vladimir nabokov cast doubt on gannibal's ancestry, based on research findings during his work translating pushkin's novel "eugene onegin". nabokov disagreed with anuchin's theory, stating that it was just as likely that gannibal was referring to "the lagona region of equatorial africa, south of lake chad." support for anuchin's theory of ethiopian birth declined after it was exposed as racially based, implying that "hamitic" ethiopian origins better explained gannibal's success than "negroid" origins.