The Prester Quest

Review by Philip Blazdell

This strange book, which is part philosophical musing, part travelogue and part historical romp, begins in 1165 with two letters: one from Prester John to the Byzantine emperor, Manuel Comnenos, the other from Pope Alexander III to Prester John. Manuel represented the closest thing the 12^th century had to a superpower, yet this mysterious priest-king addressed him as if he were little more than a butler. In this letter he boasted of the wealth of his kingdom, and expressed his earnest desire to "chastise the enemies of the cross". The Pope, in easy contrast, addressed Prester John as a beloved but erring son.

The letter was copied and disseminated, eventually reaching Pope Alexander III, who saw the strong ally he needed plus, one imagines, a chance for some lucrative trade deals with Paradise. A monk called Phillip was dispatched with a fine letter, but he promptly disappeared. Eight hundred years later, Nicholas Jubber arrives on the scene and for reasons which are never really made clean, plans to trace the emissary's route and deliver the letter.

Juber sets off with his friend Mike (an annoying stereotype of all things bad about Brits travelling abroad) intent of delivering the letter to whomever they decide is the most appropriate benefactor. Quitting their teaching posts in the Middle East they follow a trail beginning in Venice, curving through Turkey and the Fertile Crescent, and ending in Ethiopia. En route, they meet pot-bellied ascetics and Moslem theology students who can only explain Christ's divine/human nature by analogy with the mule, a boy who addresses the author as "Sultana Elizabet" in honour of the queen, and a Syrian trinket-seller convinced that he is the lover of Oscar Wilde. Juber isn't especially good at writing about characters or making people sound sympathetic but he is very good at explaining complex political issues and making ancient history come alive.

The priest-king is St. John of Revelation, John Orbelian of Georgia, a Muslim saint, Genghis Khan, and every Ethiopian king from the time of Lalibela, the founder of the famous rock monasteries. Prester John thus emerges as a kind of eastern King Arthur, a semi-historical saviour buffed into demi-godhead by the aspirations of his age. Clearly, Juber has set him self a difficult, if not impossible, task.

At times the author, not surprisingly, becomes bogged down in the enormity, and stupidity of his quest, but this is generally redeemed by some deft prose. For example, in Diyarbakir a decrepit balcony teeters "like an indecisive suicide" over the street, part of the attraction in a rundown city that has a kind of beauty, "the beauty that is available only if you don't have to live there", or "if your faith was of the croissant rather than the hot-cross-bun-variety... ". Sadly, Jubber's re-creations of regional idiom verge on the patronising and I got very irritated with "Meesta" for "Mister".

Overall this is an interesting, and ultimately rewarding book. The sections on Ethiopia are particularly well written and leave a lasting memory.

This book will appeal more to those with an interest in Middle East politics and ancient history rather than hardcore travel but it is still and interesting and engaging read.

• The Prester Quest by Nicholas Jubber