Biblical Magi their authenticity. In the Eastern churches, Ethiopian Christianity, for instance, has "Hor", "Karsudan", and "Basanater", while the Armenian Catholics have "Kagpha", "Badadakharida" and "Badadilma". Many Chinese Christians believe that one of the magi came from China. The phrase "from the east" (ἀπὸ ἀνατολῶν), more literally "from the rising [of the sun]", is the only information Matthew provides about the region from which they came. The Parthian Empire, centered in Persia, occupied virtually all of the land east of Judea and Syria (except for the deserts of Arabia to the southeast). Though the empire was tolerant of other religions, its dominant
Biblical Magi priestly caste of Zoroastrianism. As part of their religion, these priests paid particular attention to the stars and gained an international reputation for astrology, which was at that time highly regarded as a science. Their religious practices and use of astrology caused derivatives of the term "Magi" to be applied to the occult in general and led to the English term "magic", although Zoroastrianism was in fact strongly opposed to sorcery. The King James Version translates the term as "wise men"; the same translation is applied to the wise men led by Daniel of earlier Hebrew Scriptures (). The same