persia painting Kushnameh
© Hanyang University MuseumThis 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).
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 AD 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.
silla kingdom costumes korea
© South Korea, Seoul National Folk MuseumKing and Queen of Silla - Traditional Korean Costumes of Silla Kingdom (57 BC - 935 AD)
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.

Read the rest of the article here.