Tue, the only Biblical mention is in Matthew, but we have other “information” about the wise men, such as their names, from extrabiblical tradition.
The OP was careful to ask “Are there any tales, apocryphal or otherwise, as to how much gold…” The answer apparently is “No, there aren’t”; but it’s a reasonable question.
Those extrabiblical accounts originated, however, well after the gospel of Matthew, among people who were aware of that gospel, so they wouldn’t qualify as independent sources.
According to Monty Python:
WISE MAN #1: We were led by a star.
MANDY: Or led by a bottle, more like. Go on. Out!
WISE MAN #1: Well-- well, we must see him. We have brought presents.
MANDY: Out!
WISE MAN #2: Gold. Frankincense. Myrrh.
MANDY: Well, why didn’t you say? He’s over there. Sorry the place is a bit of a mess. Well, what is myrrh, anyway?
WISE MAN #3: It is a valuable balm.
MANDY: A balm? What are you giving him a balm for? It might bite him.
WISE MAN #3: What?
MANDY: That’s a dangerous animal. Quick! Throw it in the trough.
WISE MAN #1: No, it isn’t.
WISE MEN see correct stable down the street, leave,return and grab presents and leave again.
But seriously…
Much of the back story of the birth of Jesus is made up to fit the necessary narrative - a reason why someone from the North would be in Bethlehem city of David for their birth, heroic challenges to foreshadow greatness (Magi visit, survival of Slaughter of the Innocents, etc.). I believe these were the sorts of things that would be (as David Letterman’s show describes such stuff ) “writers’ embellishments”. They fit the standard backstory of heroes in legends.
After all, if someone is so important and needing worship and honor, that three VIP’s would travel for days or weeks to get there, the amount they would gift him would presumably setup for life the family of the average day labourer. Plus, in those days there were no banks, so the family would be sitting ducks for thieves.
Yeah, I was wondering if Czarcasm had access to a time machine and was checking to see if funding the trip back would be worth it.
I don’t think the OP was asking for independent sources, though.
The desire to cement Jesus in the cannon as the prophesied one is pretty clear. And bringing in ideas from nearby cultures and religions that would have been currently swishing about at the time is not hard to understand. Maggi/kings/wise-men, is a good one to leverage. The modern version of this is fan-fiction.
These things don’t come without problems. The idea of the guiding star apparently caused a ruckus later in the church’s history. There was a clear decision that the star was not an actual star, supernova, comet, or whatever, since this provided biblical support for astrology. The Christian church had a lot of turmoil iterating down to the current dogma. A lot of early Christians had some pretty wild beliefs. What we see in the current day is arguably the result of a lot of accidents of history, starting with the Roman Siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE and the slaughter of the majority of proto-Christians.
As wise men, we might assume that they were not wealthy. So if you wanted to make a case for a story about what happened to the gifts, one might start with them being token amounts. Frankincense and myrrh are consumables. Maybe Joseph snorted the frankincense and Mary rubbed the myrrh on Jesus’ nappy rash. Go down the casino and put the gold on red.
Nah, man, you gotta smoke that incense.
Canon, not cannon.
Indeed.
Aw, I was picturing Jesus cemented into the barrel of an actual cannon.
If you cement Jesus into a cannon, it won’t work.
“The More You Know”
They were expecting a saviour of a different caliber.
Ouch.
There is nowhere in the biblical cannon where they specified that there were three wise men, only three types of gift. It was only later that it was claimed that there were three, that they had specific names, and that they liked to hang out naked in bed together.
Yes, three as a convenient number for assorted legends and folk tales is common. And of course, whoever embellished something - nobody could contradict him, and in the days before Google and Snopes, nobody could contradict what they found when someone wrote it down. Like internet memes, these things have a life of their own which grows, just like stories of St. Nicolas or St. Valentine.
Nor what day they arrived at the manger – Catholics (and others?) say January 6th. I’d bet their showing up on Dec 25th is a very recent invention.
The story probably didn’t have them “at the manger” at all.
I’m still fighting the idea pushed by retailers that the 12 days of Christmas aren’t a countdown to buy shit before Christmas day.
2 of the 4 wise men went halves on the frankincense, but that wasn’t made clear on the gift tag.
Well, now I have no choice! Enjoy: