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
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