Everything You Think You Know Is Wrong
Okay, maybe not everything. But some “accepted facts” are among the historical misconceptions we’re about to debunk for you. How were the pyramids built? Did Einstein really struggle with math? Get ready—we’re about to change your perspectives on history.
Pyramid Scheme
A common theory is that slaves constructed the great pyramids at Giza. The idea seems to have originated with the Greek historian Herodotus hundreds of years after the pyramids’ completion. Current evidence suggests that the giant structures were actually built by skilled workers and off-season farmers, and that they were paid pretty well for their work.
Zdravko Pečar, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
No Cursing Please!
One of the most famous legends attached to Ancient Egypt is the curse on the tomb of young Pharaoh Tutankhamun. Supposedly, anyone disturbing the tomb would meet a horrible fate. However, it turns out that there was never a curse inscribed on the tomb, and the story was made up by journalists in the 20th century trying to sell newspapers.
Row, Row, Row Their Boat
A common image from books and films set in the ancient world is of huge galleys being rowed by chained-up prisoners. While the image has provided a lot of drama and entertainment over the years, it was more likely at the time that laborers or those in military service manned the boats.
Élisée Reclus, Wikimedia Commons
Keep It Down!
A common, if nauseating, piece of “knowledge” is that wealthy Romans used a room called a vomitorium to purge food from their systems so they could keep eating. In reality, the vomitorium was an exit from a theater or stadium, a hallway that allowed quick exit from gathering places.
Norbert Nagel, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
What About The Salad?
Many people think that the cesarean section procedure, birthing a baby through surgical means, gets its name from the famous Roman Emperor Julius Caesar, who was supposedly birthed this way. Such a procedure at the time of Caesar’s birth would have been fatal to his mother, who survived at least until Caesar was 45.
Lionel Royer, Wikimedia Commons
Not So Dark After All
The so-called “Dark Ages” (5th century CE or so) are thought to be a time of ignorance and superstition. The term is now rejected by most historians and the Middle Ages are now seen as a period when culture and thought were moving toward the scientific revolutions of the Renaissance. Many political and agricultural innovations came from this era.
Paul Limbourg, Hermann Limbourg and Jean Limbourg, Wikimedia Commons
Making It To Middle Age
High mortality rates of infants and adolescents in the Middle Ages have led to the misconception that people didn’t live much beyond their 30s. In fact, while not quite at modern levels, the life expectancy of an individual who made it to their 20s was not that much different from our own. Modern medicine and sanitation have helped give us an extra couple of decades, if we’re lucky.
Unknown Author, Wikimedia Commons
Disney Got It Wrong?!
The oldest recorded version of the story of Cinderella comes from 23 CE. Numerous variations of the rags to riches story have been told through the ages, but it was Charles Perrault, in 1697, who changed the word “vair”, meaning “squirrel fur”, to “verre”, meaning “glass”. Yep. Squirrel fur slippers.
Richard of Verdun, Wikimedia Commons
Iron Made-Ups?
The infamous spiked casket, the Iron Maiden, may have inspired a successful heavy metal act, but they almost certainly did not really exist. The contemporary version of this macabre implement was pieced together from different artifacts in the 18th century, intended to bring gawkers and their money into garish exhibitions.
Mittelalterliches Kriminalmuseum, Wikimedia Commons
It’s Been A Sphere All Along
Despite the cries of some contemporary believers, it has long been known that the Earth is a sphere. Myths of belief in a flat Earth are overblown. Medieval scholars knew that the Earth was a sphere, and some evidence suggests that this knowledge has been known since at least the 6th century BCE.
Aus fernen Welten by Bruno H. Brugel, Wikimedia Commons
Then Where Be The Dragons?
A long-held belief is that medieval map makers would write “Here Be Dragons” on maps to describe unknown areas or, perhaps, ocean animals. In fact, only two known maps have this phrase inscribed on them: the Hunt-Lennox globe and the Ostrich Egg globe. Some cartographers, however, would include pictures of mythical beasts on their maps.
Rare Book Division, The New York Public Library, CC0, Wikimedia Commons
Sorry, Chris—The Vikings Got Here First
Americans have a lot of complicated feelings about Christopher Columbus, and rightly so. But one thing is for certain—Columbus was not the first European to set foot in what would come to be known as North America. A Viking settlement in Newfoundland, Canada, supports much earlier Norse exploration of the continent.
