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It does not seem probable that Hugo had any particu<strong>la</strong>r Sultan in mind when he<br />
delineated Sultan Mourad. Indeed the geography of the poem suggests that he is<br />
depicting an idealized Oriental tyrant.<br />
The nearest approximation to the monster to be found in the pages of Cantemir is<br />
Ammath IV (r. 1623-40), of whose cruelty and bloodthirstiness the historian gives a<br />
vivid account. His principal exploit was the taking of Bagdad from the Persians, on<br />
which occasion he s<strong>la</strong>ughtered 1,000 of the citizens in cold blood.<br />
For Hugo's conception of the power and influence of the Turkish Empire when at its<br />
zenith, see Le Rhin: Conclusion, II, III.<br />
Liban is Lebanon.<br />
rampantes. The word is used with the heraldic sense.<br />
I. 19. The so-called Temple of Theseus (its real dedication is doubtful) stands on a low<br />
hill just outside Athens. It is in a state of almost perfect preservation. The nails which<br />
crowded its woodwork were doubtless those on which the heads of s<strong>la</strong>ughtered Greeks<br />
were fastened. Of course in the Greek temple there was no woodwork, except possibly<br />
in the roof.<br />
cangiar, a short Turkish sword, with an almost straight b<strong>la</strong>de, having a single edge.<br />
Naxos is an is<strong>la</strong>nd in the South Aegean Sea; Ancyra, a town in Asia Minor.<br />
épiques. A curious use of the word. It appears to mean `worthy of epic poetry,' i.e. the<br />
spectres were those of great heroic men. In Les Chants du Crépuscule Hugo has '<strong>des</strong><br />
grenadiers épiques' (Napoléon II).<br />
Elea, Megara, are towns in Greece, Famagusta is in Cyprus.<br />
Agrigentum was a well-known Greek colony in Sicily; Fiume, at the head of the<br />
Adriatic Sea, is now an Austrian port.<br />
Modon, a maritime town in the Peloponnesus.<br />
Alep, Aleppo. Brousse, a town in Anatolia.<br />
Damas, Damascus.<br />
Tarvis (English Treviso) is a town in the province of Venice.<br />
boyard. The boyards were the feudal nobles of Roumania and other Balkan countries.<br />
Rhamséion, a sepulchral monument built by Ramses III, king of Egypt, in the fourteenth<br />
century B.C.<br />
Généralife, the pa<strong>la</strong>ce of the Moorish kings at Granada in Spain. It is scarcely necessary<br />
to say that no Turkish Sultan ever held any part of Spain.
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