Three Wise Men: Archaeologist explains how their route to Bethlehem was

Archaeologist Cayetana H. Johnson, from the San Dámaso Ecclesiastical University of Madrid (Spain), explains how the writings of the Italian explorer Marco Polo allow us to discover the route that the Three Wise Men took from the East to the city of Bethlehem to worship the Child Jesus.

Saint Matthew, in his Gospel, relates how “after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the time of King Herod, wise men from the East appeared in Jerusalem” and asked for the king of the Jews.

Herod instructed those visitors from distant lands to continue to Bethlehem and return with information about the place, as he feared losing his throne. After worshiping the Child, “having received an oracle in a dream, so that they would not return to Herod, they withdrew to their own country by another route” (Mt. 2:12).

The professor of Aramaic and Hebrew Language, Cayetana H. Johnson, details that “it is possible to establish which routes were followed by our Persian wise men thanks to the story of the merchant Marco Polo.”

In 1298, the traveler wrote in The travels of Marco Polo, the Venetian some information that he collected during his travels related to the Three Wise Men of the Gospel:

“In ancient times, three kings of that country went to worship a certain born king and brought with them three offerings, namely, gold, frankincense and myrrh: gold that they might know whether he was an earthly king; incense, so that they would know if he was God; and myrrh, that they might know whether he was a mortal man.”

In his travels Marco Polo also found vestiges of the magi in the city of Saba (present-day Saveh, southwest of Tehran). “According to local tradition, ‘the wise men who came to worship Christ in Bethlehem,’ in the explorer’s description, are buried there,” says Johnson.

Where did the Three Wise Men go to Bethlehem?

The archaeologist tells ACI Prensa that “the trip from Persia to Bethlehem could only offer two routes due to the presence of the Great Arabian Desert.”

To the north the desert is bordered “by the line of the Euphrates River, to reach Edessa, turn towards Damascus and go down the King’s Road, whose route runs parallel to the Jordan River to end in the Persian Gulf.”

The other option was to cross the desert to reach Petra, capital of the Nabataeans, next to the Dead Sea.

For Cayetana H. Johnson, it is most likely that they took the first route because, according to the biblical story, they visited Herod the Great, who would be in Jericho where he had his winter palaces.

And from the King’s Road of this northern route, several communication routes left towards the Mediterranean, the main one towards Jericho.

How did the Three Wise Men return?

Following the Gospel according to Saint Matthew, we know that these three characters did not return along the same path, warned in dreams of King Herod’s bad intentions.

Johnson details that “Herod would surely know if the wise men were back in the city of Jerusalem if they returned home the way they came” because if they circled the Jewish capital, and approached Jericho, “local contacts from the winter palace area of ​​the King they would surely inform him.”

In order to avoid the jealous monarch, “the way back was costly and took longer, therefore, it became quite a challenge.” The only option was to cross the Arabian Desert.

“South of the Dead Sea, the King’s Road headed to Petra, then east on the route from the south through the Arabian Desert towards central Persia,” the expert details.

To get there from Bethlehem “access to the southern trade route of the Parthians (ancient town in present-day Iran) was through the Route of the Patriarchs”, the only one that crosses the country from north to south and “reached to Hebron after crossing Bethlehem.”

From there it connected with the Spice Route to the south of the Dead Sea. There, along the King’s Road, you reached Petra.

The Magi could have taken other shorter alternatives, but they would have involved a more difficult journey “with fewer trading posts and greater risks.”

This news was originally published on January 4, 2023.