By Dr. Kaveh Farrokh

February 2, 2020/in Anthropology , China, Culture , Heritage , India and Asia , Iran and Central Asia , Iran and China , Iran and Korea , People of Iran and Origins , Sassanians /by Kaveh Farrokh

The article “The 1,500-Year-Old Love Story Between a Persian Prince and a Korean Princess that Could Rewrite History” written by Mark Oliver was originally posted in Ancient Origins on May 8, 2018 . The version printed below has been slightly edited from the original version that appeared in the Ancient Origins venue.

More than a thousand years before the first European explorer reached Korea’s shores, the Persian Empire was writing love stories about Korean princesses. It’s a little-known story that could change the way we see our history. Recently, historians took a second look an old Persian epic written around 500 CE ( during the time of the Sassanians ) and realized that, at the center of the tale, was the unusual story of a Persian prince marrying a Korean princess.

It’s an incredible discovery. Up until recently, we weren’t sure that the Persians of that time even knew Korea existed. This new revelation shows Persia didn’t just make contact with Korea – these countries were intimately connected. And it might just call for a total rewrite of history.

The Kushnameh: A 1,500-Year-Old Persian Epic About Korea

The story is called the Kushnameh, and, in itself, it’s hardly a new discovery. It’s one of the most popular stories to come out of the Persian Empire, one that’s been told and retold countless times in the 1,500 years since it was written. The Kushmaneh is a massive, epic poem about an evil creature with elephant tusks named Kus who terrorizes a Persian family throughout the generations. The whole story spans across hundreds of years and thousands of lines of poetry – but the really interesting part is somewhere around the middle. There, the author sat down and dedicated an incredible 1,000 lines of poetic verse to describing life in Korea during the Silla dynasty.

King and Queen of Silla. South Korea, Seoul National Folk Museum – Traditional Korean Costumes of Silla Kingdom (57 BC – 935 AD) (Source: Ancient Origins ).

A Love Letter to Korea

Korea comes into play when the story starts to focus on a young, noble prince of Persia named Abtin. For his whole life, Abtin has been forced to live in the woods, hiding from the evil Kus the Tusked. He has only one thing to keep him safe: a magic book that tells him his future. It’s almost like breaking the fourth wall – Abtin has a copy of the book we’re reading, and he’s not above flipping ahead a few pages to see how it all ends. In fact, that’s just what he does. He reads the next chapter and finds out that he’s supposed to go to the Silla kingdom of Korea, and – after briefly getting confused and going to China – he winds up being welcomed with open arms by the king of Silla.

From here, the story is just page after page of lavish descriptions of how beautiful Korea is. Admittedly, some of it seems a little over-the-top. It says, for example, that Korea is so overflowing with gold that even the dogs are kept on golden leashes. But on the whole, the description is so accurate that modern historians are sure the author must have visited it himself .

Abtin is mesmerized by the beauty of the country, and, soon after, by the beauty of its princess Frarang. He falls madly in love with Korean princess, begs the king for her hand in marriage, and she soon becomes his wife and the mother of his firstborn son.

Marriage of Abtin and Frarang (Source: Ancient Origins ).

The Story of a Korean Hero

It’s unlikely that any of this really happened, of course. For one thing, there’s limited evidence that Persia spent 1,500 years being terrorized by an immortal monster with elephant tusks, and even less that any early Persian princes had magic books that could tell them the future.

But the symbolism of having a Persian prince taking refuge in Korea and falling in love with a Korean princess is undeniable. This is hard proof that Persians didn’t just know about Korea 1,500 years ago; they had a deep, profound admiration for their nation.

What happens next, though, is what makes it a really big deal. Frarang’s son isn’t just a minor character. His birth is a turning point in the whole story. The fully Persian prince spends his whole life in hiding and, when he finally returns to his homeland, ends up getting killed by Kus’s men. But it’s his half-Korean son who turns things around.

