the woman and child stands a man who is pointing to a star suspended in the space between the woman and child, and the first of the three men.

“When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure-chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.”
Matthew 2.10-11

In the New Testament the story of the wise men (also known as the Magi) is found only in the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew gives no further information about the identity of these travellers, who are the subject of the artistic theme known as the Adoration of the Wise Men. In art the wise men, like the shepherds, are often shown kneeling with their gifts.

Later versions of the story identified the Magi by name and identified their lands of origin: Melchior hailed from Persia, Gaspar (also called Caspar or Jaspar) from India, and Balthazar from Arabia. Their gifts had special symbolic meanings as well:

gold signified Jesus’ status as ‘King of the Jews’;
frankincense represented the infant’s divinity and identity as the Son of God;
and myrrh touched upon Jesus’ mortality.

In the Catacomb of Priscilla in Rome, there is a third century fresco showing each of the three wise men in a different colour. One from each of the three parts of the world with outstretched hands approach the seated woman and child.

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