Pharaoh.—The blank which exists in the records of Egypt at the end of the eleventh and beginning of the tenth centuries B.C., renders me unable to give the name of the Pharaoh reigning at this period.
The war-chariots of the Egyptians were mounted by Libyans, i.e., by Berbers of the Tamachek race, of which the Kabyles and Touaregs are the modern representatives. These chariots and cavalry, also Libyan, formed the great strength of the Egyptian army.—[Page 79].
CHAPTER VI.
Cydonians. Pelasgians.—Without entering upon any dissertation on this topic, I content myself with mentioning the existence throughout Europe of races distinct both in type and language from the Aryan races whom they preceded. Two of these may be especially remarked: one with round skulls of Mongolian type, commonly called Turanians; the other with elongated skulls, classified as Australoids. These races have everywhere left traces alike of their presence and of their inferior civilisation. In the island of Crete, the Greeks preserved the memory of the Cydonians by the few words which I have introduced into the text.—[Page 100].
CHAPTER VII.
Homer.—My introduction of the name of Homer undoubtedly demands an apology. I can only plead that the temptation to uplift the veil of mystery, and to reveal the mighty poet in connection with my fiction, was very great. Even after Schliemann's researches, the date of the Trojan war is so uncertain that I feel quite at liberty to regard it as an open question.—[Page 129].
CHAPTER IX.
Tyrrhenian Privateers.—The description of these vessels is based upon a figure found upon a vase in the Campana Museum.—[Page 158].
Scylla. Charybdis.—The romances interwoven into my tale are strictly Phœnician; and I have felt quite justified in introducing an allusion to the way in which the Tyrian sailors delighted to mystify strangers upon whom they could impose. I may adduce the passage in Herodotus, where he speaks of the young girls fishing for gold in the island of Cyraunis, and calls it a fine Phœnician story. "Tell it to the Greeks!" has passed into a proverb, and the Phœnician tar was only too glad to amuse himself and to enhance the price of his wares by giving a highly-coloured version of his adventures.—[Page 164].
Nergal.—The superstition about the gigantic cock is borrowed from a Rabbinical legend quoted by Movers.—[Page 164].