Frarang and Abtin’s son ends up raising up an army and leading the revolt against Kus. For centuries, in this story, Persia gets tormented by an evil, tusked monster. It’s only under the command of a half-korean boy and his mother that Persia finally wins its freedom.

This 14th-century Persian painting portrays a scene from the Kushnameh in what scholars believe could be the betrothal of prince Abtin (kneeling) and Silla princess Frarang (sitting) (Source: Ancient Origins ).

A Secret Hidden in Plain Sight

For 1,500 years, people have been reading this story without any idea what they were looking at. For a long time, we assumed that the story was just about China. In the story, the Korean Silla kingdom is referred to as “Chin”, a name that could refer to either China or Korea. It’s even a plot point in the story, in fact. At first, Abtin, like most historians, misreads the “Chin” in his magic future-telling book and thinks he’s supposed to go to China. And, just like modern historians, it takes him years before he realizes that it’s actually talking about China.

Recently, though, historians have taken a look at those descriptions again and realized just how perfectly they really do match up with Korea . The descriptions in this book don’t sound anything like China, but they’re a perfect, vivid description of 6th-century Korea – a place where, believe it or not, they really did keep their dogs on leashes of pure gold.

A Total Rewrite of History

This really might completely change the way we see history. For a long time, Korea has seemed an isolated, distant place from the Western world; but this story suggests that the east and west may not have been so disconnected after all.

It took until 1653 before the first European explorer reached Korea. That’s more than 1,100 years after Kushnama was written. We’ve always known that Persia had some kind of contact with Korea. They were both a part of the Silk Road, and we’ve known for some time that Persian goods somehow ended up in Korea. Generally, though, it was assumed that they were just part of a bigger trade network. In this story, though, Korea isn’t a trade partner. They’re a trusted ally, and they’re so important to the Persians that they literally can’t overcome evil until they trust the leadership of a half-Korean, half-Persian prince. It’s an incredibly symbolic marriage of cultures. It puts other relics under a new light, as well. In an ancient tomb in Gyeong-Ju, for example, there is an old monument to a Korean war hero who looks an awful lot more like a Persian soldier than a Korean one. Now, some people are starting to wonder if this might really be the monument to a forgotten Persian hero who fought for Korea.

There’s no telling how far this could go. It could change everything about how we see the history of these countries. After all, this is far more than a love story between two people. It’s a love story between two nations.

Related posts:

1. The Persian Prince Pirooz (Pirouz)

2. New Course: The Silk Route-Origins and History

3. Spanish Military History Journal Interview with Kaveh Farrokh

4. UNESCO: Recognition of Polo (Chogan) as a Sport Originating In Iran

5. 2500-Year Old Achaemenid Persian Palace Found In Turkey

6. Two New courses for Fall 2018

7. Pirooz in China: Defeated Persian army takes Refuge

8. The 2,800 Year Embrace in the Hasanlu Tomb

9. Persian Roots of Puccini’s Opera Turandot (Turandokht)

10. A Survey and History of the Persian Population of the Caucasus

http://kavehfarrokh.com/uncategorized/the-1500-year-old-love-story-between-a-persian-

prince-and-a-korean-princess-that-could-rewrite-history

Female genital mutilation (FGM) comprises all procedures that involve altering or injuring the female genitalia for non-medical reasons and is recognized internationally as a violation of the human rights, the health and the integrity of girls and women.
Girls who undergo female genital mutilation face short-term complications such as severe pain, shock, excessive bleeding, infections, and difficulty in passing urine, as well as long-term consequences for their sexual and reproductive health and mental health.
Although primarily concentrated in 30 countries in Africa and the Middle East, female genital mutilation is a universal problem and is also practiced in some countries in Asia and Latin America. Female genital mutilation continues to persist amongst immigrant populations living in Western Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand.
To promote the elimination of female genital mutilation, coordinated and systematic
efforts are needed, and they must engage whole communities and focus on human rights, gender equality, sexual education and attention to the needs of women and girls who suffer from its consequences.

