The origin of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin comes from the branched, untitled noble family of the Pushkins, which, according to genealogical legend, dates back to the “honest husband” Ratshe[6][K 2]. Pushkin repeatedly wrote about his ancestry in poetry and prose; he saw in his ancestors an example of an ancient family, a true “aristocracy” that honestly served the fatherland, but did not gain the favor of the rulers and was “persecuted.” More than once he turned (including in artistic form) to the image of his maternal great-grandfather - the African Abram Petrovich Hannibal, who became a servant and pupil of Peter I, and then a military engineer.