Dylan Kereluk, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Taking The Bull By The Horns
And speaking of the Vikings, when we picture them, we typically picture burly, bearded men with horned helmets. But historical evidence suggests that the Vikings did not wear such decorations on their helmets, as they would have gotten in the way during battles.
Morgan Library, Wikimedia Commons
Just Men After All
Some stories of Spanish explorer Cortés claim that the Aztec people believed he and his sailors to be gods. This story was a fabrication by Francisco López de Gómara, years after the conquest of Mexico while he worked with the infamous explorer during his retirement.
Unknown Tlaxcalan Artists, Wikimedia Commons
A Fruitful Discovery
The common tale of Isaac Newton’s discovery of gravity is that the scientist was sitting beneath an apple tree when one of the fruits fell on his head. This is almost certainly not true, though Newton said that he did take some inspiration from watching an apple fall from a tree.
Godfrey Kneller, Wikimedia Commons
It’s Not Always About Originality
Though considered one of the greatest writers to have ever lived, William Shakespeare did not come up with all his stories out of thin air. At the time, the mark of a great writer was not the originality of his stories, but how the stories were told. His famous Hamlet, for example, takes inspiration from the older The Life of Amleth, by Saxo Grammaticus.
Gotta Hand It To Him
Shah Jahan, an Indian ruler in the 1600s, was responsible for the construction of the world famous Taj Mahal. Legend has it that after the building’s completion, he had the hands cut from all 40,000 workers and designers of the monument. This is almost certainly an urban legend that traces back to the mid 1960s.
Coming Unbuckled
A common image of the Pilgrims who first colonized the US is of drab black clothing and hats with buckles on them. But this was just not the case. The Pilgrims dressed far more like contemporary Elizabethans would, their “traditional” image being an invention of the 19th century. Their neighboring Puritans, however, did tend toward wearing all black.
Robert Walter Weir, Wikimedia Commons
They Didn’t Start The Fire
Though the Salem witch trials were a historic event that resulted in many unjust deaths, the burning of people accused of witchcraft at the time was not common practice. The majority of the accused met their end at the gallows, while some expired while under strict lock and key.
Howard Pyle, Brandywine River Museum of Art, Wikimedia Commons
A Matter Of Faith
While Christianity may be the primary religion of the United States nowadays, it was not the faith that the country was founded upon. Most of the founding fathers were “Deists”—this faith still believes in God, but not in any of the holy books. Deists believe that human reason, and not prayer, is the best tool for solving problems.
Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, Wikimedia Commons
Well, Someone Told A Lie
One of the great legends of first President George Washington is his confession of chopping down a cherry tree at age six and the famous phrase “I cannot tell a lie”. The story is almost certainly a fabrication and appeared seven years after Washington’s passing in one of the first biographies of the President.
Gilbert Stuart, Wikimedia Commons
We “Wood”n’t Have Guessed
And speaking of Washington, did he really have wooden dentures? Absolutely not! Washington’s false teeth, one set of which still exists, were made from various kinds of animal teeth, human teeth, and hippopotamus ivory. The ivory was susceptible to staining, which may have birthed the wooden teeth rumor.
The British Were Coming
The Ride of Paul Revere is probably one of the most famous stories of the American Revolution. But not all stories turn out to be true. While Revere likely did raise the alarm that the British were on the way, it’s unlikely he shouted it in the streets—because that would kind of give everything away to the British loyalists who still lived in the US at the time.
Office of War Information, Wikimedia Commons
Betsy’s Bogus Banner
One of the great legends of American independence is Besty Ross, who many thank for creating the first official flag of the United States. Except she didn’t. The story of her historic flag was spread by her grandson William. There is little evidence as to who created the flag known as the Betsy Ross Flag.
Edward Percy Moran, Wikimedia Commons
Independence…Month?
While July 4 sparks celebrations of Independence Day across the United States, it may actually be a better idea to celebrate on August 2. While the final language of the Declaration of Independence met approval on July 4, the document itself was not officially signed until August 2.
John Trumbull, Wikimedia Commons
Caked In Controversy
When the French peasantry ran out of bread, aristocrat Marie Antoinette said “Let them eat cake”. Except that the phrase had first been written by Jean-Jaques Rousseau in his book Confessions, penned when Antoinette was only nine years old. Antoinette’s execution occurred in 1793, and the phrase was first attributed to her in 1843.
ELMORE, ALFRED W., Wikimedia Commons
The Long And Short Of It
Many modern depictions of French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte show him to be somewhat shorter than the average man. The confusion over his height may come from his height being listed as 5’2” in French feet, which actually translates to 5’7” in American Imperial measurements. This makes Napoleon about average for a Frenchman of his time.
