And 41 Of His Itinerary), Perhaps Corrected In This, Puts It At
Saba - H. Y. And H. C.
We have no means of fixing the Kala' Atishparastan.
It is probable,
however, that the story was picked up on the homeward journey, and as it
seems to be implied that this castle was reached three days after
leaving Savah, I should look for it between Savah and Abher. Ruins to
which the name Kila'-i-Gabr, "Gueber Castle," attaches are common in
Persia.
As regards the Legend itself, which shows such a curious mixture of
Christian and Parsi elements, it is related some 350 years earlier by
Mas'udi: "In the Province of Fars they tell you of a Well called the Well
of Fire, near which there was a temple built. When the Messiah was born
the King Koresh sent three messengers to him, the first of whom carried a
bag of Incense, the second a bag of Myrrh, and the third a bag of Gold.
They set out under the guidance of the Star which the king had described
to them, arrived in Syria, and found the Messiah with Mary His Mother.
This story of the three messengers is related by the Christians with
sundry exaggerations; it is also found in the Gospel. Thus they say that
the Star appeared to Koresh at the moment of Christ's birth; that it went
on when the messengers went on, and stopped when they stopped. More ample
particulars will be found in our Historical Annals, where we have given
the versions of this legend as current among the Guebers and among the
Christians. It will be seen that Mary gave the king's messengers a round
loaf, and this, after different adventures, they hid under a rock in the
province of Fars. The loaf disappeared underground, and there they dug a
well, on which they beheld two columns of fire to start up flaming at the
surface; in short, all the details of the legend will be found in our
Annals." The Editors say that Mas'udi had carried the story to Fars by
mistaking Shiz in Azerbaijan (the Atropatenian Ecbatana of Sir H.
Rawlinson) for Shiraz. A rudiment of the same legend is contained in the
Arabic Gospel of the Infancy. This says that Mary gave the Magi one of the
bands in which the Child was swathed. On their return they cast this into
their sacred fire; though wrapt in the flame it remained unhurt.
We may add that there was a Christian tradition that the Star descended
into a well between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Gregory of Tours also relates
that in a certain well, at Bethlehem, from which Mary had drawn water, the
Star was sometimes seen, by devout pilgrims who looked carefully for it,
to pass from one side to the other. But only such as merited the boon
could see it.
(See Abbott in J. R. G. S. XXV. 4-6; Assemani, III. pt. 2, 750;
Chardin, II. 407; N. et Ext.
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