Magi in turn the product of the Hellenistic fascination for (Pseudo‑)Zoroaster, who was perceived by the Greeks to be the Chaldean founder of the Magi and inventor of both astrology and magic, a meaning that still survives in the modern-day words "magic" and "magician". "μάγοι" from the east do homage to the newborn Jesus in Chapter 2 of the Gospel of Matthew, and the transliterated plural "magi" entered English from Latin in this context around 1200 (this particular use is also commonly rendered in English as "kings" and more often in recent times as "wise men"). The singular "magus" appears considerably
Shrine of the Three Kings with the resurrected Christ above. This end also has a bust of Rainald of Dassel in the center. In the novel "Baudolino" (2000), Umberto Eco describes the discovery and subsequent donation of the Magi's relics as an elaborate 12th century hoax perpetrated by the title character. In the novel "Map of Bones" (2005) by James Rollins, the Shrine contains gold in its monatomic state, produced by the Magi, as opposed to holy relics. In the novel "The Bishop and the Three Kings," bishop-detective Father John Blackwood "Blackie" Ryan must solve the mysterious theft of the shrine (Andrew Greeley, 1998). Shrine