* In 2020 alone, there are 4.1 million girls around the world are at risk of
undergoing female genital mutilation.
* According to UNFPA, the cost of preventing female genital mutilation is $95 per
girl today.
* 30 countries where female genital mutilation is prevalent are experiencing high
population growth, with at least 30 per cent of girls undergoing female population
under the age of 15.
* Young people aged 15 to 19 in countries where female genital mutilation is
prevalent are less supportive of continuing the practice than are adults aged 45 to
49.
* In many countries where female genital mutilation is prevalent, young girls have a
dramatically increased chance of growing up without the risk of undergoing this
harmful practice compared to their mothers and grandmothers.

A zoo has appealed for people to donate any unwanted perfume to its big cats. Banham Zoo, in Norfolk, said the scents were a roaring success with their lions, tigers
and leopards who “respond very positively to unique scents when sprayed in their enclosures”.
The zoo has asked visitors to drop off any perfume when they visit as stocks are running low. Animal manager Mike Woolham said: “For some reason Calvin Klein perfume is a huge hit with all big cats.” Keepers say the strong scents help enrich the animals’ environments and investigating the smells keeps the big cats mentally and physically active. In October 2018 bottles of Obsession for Men by Calvin Klein were brought in by wildlife officials to try to capture a tiger thought to have killed people in India’s western state of Maharashtra.
The experts there said the fragrance contains a pheromone called civetone derived from the scent glands of a cat-like mammal called the civet, which is often used in cologne. During an experiment at New York’s Bronx Zoo, jaguars were showed to love the perfume.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-norfolk-51301815

LONDON, ENGLAND— The Guardian reports that archaeologists have recovered a variety of medieval artifacts from a 15-foot-deep cesspit under Somerset House, an eighteenth-century Neoclassical building in central London. The well-preserved objects, which include pottery vessels, an iron spur, a ring, a belt buckle, a bone-handled fork, a
pendant, a thick chain that might have been attached to a candlestick, and floor tiles usually found in palaces and monasteries, are thought to have come from medieval mansions that previously stood on the site. In the seventeenth century, the cesspit was partially filled and used as a cellar. All four walls of the chalk-lined cesspit remain intact.

A painting discovered by chance last month is a Gustav Klimt original that was stolen nearly 23 years ago, Italian authorities have confirmed. The painting, Portrait of a Lady, was taken from a gallery in the northern city of Piacenza in 1997. It was thought to have disappeared for good until gardeners clearing away ivy found it concealed in an external wall at the same gallery. The Klimt has an estimated value of at least €60m ($66m; £51m). Why the painting was left in the wall at the Ricci Oddi Gallery of Modern Art is still a mystery.
Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-51156682

GIFU, JAPAN— The Asahi Shimbun reports that a stone wall uncovered at Gifu Castle
may have been built by feudal lord Oda Nobunaga, who is remembered for attempting to unify Japan and ruling over much of the island of Honshu. The castle was first built atop central Japan’s Mount Kinkasan in the early thirteenth century A.D. Nobunga captured it in 1567, after a two-week siege, and renovated the structure with stone walls whose gaps were filled with smaller stones. The surviving section of wall measures about six feet long and two feet tall, and matches historic descriptions. It had been previously thought that Nobunaga’s structure was completely torn down during reconstruction work in 1910. To read about an important Shinto shrine where mariners made offerings as early as the
fourth century A.D.

