What is the biggest historical misconception?

Sometimes when I read history books, I wonder just how much of it is true, how much of it they simply got wrong, and how much of it was propaganda written by the victors infecting modern historical accounts. Then there are also generally believed things that historians know aren't true but the vast majority of the public don't realize.

What do you think is the biggest misconception?

I think the biggest shocker for me was the general timeline regarding Egypt etc. For example, did you know that Cleopatra of Egypt lived closer to the computer age than to the pyramids being built? That blew my mind when I learned it.

 

Ever since I had the good fortune to spend 2 nights by myself at Stonehenge in 1972, I've been fascinated by the place and the structure.

However, I've read recently that Stonehenge was first built in Wales and most of the stones were moved to their present location long ago and the structure was rebuilt using the original stones plus some "recently" added bluestones.

 

This really blew my mind.
https://www.google.com/search?q=for...WCY8AKHZ6lCnYQ_AUoBHoECAEQBg&biw=1366&bih=657

Forbidden Archaeology | Michael Cremo | Talks at Google


I still don't know how much of it is true but it seems to make sense.

 

biggest historical misconception ever - that the biblical jews were white folks.

 

This guy says that most history that Americans learn is really mythology.

Julian Casablancas Interviews Chris Hedges | S.O.S. Earth is a Mess

 

Monuments, art, etc were all part of the plunder. To the victor goes the spoils and all that.

 

Thanks for responding.
I'm not sure that the movement of Stonehenge from Wales to Salisbury plain was necessarily a simple act of plunder although that is still a strong possibility.

Since Stonehenge had both religious as well astrological significance, it may have been moved for those reasons.

I've read that menhirs as well as structures like Stonehenge were also used to mark the intersection of underground rivers and streams but need to do more research.

Regrettably, we have no written records regarding the building and movement of Stonehenge but human nature being what it is, your speculation is as good as any.

I'm still grateful to the head guard at Stonehenge in October 1972 for letting me spend so much time around such an amazing and enchanted edifice.

 

I've read and seen several things that indicated several ancient monuments moved around. I guess it was their way of bringing home a german rifle from WWII.

 

Some people are "better" than other people solely based on the color of their skin.

 

Sometimes history is a journey and it gets rewritten along the way, for instance, recently Charles Darwin is being denigrated because he was white and represents white privilege and colonialism yet he was a strict abolitionist when most of the world was racist and at that time and thought slavery was an abomination. He thought we were all one race which again, is falling out of favor for separating everyone by race which amazingly has become common recently. One wonders what history will actually be written in 100 years.

 

What may even blow your mind more is that some believe that the gap is even greater. Some do not think the Egyptians even built the pyramids. That the pyramid were built 10000 years ago but a civilization that predates the Egyptians.

Have you ever thought about what is inside the Pyramids of Giza? Most people would be surprised.

 

I bet that no one told you the monument was rebuilt in 1919 and that it was mostly guesswork as to where the stones went. Many historians think it was reassembled incorrectly.

 

You're right, Stonehenge is a fascinating place.
It was even more fascinating when you're there by yourself at 2 AM. When I spent the two nights there the sky was clear and all the stars were out but I didn't know enough about astronomy to make sense of the stars' positioning in relation to the stones.

When I was wandering around Europe, the Mediterranean and the Mid East by myself, I had no trouble spending the night at similar historic sites such as Delphi, Troy, Babylon etc but doubt that it's possible to do so today.

 

I didn't know that Stonehenge. was altered / reconstructed but am not surprised.

For some reason, the rear wheels on the rear of the truck make it look more recent than 1919.

What do you think?

 

Do you know of any other monuments in particular that were moved from one location to another?

I know that some statues and monuments that were moved in Egypt because of flooding from the Aswan dam.

 

The Sphinx was moved from its original position I heard. Not sure if it's true.

 

Turkey is moving several as we speak for the same reason--they are flooding the valley they are currently in. The original London Bridge is somewhere in the southwest US now. The Marble Arch in London used to be at the gate to one of the palaces but was moved by Queen Victoria. There is some tomb in France that they think at least part of it came from swiped neolithic carvings. I think the big colonnade in Germany with the gold figure on top was moved from somewhere else. And of course, museums are now filled with plundered goods......

 

Thanks,

I remember the London bridge being moved and have seen countless Middle Eastern artifacts in Western museums.

Since I'm a blacksmith, I've researched and made many reproduction artifacts for an old, Elizabethan mansion that was disassembled in England and reassembled, piece by piece, in Richmond VA.

In addition to reproduction andirons, fireplace cranes, gates, Civil War cannon parts, harpoon heads etc, I even made a reproduction Spatulum Mundani(1).

(1) https://historicjamestowne.org/collections/artifacts/spatulum-mundani/

 

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/tdarch1/how-they-rebuilt-stonehenge/

Yes, there were two major reconstructions, one just after WWI and another in '54 IIRC.
It is a fascinating place, I've been too many times to remember, but it is not my favourite stone circle. It's in a rather bleak landscape and has far too many visitors. Stonehenge isn't the largest, oldest or most important. It's just the poster boy.
Castlerigg in Cumbria is the most spectacular one I've visited due to it's magical setting. There are over 1,300 still remaining in the British Isles and they are still finding them. One was found on Dartmoor a few years ago after a brush fire revealed a circle of fallen stones.

Castlerigg

 

Y'all a bunch of stoners.

 

Ancient Britons dyed themselves blue.
This seems to be universally accepted despite there being no real evidence. Just one reference in Roman literature and the idea stuck.

 

The details of how we really got Hawaii are very interesting.

Part 3: Hawaii vs. U.S. Imperialism
http://www.pinkyshow.org/projectarchives/videos/part-3-hawaii-vs-us-imperialism

//American Imperialism-Hawaii Annexation\\
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?...80DB5FCDD88EF28070C680DB5FCDD88E&&FORM=VRDGAR

Hawaiian Woman Educates People on American Imperialism
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?...28618932320694BBA2EF286189323206&&FORM=VRDGAR