the main reliable accounts of gannibal's life come from "the moor of peter the great," pushkin's unfinished biography of his great-grandfather, published after pushkin's death in 1837. scholars argue that pushkin's account may be inaccurate due to the author’s desire to elevate the status of his ancestors and family. there are a number of contradictions between the biographies of pushkin and the german novel, "the blackamoor of peter the great" based on his great-grandfather. a historical biography by gannibal's son-in-law, rotkirkh, was largely responsible for the myth, propagated by some historians, that gannibal was born in ethiopia. however, more recent research by the scholars dieudonné gnammankou and hugh barnes has established that the general was instead likely born in central africa, in an area bordering lake chad in present-day cameroon.