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Article: Ethiopia: The land of prester John.
- Article from:
- Contemporary Review
- Article date:
- November 1, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Contemporary Review Company Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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THE legendary wealthy kingdom of Prester John exerted such a prodigious influence on European thought in the Middle Ages that Pope Alexander III despatched a messenger to him in 1177. Prester John was reputed to have withstood the onslaught of Islam and was therefore perceived as a potentially powerful ally in the Crusades. The messenger never returned.
So did Prester John exist and, if so, who was he and where was his kingdom? Legend says he was descended from one of the Magi who visited the baby Jesus and was both priest and king. Marco Polo, writing in the late thirteenth century, places him in the Far East, probably what is now Mongolia. However in those days ...