Francois-Henri Mulard, Wikimedia Commons
Who Nose?
The Great Sphinx of Giza is one of the most famous architectural marvels of the ancient world. In its current state, the face of the Sphinx is missing a nose. It had long been said that the nose was shot off by Napoleon’s forces as they used it for target practice in the early 19th century. In fact, the nose has been missing from the legendary creature since at least the 10th century.
Jean-Léon Gérôme, Wikimedia Commons
Making A Monkey Out Of Man
Darwin’s Theory of Evolution never claimed that humans evolved from apes. This was an oversimplification of the theory, which stated that the two species most likely shared a common ancestor. Once we split off from the apes, many thousands of years ago, humans evolved through many early forms before we reached our current, sapient state.
Julia Margaret Cameron, Wikimedia Commons
How About “Dieciséis De Septiembre”?
A common misconception about the Mexican celebration of Cinco de Mayo is that it commemorates Mexico’s independence from Spain. The 5th of May actually celebrates the Mexican Army’s victory at the Battle of Puebla, against the French army. Mexico became an independent country on September 16, 1810.
Museo Nacional de las Intervenciones, Wikimedia Commons
The Not-So-Wild West
Films and television would have us believe that shootouts were a daily occurrence in the Old West and that every cowboy was the fastest draw around. The reality is that these kinds of confrontations resulted in only 1.5 deaths per year between 1859 and 1900. That is quite a contrast to the daily averages in many American cities today.
Charles Marion Russell, Wikimedia Commons
Hats Off To The Bowler
Speaking of the Old West, those hats we often associate with cowboys riding around the lawless country on their trusty steeds? Not as popular as you might think. Derby hats and bowler hats were far more popular in the “Wild West”, with the Stetson only becoming popular after a huge marketing campaign by its manufacturers.
John C. H. Grabill, Wikimedia Commons
What About The Model F?
While Henry Ford’s Model T may have been one of the first mass-produced cars, it definitely wasn’t the first. American Ransom Olds sold his first Oldsmobile seven years before Ford’s famous car. And in 1769, French inventor Nicolas Cugnot created the Cugnot Fardier, a steam-powered three-wheel truck, for the French army.
Joe deSousa, CC0, Wikimedia Commons
It Just Doesn’t Add Up
Albert Einstein, whose theories revolutionized our understanding of the Universe, supposedly failed math at an early age. However, the man himself is on record as stating that by the age of 15, he had “mastered differential and integral calculus”. Einstein did fail a college entrance exam, but certainly not the math section. Don’t ask about the botany, zoology, or language sections, though.
Associated Press, Wikimedia Commons
Ra - Ra - Rasputin
The supposed mad monk, rumored to have strange control over the rulers of Russia, was allegedly poisoned, shot, and drowned before finally succumbing to attempts on his life. Rasputin’s autopsy, however, claims that, like most, he met his end due to gunshots. The tale of his strange survival comes from the memoirs of one of the men who planned Rasputin’s end.
He Flew It, But Not First
Charles Lindbergh, a famed American pilot, is perhaps best known for completing the first transatlantic flight between New York and Paris. Lindbergh made his historic flight in 1927…but the first actual transatlantic flight took place eight years earlier in 1919. British pilots Alcock and Brown flew from Newfoundland to Ireland and received a prize from none other than Winston Churchill for their efforts.
Elsie Holloway, Wikimedia Commons
Have A Drink
The infamous Prohibition Act in the mid-20th century didn’t actually stop people from drinking. The Volstead Act made it unlawful to produce and sell alcohol, making it difficult for consumers to come by. But if you had some in your possession and had a sip every now and again, you weren’t breaking any laws.
National Archives at College Park, Wikimedia Commons
Parked In The Back
Rosa Parks, famous for being the catalyst of the Montgomery bus boycott, is mistakenly said to have sat in a “Whites Only” section of the bus. Mrs Parks was actually sitting in the proper section but refused to move when told she needed to make room for a white passenger.
Gene Herrick for the Associated Press, Wikimedia Commons
Not Kool
One of the most notorious events in American history is the mass suicide of the followers of Jim Jones at the compound known as Jonestown. The story tells us that Jones’ followers ingested Kool-Aid laced with potassium cyanide, hence the term “drinking the Kool-Aid”. But it was actually competitor Flavor-Aid that was used to serve up the fatal cocktails.
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The Jonestown Institute, http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/, Wikimedia Commons
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