The hooked X, introduced in chapter 10, was actually a symbol found in Minnesota in 1898. What it is, nobody knows. But it is true that a hooked X is contained within some images of Columbus’ strange signature (chapter 15), identical to the symbol found in Minnesota. The Hooked X, by Scott Wolter, is a good source of information on this mystery.
The astrolabe (chapter 66), as described, is my invention, but is based on one from the British Museum, fashioned by a 14th-century Hebrew craftsman. The pitcher is the symbol for a Levite (chapter 7) and can be found on some graves. The biblical history of the Levites, as detailed in chapter 13, is accurate.
What happened to the First and Second Temple is historic fact (chapter 8). Amazingly, just as described in chapter 42, both were destroyed on the same day, 656 years apart. The Temple treasure is indeed gone, its journey from Jerusalem to Rome to Constantinople documented (chapters 8, 29). Where it went after that, nobody knows. The Arch of Titus exists and visually confirms the treasure’s temporary presence in Rome (chapter 77). An excellent resource on this subject is God’s Gold by Sean Kingsley.
The history of Sephardi Jews is a matter of record (chapter 29, 31). Only my addition of their involvement with the Temple treasure is fictional (chapter 63). But their financing of Columbus’ first voyage is factual. All of what Alle Becket says in chapter 31 can be substantiated. Luis de Santangel lived, as did the other financiers mentioned. De Santangel’s close relationship with Ferdinand is fact. And not only do de Santangel’s account books (chapter 31) exist, but those who have studied them state that they corroborate the fact that de Santangel advanced moneys for Columbus’ first voyage.
The Temple Mount, with its history and politics, is accurately related (chapter 55). Jerusalem is, indeed, the world’s most besieged city (chapter 59). A hope for a Third Temple still remains alive in Israel, with or without the Messiah.
At the heart of this story is an assumption: that Christopher Columbus was a Jew. Many have postulated the premise, none more convincingly than Simon Wiesenthal in Sails of Hope. Thousands of Sephardi Jews became conversos to escape persecution. Whether Columbus himself or his parents made that choice is unclear. What is clear is that virtually nothing is known of Columbus. Accounts as to his birth date, birthplace, upbringing, parentage, education, and life radically conflict. No known portrait of him exists. Both the chart he used for navigation (chapter 8) and his original journal, Diario de a bordo, Outward Log, are gone (chapter 15). The so-called Journal of Columbus, cited by nearly everyone as an authentic depiction of his voyages, is an unreliable thirdhand account produced decades later. The Spanish government’s refusal to allow any independent search of its archives for either the chart or the original journal (chapter 8) only compounds the mystery.
Even Columbus’ grave site is a matter of intense argument (chapter 38). My placing it in Jamaica is, of course, fictional (chapter 62). But all that Alle Becket writes in chapter 15 and all that Rabbi Berlinger says about him in chapter 65 is true. That Columbus sailed before midnight on August 2, 1492, and that all Jews had to be gone from Spain by August 3, are facts (chapter 9). Columbus’ possible real name—Christoval Arnoldo de Ysassi—is more speculation. So is the tale, told in chapter 79, of Juan Colón from Majorca. That account is not mine, but was presented as a lecture in 1966 to explain why the Catholic Church had turned a deaf ear to all suggestions that Columbus be made a saint. Interestingly, with regard to Alonso Sanchez de Huelva (chapter 79), there is a great debate as to whether he, not Columbus, was the first European to find the New World. One line of thought says his exploits were lies promulgated by Columbus’ enemies to discredit the Admiral’s accomplishments. Another insists de Huelva never existed. A third says that de Huelva found the New World, but Spain’s Catholic monarchs kept the discovery secret until Alexander VI, a Spaniard, was elected pope in 1492. Then they seized on Columbus’ request for ships and allowed him to rediscover what they already knew existed.
As with so much else on this subject, the truth will never be known.
For 500 years historians have pondered the question: Who was Christopher Columbus?
The answer truly is another question.
Who do you want him to be?
For Simon Lipskar, literary agent
Thank you