Page "Jesus of Nazareth (miniseries)" Paragraph 99

Although the film has been received as generally faithful to the Gospel sources, and more comprehensive than previous film versions, Zeffirelli and his screenwriters found it necessary to take some liberties with the scriptures for purposes of brevity and narrative continuity.

Some of these deviations have a basis in time-honored, extra-Biblical traditions ( e. g., that the infant Jesus was visited by three " kings " Bible calls them " magi " or " astrologers ", yet does not state how many there were ).

Other deviations were invented for the script: