gannibal's actual place of birth continues to be uncertain, and is subject to speculation by modern historians. until recent scholarly field work, it was generally assumed that he originated in ethiopia. chiefly russian scholars for many years believed that he was from the vicinity of medri bahri, an ancient kingdom in present-day eritrea. in a letter he wrote to empress elizabeth, peter the great's daughter, gannibal stated that he was from the town of "logon" or "lagone". anthropologist dmitry anuchin wrote an essay about alexander pushkin in which he theorized that "lagone" referred to logo-chewa in eritrea. in 1999, the russian institute in addis ababa, the capital of ethiopia, also campaigned for a commemorative stamp to honor pushkin's bicentennial.