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Five More Historical Myths That Simply Refuse to Die
Let’s set these straight
One of my more popular articles of 2022 was about ten common historical myths that simply refuse to die. That piece covered myths from the mistaken notion that Napoleon Bonaparte was short (he wasn’t) to the ridiculous conspiracy theory that Shakespeare didn’t actually write the plays attributed to him (he did). And don’t even get me started on the myths about King Henry the VIII; that took an entire article of its own.
I stopped at ten to keep the article at a manageable length, but that meant leaving out a lot of other myths. Today I want to give you five more historical myths that, while perhaps not as prevalent as those earlier ten, still manage to cling to life today, long after they have been debunked.
1. Christopher Columbus was a visionary who knew the world was round when everyone else thought it was flat. Attitudes toward Columbus have seen some massive swings in recent years, from hero to genocidal maniac and back again; as is often the case, the truth lies somewhere in the middle. One thing that is clearly a myth is that he was unique in his belief that the world was round, thus inspiring him to attempt to reach the East Indies by sailing west from Spain. By 1492, the number of people who believed the earth was flat was probably greater than the number…
