I'm going back to this old thread, because the subject is a fascinating one.
Yes, the White Monk of Timbuktu was real (though he lived a bit later than "our" Yakouba), and he's not the only Whittemore character to be rooted in reality.
To wit:
--the story of the O'Sullivan Beare clan is real (I found it on several Irish websites);
--Plantagenet Strongbow is, of course, inspired by Sir Richard Burton;
--Johann Luigi Szondi is inspired by Johann Luigi Burckhardt, the "discoverer" of Petra;
--Sofia is partly inspired by oil millionnaire Gulbenkian (whose name is mentioned en passant in Nile Shadows), nicknamed Mr. Five-per-cent;
--the "Three Wise Men" who visit Joe in his kiva at the beginning of Nile Shadows are William Donovan (Big Bill), William Stephenson (Little Bill) and Stewart Menzies (Ming)--look them up!
--the rue Lepsius, aka rue Clapsius, was the Cairo address of poet Constantin Cavafy (Ann tells me it figures proeminently in Durrell's "Alexandria Quartet")...

Did any critic or reviewer work on that side of Whittemore's work? I could find nothing on the web.

Jean-Daniel (translating Nile Shadows right now)

--Previous Message--
: : I don`t know about many of the other
: characters, but I do know that there is a
: genuine line of Skanderbegs who ruled in
: Albania.
:
: --Previous Message--
: Oh, I agree. I remember, when I first read
: Sinai Tapestry, thinking that Strongbow
: was inspired by Richard Burton. As
: Whittemore was a Yale graduate in History,
: no doubt quite a few characters and events
: are derived from historical personages and
: events.
: There REALLY was an ancient version of the
: Bible discovered at St Catherine's
: Monastery.
: It would be an intriguing study (had one the
: time) to discover the original source for
: Cairo Martyr for instance.
: In Jericho Mosaic there is a character
: called
: Yossi, a Jewish agent for Mossad who
: passes himself off as an Arab and leads a
: double life. I recall seeing a documentary
: once on a Mossad agent who was a dead
: ringer for Yossi.
: I'd be interested to see other visitors to
: this Board's opinions on this.
:
:
:
: