An interesting read but it unfairly nitpicks at the song “We Three Kings”, which was published in 1863, at a time when just about anywhere in the middle east could be considered the “Orient” Take for instance, the Orient Express, a train that ran from Paris to Istanbul via Vienna 1883-1961. While “Orient” does mean East, it’s all relative, isn’t it? To the Reverend John Henry Hopkins, Jr., who living in New York City, would find even Bethlehem a bit easterly.
It’s a nice song, not scripture.
Yes, in the Hellenistic world, Persians were considered Orientals. Once the Byzantine Empire fell, most Europeans considered the Middle East “Oriental.” “Orient” is derived from the Latin word for “East.”