According to a report in The Guardian , fluorescent X-ray chemical analysis conducted by scientists at the National Autonomous University of Mexico has revealed that a four-
pound gold bar, unearthed in downtown Mexico City during a 1981 construction project,
was cast between 1519 and 1520. At that time, historical records indicate that Spanish
conquistador Hernán Cortés melted down gold objects taken from the Aztec treasury and formed them into gold bars for transport to Europe. The conquistadors are thought to have dropped this gold bar in what had been a canal in the Aztec capital city of
Tenochtitlan while fleeing a battle that began after Moctezuma, the Aztec emperor, was
assassinated. A year later, in 1521, Cortés returned and laid siege to and captured
Tenochtitlan, whose residents had been weakened by smallpox

Live Science reports that William Keegan of the Florida Museum of Natural History and Ann Ross of North Carolina State University analyzed the structure of 103 skulls unearthed in the Caribbean, Florida, and Panama, and concluded that the Carib people may have traveled to the Bahamas from South America as early as A.D. 800. When Christopher Columbus arrived in the Bahamas in 1492, he recorded conflicts between the indigenous Arawak and Caribs, whom he described as marauding cannibals. But researchers lacked evidence showing that the Caribs had actually migrated so far north, and therefore doubted the accuracy of the explorer’s account. The new test results and archaeological evidence suggest that Carib settlers from the Yucatán Peninsula reached the Caribbean around 5000 B.C., and they then traveled to Cuba
and the northern Antilles, while Arawaks from Colombia and Venezuela arrived in Puerto Rico between 800 and 200 B.C. The study also indicates that Caribs from the northwest Amazon were the first to arrive in the Bahamas and the island of Hispaniola. Keegan said this migration pattern fits with the spread of a unique pottery type as well. He and Ross now think Columbus may have actually encountered the Caribs, but they said that there is still no real evidence that the Caribs practiced cannibalism..”

After decades of research, a new project with Jamestown Rediscovery is highlighting a little-known aspect of 17th century life. Cathrine Davis, a PhD student in anthropology at William & Mary and extern at Historic Jamestown, has undertaken a project to organize and classify hundreds of lead seals that have been found on the site.
The seals have been discovered on the site since Jamestown Rediscovery started in 1994, said Leah Stricker, associate curator at Historic Jamestown. They help understand and identify the shipping and creation of textiles in Jamestown.
“Lead seals are like clothing tags,” Davis said. “They’re attached to goods and give
information about their origins, merchants that sold them and dyers. They track the
movement of textiles throughout the production system.”
Stricker said each lead seal is different and unique, providing a look into different stamps from various locations and most times even having imprints of the material on them. Davis said there aren’t that many scholars researching the topic, making her one of the only specialists of lead seals in North America. She said she first became interested in lead seals as a student in Michigan where she was learning how goods were packaged in the fur trade. A professor told her about lead seals and she realized that no one was researching the topic. “It’s a very small world, so there’s little known about them,” she said. “That’s what makes them so rewarding, I’m doing all my own original research for the most part andit’s like a giant jigsaw puzzle. It’s a whole different world.” At Historic Jamestown, Davis started a project this semester to identify, organize and catalog the more than 300 lead seals in the collection.
Stricker said the project is important to the organization’s research because it makes it
easier for local and surrounding archaeologists to better access the information. Once
Davis is done, a researcher can come to Historic Jamestown and find, identify and match new lead seals with ones already in the collection. She said the goal is to have the collection accessible to researchers online as well. But more importantly, organizing and understanding the lead seals gives historians a greater insight to life in the Jamestown Colony.

“These help us look at bigger questions, like international trade and what was going on in the world,” Stricker said. “It seems like now our world is more globalized than ever, but even in 1607 there was a huge movement of trade.” Davis said it helps the interpreters at Historic Jamestown to better understand their clothing, which is an aspect of historical research that is missed because textiles don’t preserve well over time. “We know a lot about how people were living but not a lot about what they were
wearing,” she said. Davis expects to have the project completed by May, at which point archaeologists from all over can utilize her work. But until then, she is content to continue putting together the pieces of this historical puzzle.
https://wydaily.com/local-news/2019/12/26/a-new-kind-of-research-is-blossoming-at-
historic-jamestown/