Marco Polo and the Three Wise Men
- Dec 30, 2022
- 2 min read
Updated: Dec 25, 2024
Did you know Marco Polo encountered the Christmas Story in his travels in Persia? Well, read on! I discovered "In the Footsteps of Marco Polo" by Dennis Belliveau and Francis O'Donnell while sitting in the library on our cruise ship a few years ago. Here are a couple of excerpts:
PREFACE
In 1958 Ronald Latham wrote in his much-respected translation of Marco Polo's 'The Travels of Marco Polo,'
"Some stretches of the trail he blazed were trodden by no other European for over six hundred years-- not, perhaps, till the opening of the Burma Road during the last war. And the task of putting it on the map, in the most literal sense, is not yet complete."
In the spring of 1993, when Fran and I were both around 30 years old, we read those words over and over again for inspiration. We had taken it upon ourselves to try, "in the most literal sense," to put Marco Polo's journey on the map.
Perhaps the two are inseparable, but with a dash of reckless bravado and a lot of testosterone, we set out on our mission to see as many places Polo described without resorting to aircraft. We have tried to keep the story you are about to read "in the moment," and aside from a few historical updates, the words have come directly from the journals kept during those two years."
On page 263, they are now in Persia-- modern day Iran. And suddenly, in this devout Muslim country, they encounter the Christmas Story!
"We came upon a town of fire worshipers... The inhabitants here told me that in days gone by three kings set out from this country to worship a new-born prophet and took with them these gifts-- gold, frankincense, and myrrh."- Marco Polo
The authors explain:
"For over twelve hundred years, the fire burning in the Zoroastrian temple in Yazd has been kept alive by a long lineage of priests, log upon log and ember to burning ember.
The ancient Zoroastrian religion is perhaps the first monotheistic faith. Centuries before Christianity, the Zoroastrians believed that their God would send a savior, born of a virgin, to triumph over darkness and evil. Great astrologers, the Magi of Persia, also believed that the sign of his birth would come from the heavens. Their veneration of fire as a sacred channel of God's eternal light and purity is still practiced by a small group of followers in Iran today."
WOW. Did your jaw drop reading that? Mine did. A Savior, born of a virgin, and the sign of his birth would come from the heavens...
Have you ever wondered about the ancient Christmas Carol, We Three Kings? I always puzzled over the quantity, because the Gospel accounts never quantify the number of magi. I had always assumed the number three was traditional because there were three gifts-- gold, frankincense, and myrrh. But now I wonder, was it from Marco Polo telling about his visit with the Zoroastrians in Persia? I wonder...
You’re blowing my mind !