The author takes the position that the propositions both in Moses and Monotheism and in those papers which explore it are "misdirected." His notion is that since there is neither direct evidence that Moses lived during the supposed historical period nor evidence of his ethnic background, one may entirely ignore the perspective of historical context and study instead the attraction of the Moses legend in particular cultures. Freud's effort to establish that Moses was an Egyptian involved the Egyptian etymology of the name, Moses (a fact recognized by classical scholars), and the story of Moses' birth. This story is somewhat exceptional: in many "birth of the hero" tales, the hero is born into an aristocratic family and adopted into a humble one. Freud stated that since the Moses story presented a reversal of this situation, some information about Moses may have "forced a modification of the usual pattern." Further