Posted on 11/19/2013 4:45:19 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Blame Hollywood, the media, and even history teachers for perpetuating certain totally ridiculous or unfounded "facts" about history. We're here to debunk some of the biggest myths.
1. Jewish slaves didn't build the pyramids. This popular myth reportedly stems from comments made by former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin when visiting Egypt in 1977, according to Amihai Mazar, professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
"No Jews built the pyramids because Jews didn't exist at the period when the pyramids were built," Mazar told the AP.
Recent archaeological finds actually show that Egyptians built the pyramids themselves.
"The myth of the slaves building pyramids is only the stuff of tabloids and Hollywood," Dieter Wildung, a former director of Berlin's Egyptian Museum, told the AP. "The world simply could not believe the pyramids were build without oppression and forced labor, but out of loyalty to the pharaohs."
2. Cleopatra wasn't Egyptian. Cleopatra belonged to the Ptolemaic dynasty, a family of Greek origin that ruled Egypt after Alexander the Great. Her family actually refused to speak Egyptian, and she was the first to learn the language.
The misconception about her nationality may have arisen from the way she represented herself in public — as the reincarnation of Isis, an Egyptian goddess.
3. Vikings didn't wear horned-helmets. Archaeological evidence doesn't show any evidence of horned-helmets. Death sites instead tell us most Viking warriors went bare-headed or wore leather headgear, according to The History Channel.
This popular, albeit false, image of burly men striding into battle with horns apparently dates back to the 1800s, when Swedish artist Gustav Malmströmstems included the imagery in his work. Some of Wagner's operas also included costumes with horned-helmets.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
Wasn’t that Goober that did the impression on The Andy Griffith Show? (Judy Judy Judy)
Paul Revere is only remembered because of a poem, someone else did all the real work that night, but was basically forgotten to history
Tuskegee Airmen did lose a bomber. About 25 actually.
And she needs to learn what the expression “on the down-low” means.
William Dawes
I think you mean FDR not TR in 1930.
1939 it wasn’t TR. It was FDR.
I have been explaining this one to people for 30 years. All I get is blank stares.
Oswald was a bad shot. The Marine record begs to differ.
Now, let's untangle the myth of the Cherry tree.
Nice!
Obama was qualified. There, fixed it for you. Biggest myth of all.
No, you ARE wrong. Everything built in the United States survived the war. . . it's called industrial infrastructure built for the war effort that was put to work in other ways post war. The depression WAS ended by WWII as the unemployed were put to work manning the army, staffing the building of the industrial infrastructure to build millions of rifles, handguns, bayonets, 2.5 million machine guns, 2.4 million trucks and jeeps, over 180,000 tanks and self propelled guns, 325,000 military aircraft, 22 aircraft carriers, 8 battleships, 48 cruisers, 349 destroyers, 420 convoy escorts, and 203 submarines, as wells as hundreds of freighters. . . all in five short years. NONE of the plant, equipment, shipyards, and most of all skilled, trained hardworking labor in the USA was destroyed by WWII.
In addition, in Europe and Asia, the old infrastructure, out-moded, antique, no-longer able to compete, was often conveniently removed by twenty minute—in a couple of cases, twenty second—demolition efforts courtesy of the allies, making way for much more modern, more efficient plants and equipment that would in a very short time make them economic powerhouses competing with those who thought they had vanquished them. Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Dresden, all became amazing industrial centers when rebuilt.
All of this broke the back of the entrenched depression.
The real alert was spread by Paul Revere’s co-rider, Israel Bissell, who actually didn’t get intercepted and completed his circuit alerting the colonists. Revere got a total of less than thirteen miles before his ride got interrupted, but Bissell notified everyone he was supposed to in a ride lasting more than four days covering 345 miles! But as Robert Wuhl noted “the Midnight Ride of Israel Bissell” just isn’t as poetic as “the midnight ride of Paul Revere. . .”
They did name a vacuum cleaner after him, at least we can pretend it was named for him.
Someone write a poem for Bissell
The Depression ended with the end of FDR, at the END of the war.
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