The International Prester John Project: How A Global Legend Was Created Across Six CenturiesMain MenuOrientation to ProjectPath One: 1122-1235Path Two: 1236-1310 ADPath Three : 1311-1460 ADPath Four : 1461-1520 ADPath Five: 1521-1699 ADPath Six: 1700-1800 ADChristopher Taylor // christopher.eric.taylor@gmail.com946e2cf6115688379f338b70e5b6f6c039f8ba6f Global Middle Ages
Samarkand Map
1media/24154579_xl_thumb.jpeg2022-07-19T17:40:55-07:00Christopher Taylor // christopher.eric.taylor@gmail.com946e2cf6115688379f338b70e5b6f6c039f8ba6f52811plain2022-07-19T17:40:55-07:00pavalena/123RF24154579 - republic of uzbekistanmapillustrationyellowcountrylandgeographyterritorycitytowncapitalimagelightborderbluegeographicgeographicalstatecentralasialakesearepublicuzbekistanaraltashkentuzbekChristopher Taylor // christopher.eric.taylor@gmail.com946e2cf6115688379f338b70e5b6f6c039f8ba6f
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12016-03-26T20:12:47-07:00Samarkand9plain2022-08-20T16:43:49-07:00An ancient city located on the old Silk Road in what is now eastern Uzbekistan, Samarkand long occupied a kind of middle trade space between China and the Mediterranean. Samarkand was an episcopal see of Nestorian Christianity at the time of the Letter's early transmission.
Samarkand is a curious inclusion in the Letter, given how unknown this city was to most medieval Europeans at the time. Silverberg (p. 49) notes that the Letter's mention of Samarkand marks the earliest known reference to the ancient city in a medieval European text, though the city was well known among Byzantines.
Interestingly, Samarkand was the site of early Prester John figure Yeh-lu Ta-shih's 1141 victory over the Persian Sultan Sanjar, the event recorded in Otto of Freising's Universal History that helped spawn the Prester John legend.
