Religion and Myths. The Prester John.

Prester John, from a map of East Africa in Queen Mary´s Atlas.
By Diogo Homem, 1558. Source: British Library.

The religion and myth issues have always been very interesting and controversial. Despite all our beliefs, it is natural if we sometimes ask ourselves if all that, is true... or not. Besides, we are not talking about just one religion. This can happen, to a greater or lesser extent to every person in any cult. But, every religion takes its dogmas and postulates as The Truth. It always has been that way, and many times those statements have collapsed, in front of the reality.


Is a fact that we don’t need to fly back to the very ancient times, to find superstition and myths among human beliefs. We all know how the Greeks, the Assyrian and the Norse, for example, took as true, things which only existed on their minds. Nonetheless, in modern times people kept holding to imaginative things as faith objects. And many of those superstitious tales still exist nowadays. Now, it would be very a hard task, trying to put apart reality from fantasy in all we take as true. As an obvious result, the materialistic atheism is noticeably increasing.

During the Middle Ages, the thirst for knowledge was almost completely eclipsed by a religious submission. By then, the scholars who played the geographer role, were very busy trying to represent the world according to the Bible writings. And those fanciful drawings were the best available world image, for a thousand years! They must show Jerusalem on the very center of that world. Besides, they had to place somewhere, the Earthly Paradise and it’s four rivers. The apocalyptic Gog and Magog, and his great wall, also had to be there. To recognize the possibility of the antipodes was considered a heresy, on those times... but amazingly, a real product of fantasy: the peaceful but elusive Saint Brendan’s island was kept on many maps, till the middle of 18th century.

A thousand years earlier, the Greeks already had a good knowledge about our planet. The shape, a not so rough estimate of its dimensions, the possibility to find any place, by plotting a coordinate system. Everything was ignored, due to the religious fanaticism. To understand how deep could have been the ignorance by then, we may take a look over Christopher Columbus discovering voyage. Even knowing the earth sphericity, he would have never dared to sail westward to Asia… if he would have had the slightest idea about the distance he had to cover. Of course, unless he knew that a mysterious land was in the middle of the way. But, he always insisted that he had arrived to Asia, and thought he had found God’s Eden. It shows that he probably ignored the earth measures.

We have to point out, that the mythical places were the object of an intensive search by adventurers or pilgrims, for many centuries. One of them was the famous Marco Polo. As a result, they could never find those products of human fantasies.

One of those fantastic tales, lasted very long into men imagination. It was about a powerful king, the Prester John, whose wealth and wisdom were proverbial. His fame began when the Crusades, but many people believed in his existence, some centuries later. Even, they thought he was none other than John, the Apostle. He was immortal, according the Sacred Writings. Still in the Great Discoveries times, by the end of the 16th century, his reign had a spot in the Dutch maps. But it had been radically moved...

At the beginning, his domains were placed in Central Asia. Somehow, he was the one who kept the flame of Christianity in the middle of pagan darkness. His strength and prosperity made him an essential ally, to face the growing Saracen threat over the whole Europe… and also to recover the Holy City, Jerusalem.

In 1145, Prester John first appeared in a chronicle. It affirmed that he was a descendant from one of the Wise Kings and his scepter was a huge carved emerald. According to that story, he once carried a great army to the west, to defend Jerusalem. But he could not cross the Tigris River. Then he conducted his men to the north, to wait for the winter, so they could pass over the frozen waters… After a couple of years waiting, he ordered to turn back to his lands!

By that time, amazing stories were running about his domains. There were marvels and treasures beyond imagination: underground waters that turned into precious gems, as they received the sunlight. Also, his happy vassals could drink from the Fountain of Youth. Healing stones, that cured any pain, and others, which turned invisible or invulnerable the person who carried them. Fabrics resistant to fire. They told that king John had a magic mirror, in which he could see what happened everywhere in his kingdom. Each night, thirty thousand people sat at his table. Still, it surprises that such a mighty king, had not been able to cross a river with his army. How could that happen?

But there was more. By the year 1165, a writing, supposedly from his own hand, spreaded through all Europe. He sent a letter to the Byzantine Emperor and the King of France. There, he offered his aid to recover the Holy Sepulchre for the Christianity. Of course, that text was a fake, and its author always remained unknown. But the mystery around the origin, did not prevent its wide circulation… even the illiterate people was talking about it. There were versions in many languages, including Russian and Hebrew. Some historians think that it was an attempt to reborn hope about the recovering of the Sacred Places. The text seemed to be a mix of Saint Thomas’ writings, with some tales from Alexander the Great and Sinbad the Sailor. One thing is certain, it was a real best seller from the Middle Ages, showing the hunger for fantasy people had on those times.

Time later, the prince of Portugal, Henry the Navigator, was tracking the traces of Prester John. The elusive king could be a good ally and partner, for the exploration of new commercial routes. The Portuguese explorers who surrounded Africa, also believed in his existence. They located his kingdom in Abyssinia (Ethiopia). Still in the 17th century, the Russians studied the old fake letter, when they wanted to establish a land trade with the Hindustan… Believe it or not!

The interest his fabulous reign aroused, grew and was kept as time passed. Numerous travelers went in search of it, many never came back. Maybe it was the price man had to pay for a better knowledge of his world… and also to understand that superstition should nevermore be over imposed to cognition and experience. However, it would take a little more to break those heavy chains for good. A day, without knowing how, Prester John and his magic, vanished within the mist of ignorance. Today, he is living in his true kingdom, among the fantastic stories.