The legend of Prester John

It's one of the most fascinating and powerful myths of all time.

It's a legend based on a mythical Christian patriarch and king that was popular in European chronicles and tradition from the 12th through the 17th centuries AD.

Prester John was first placed in India, then Central Asia and finally Ethiopia.

A lot of attempts made by Europeans to reach Ethiopia, but they failed until Portuguese successful reached in late 15th century and again in 1520 AD. Francisco Álvares, the leading man of the Portuguese embassy to Ethiopia in 1520s, described the then emperor of Ethiopia "Lebne Dengel" as,
"In age, complexion, and stature, he is a young man, not very dark in colour; he is very much a man of breeding, of middling stature; like that, his face is round, the eyes large, the nose high in the middle, and his beard is beginning to grow. In presence and state he fully looks like the great lord that he is.”

Ethiopians from the start had told Europeans that their emperors aren't Prester John, but the Europeans kept calling the emperor by the term until they finally realized in 17th century AD that there is no Prester John at all and everything about him was a myth. But the legend had affected several hundred years of European and world history, directly and indirectly, by encouraging Europe's explorers, missionaries, scholars, and treasure hunters. It still continues to inspire to this century.

Pics
- Ethiopian Emperor Lebne Dengel, 1508-40 AD
- Francisco Álvares