We don't know much about the Magi, really. For instance, we have no real proof there were three of them, it is just a guess, since the only gifts that were recorded given to the child named Jesus were gold, frankincense and myrrh.

The fact is there may have been many more gifts they brought and there may have been a dozen "wise men" who came on the appearance of a star. Matthew certainly never says.

The most likely explanation, given that Matthew uses the word "magos" in his writing, is that those who came were from Persia — what is now Iran — and were followers of the Zoroastrian religion that still has followers today.

The Persian civilization was highly advanced — in many ways more so than even the Roman civilization — particularly in the matter of mathematics and astronomy.

Zoroastrians were also heavily interested in astrology, which at the time of Jesus' birth was what passed for science. The clues tell us that the wise men were part of a priestly class and spent most of their time studying the stars.

But we don't know that. It could be that the wise men came from Babylon — Iraq — which was also a center of astrological study. Since they came from "the East," that could even mean China.

There is a tradition that one of the wise men was from Ethiopia. However, Matthew says the men returned "to their own country," indicating they were from the same place. The meaning of "country" was different to Matthew than to us, though.

As wise as they might have been, these men brought some gifts that would, on the surface, appear to be useless to Jesus and his family, other than perhaps the gold.

This may be the origin of the idea that it is the thought that counts.

Likewise, no one knows how, or if, the gifts were used. I've read that, in fact, they may have been sold to finance the trip the family would have to make to Egypt to save Jesus' life. Jesus may never have smelled the sweet frankincense or myrrh.

We don't even have a good understanding of exactly when the wise men came to visit.

While the traditional view is that they were there within a few days after Jesus' birth, Matthew makes it clear that the Magi did not see Jesus in a manger, but "they came into the house." This has led some people to believe that it may not have been a baby Jesus, but a child of up to two years old that the wise men saw.

Wherever they came from, the Magi did not stay, they went home a different way from which they came to avoid running into King Herod, which was probably a good idea.

The old king was flat crazy, mostly because he knew the prophecy and feared it so much. In the end, of course, he was absolutely powerless to do anything about it.

When the wise men depart, there is never another mention of them, though there is a legend that they were baptized on their way home.

If that is the case, they would have been the first to be baptized in the Christian religion.

That seems doubtful to me, because there was no great change in Persia or Babylon. Zoroastrinism continue to flourish for hundreds of years.

It seems more likely that, like so many at the time, they knew there was something special about this child Jesus, but they did not know what. If that is the case, the tradition of the Magi continues even today.

A great many know they are seeing something important, but they don't understand exactly what it is. Or perhaps they try to parse it with science, or human logic.

It cannot be done.

Thus the greatest mystery is whether the wise men had a clue that it was not really they who brought gifts to Jesus, but that He was bringing a gift to them.