A Magician refers to a person who does magic. Magus and magi are Latinized and Anglicized versions of the Greek magos (plural: magoi).
When Cyrus, King of the Medes and Persians, captured the Greek towns of Asia Minor in the 540s BCE, the original Magi, a priestly tribe from Media, had their first major contact with the Greeks.
- The Magoi, according to Herodotus (c.490–425 BCE), were a secret Persian society in charge of royal sacrifices, funeral rituals, and dream and omen interpretation.
- They were also involved in Persian spiritual rituals, overseeing sacrifices.
- They were already regarded with suspicion in Persia because they reflected pre-Zoroastrian customs.
- Following Persian military defeats against the Greeks in the early fifth century BCE, many Magi chose to stay in Greece as independent practitioners rather than return home.
- These erstwhile royal servants formed the model for the traveling magician.
By Plato's time (427–347 BCE), the word magoi had taken on a pejorative meaning, signifying door-to-door beggar priests and fortune-tellers.
The terms Mageia and Magikos acquired bad connotations throughout the Hellenistic era, which were passed down to the Romans.
Magicians were thought to be charlatans and con artists, or, if their magic worked, wicked and malicious.
Related to - Mountebank.
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