I've followed the trail of the spices back to the mysteries of the Magi...
Cinnamon and cassia found their way to the Middle East at least 4,000 years ago. From time immemorial, southern Arabia (Arabia Felix of antiquity) had been a trading centre for frankincense, myrrh, and other fragrant resins and gums. Arab traders artfully withheld the true sources of the spices they sold. To satisfy the curious, to protect their market, and to discourage competitors, they spread fantastic tales to the effect that cassia grew in shallow lakes guarded by winged animals and that cinnamon grew in deep glens infested with poisonous snakes. Pliny the Elder (23–79 ce) ridiculed the stories and boldly declared, “All these tales…have been evidently invented for the purpose of enhancing the price of these commodities.”
Adding a further wrinkle, first-century naturalist Pliny the Elder wrote several chapters about the Magi wherein they sound more like something from a Harry Potter novel. He details their skill in magic arts—including pouring boiled earthworms in the ear to cure a toothache!
Despite the disagreement, here are a few facts. The word magus is of Persian origin; however, Basil indicated that they were not confined to a specific empire but “scattered all over the country.” First-century Jewish historian Philo referred to Balaam from Numbers 22–24 as a magus.
https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/2016/december/magi-wise-men-or-kings-its-complicated.html
The Book of Isaiah, when describing Jerusalem’s glorious restoration, tells of nations and kings who will come and “bring gold and frankincense and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord” (Isaiah 60:6).
https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/people-cultures-in-the-bible/jesus-historical-jesus/why-did-the-magi-bring-gold-frankincense-and-myrrh/
The Incense Road through the Arabian Peninsula, which brought currency, goods, and progress to the region as early as 1500 bc. The name frankincense reminds us that it is the very definition of incense; it derives from the old French franc encens, which means pure incense or pure lighting.
https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/brief-history-frankincense
Frankincense and myrrh were common ingredients in the Egyptians’ aromatic tool chest, and both were used to preserve mummies.
https://stellarhousepublishing.com/the-star-of-bethlehem-three-kings-sirius-and-orion-2/
Egyptian mythology appears to be the source of this mythical, not historical, motif found also in the New Testament gospel story, with the Star in the East signifying the star Sirius and the Three Wise Men the stars in the belt of Orion. Again, while these “wise men” are not specifically “kings,” the tradition associated them with the three stars in the belt of the Orion constellation, which came to be called the “Three Kings” in Christian astronomy.
Dr. Edwin C. Krupp, director of the famed Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, discussed both stellar subjects extensively, demonstrating the theme of the three stars pointing to the bright star, indicating the “birth of the savior” at the horizon, both a solar motif and the annual flooding of the Nile.
Again, in Egyptian mythology, Sirius or Sothis – Isis – was viewed as the herald of the coming messiah, Osiris, the Nile’s water flooding its banks and bringing with it the renewal of the harvest along its banks. Without this annual flood, which took place in late June, around the solstice, the Egyptians could expect crop failure and famine. Hence, one can fathom why this event was so important and why it was considered a time of salvation. The star in the east was noticed also to herald the rising sun at the horizon, another extremely important messianic figure who was likewise represented by Osiris, as his son Horus, born again in the dawn.
https://stellarhousepublishing.com/star-east-three-kings/
So the Catholic church website cites the above claim and dismisses it as having no primary sources.
https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/the-magi-misconceptions-and-mythicism
, in The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts, Dr. James P. Allen states:
“Sothis (spdt ‘Sharp’). The morning star, Sirius, seen by the Egyptians as a goddess. In Egypt the star disappears below the horizon once a year for a period of some seventy days; its reappearance in midsummer marked the beginning of the annual inundation and the Egyptian year. The star’s rising was also seen as a harbinger of the sunrise and therefore associated with Horus in his solar aspect, occasionally specified as Horus in Sothis (hrw jmj spdt), Sothic Horus (hrw spdtj), or Sharp Horus (hrw spd).”
That seems primary enough for me as a source!
Pyramid Text 593:1636b/M 206 states:
“Horus the pointed has come forth from thee, in his name of ‘Horus who was in Sothis.'”
“Horus in Sothis,” therefore, refers to when the sun rises with Sirius. Thus, in ancient texts we find the birth of Horus the sun associated with the star in the east.
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