known historical figure who became second caliph; the characters of Seid and Palmira represent Muhammad's adopted son Zayd ibn Harithah and his wife Zaynab bint Jahsh, though in no way their life resembles the characters. Pierre Milza posits that it may have been "the intolerance of the Catholic Church and its crimes done on behalf of the Christ" that were targeted by the philosopher. Voltaire's own statement about it in a letter in 1742 was quite vague: "I tried to show in it into what horrible excesses fanaticism, led by an impostor, can plunge weak minds." It is only in another letter dated from the same year that he explains that this plot is an implicit reference to Jacques Clément, the monk who assassinated Henri III in 1589. However, Milza considers that Islam wasn't the only focus of the plot and that the author's aim when writing the text was to condemn "the intolerance of the Church and the crimes that have been committed in the name of the Christ". Reception Voltaire sent a copy of the play to Pope Benedict XIV, with a couplet in Latin and a request for two holy medals. The Pope had the medals sent, as well as a reply in which he thanked him for his "very beautiful tragedy of Mahomet" and discussed the grammar of his couplet. Voltaire had this correspondence published in every future edition of the play, which aided its publicity. Napoleon, during his captivity on Saint Helena, criticised Voltaire's Mahomet, and said Voltaire had made him merely an impostor and a tyrant, without representing him as a "great man": Mahomet was the subject of deep criticism. 'Voltaire', said the Emperor, 'in the character and conduct of his hero, has departed both from nature and history. He has degraded Mahomet, by making him descend to the lowest intrigues. He has represented a great man, who changed the face of the world, acting like a scoundrel, worthy of the gallows. He has no less absurdly travestied the character of Omar, which he has drawn like that of a cut-throat in a melo-drama.' An 1881 revival in Paris was officially protested by the Turkish ambassador. In 2005, a production of the play in Saint-Genis-Pouilly, Ain, France, resulted in demands for cancellation and street disturbances outside the performance itself. Under pressure to cancel the play, the Mayor allowed the play to continue despite "street