Our history looms large over us shaping our present and our future. We accept the great moments and ideas detailed in history books as a matter of fact. But what if our understanding of historical events isn’t actually all that accurate. As time passes our perception of history can become foggier, less reliable. History’s Greatest Myths s1e1: Inventions and Discoveries
Transformative discoveries and inventions often seem as if they have emerged into our society fully formed, filling a space that was empty only moments earlier and quickly becoming the fabric of our daily lives. This perception drives prevailing myths about inventors and their inventions. Yet how history remembers these inventors is often embellished by clever marketing, propaganda, cloudy recollections, and at worst, out and out theft. ibid.
The notion that Edison solely invented the light bulb is a myth that has endured. ibid.
Four years after publishing her research, [Rosalind] Franklin tragically died at the age of 37 from Ovarian cancer before her contemporaries [Crick & Watson] won their Nobel Prize. ibid.
Popular culture is a defining feature of our daily lives. It’s the television we watch. The music we listen to, the films we see and the games we play. This saturation can easily turn into obsession, distrust and even fear. History’s Greatest Myths s1e2: Entertainment
Myths as outlandish as the entertainment we consume begin to spread. These are the great myths in entertainment history. ibid.
At the centre of the furore was Orson Welles … A radio play that would sound like a real news report … Each news break would further the fictional story of a horrifying Martian invasion. ibid.
War and conflict has reshaped nations and devastated entire generations. And with a duty to protect and provide for their citizens, many nation states down the ages have fallen short. Conflicts dominate history and yet wars, why they started and how they were fought, are constantly disputed. Wars and myth-building go hand in hand. History’s Greatest Myths s1e3: War and Conflict
Pearl Harbor: A myth that would cast the US president as a traitor and a liar … The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise offensive, Roosevelt said. Unprovoked and without warning. But was that true? ibid.
A story that involved deception and myth-making used to justify starting a war. February 5th 2003: US Secretary of State Colin Powell addressed the United Nations. ibid.
The social structures which govern our society are based on adherence to collective rules and regulations and implicit trust in one another and acceptance of common memory. History’s Greatest Myths s1e4: Society
The myth that the next generation is less resilient, lazier and more entitled than those who came before. ibid.
When we dispel the rosy glow of nostalgia from our past, there is little empirical evidence to support the idea it was a gentler, better time. ibid.
Leaders of countries or commanders of armies have had their hands on the tiller of history for centuries. Their choices, their actions and their deaths have profound consequences. Many become legends even in their own lifetime. History’s Greatest Myths s1e5: Leaders & Legends
Our world is filled with mystery, mystery that lies in vast and unexplored places. In the relics of ancient civilisations whose truths are lost to time. In the secrets we keep and the ones that are kept from us, we seek answers to these mysteries no matter how fanciful they may seem. History’s Greatest Myths s1e6: Unexplained Mysteries
And what we discovered changed my vision of the past for ever. BAM: Builders of the Ancient Mysteries, Amazon Prime 2020
A minuscule island lost in the middle of the Pacific ocean: Rapa Nui, Easter Island. ibid.
The people from Rapa Nui are believed to have sculpted about 1,000 volcanic stone giants. ibid.
There’s strong similarities in the style between Ahu Vinapu [precise giant stones] and the structures instigated by the Incas of Peru. ibid.
Peru: Civilisation had been there for a very long time. ibid.
Machu Picchu: What surprised us was at the heart of the site built in a totally different style: huge andesite blocks, a very hard stone, had been assembled with precision, without any seal, stone against stone. ibid.
Bihar Area, India: 7 caves entirely excavated from massive granite blocks spread across 2 main sites … These are unique because of their precision. ibid.
From Easter Island to India via Peru we can see two very different styles. The work that is the most ancient is also the largest and most precise. ibid.
Why the need for accuracy? ibid.
‘The oldest material at Gobekli Tepe is the best. Did they wake up one morning with some magical inspiration?’ ibid. Graham Hancock
Let’s go from Easter Island taking a 30 degree orientation, and draw a line about 100 kilometers wide. The strip passes through Nazca in Peru and Machu Picchu, Ollantaytambo, Sacsayhuaman, Cuzco and Naupa Iglesia; it crosses the Atlantic to go over the sacred caves at Tassili N’Ajjer in Algeria, then through the Oasis of Siwa, by the Giza Pyramids in Egypt, over Petra in Jordan, Ur in Iraq, Persepolis in Iran, Mohenjo Daro in Pakistan, Khajuraho in India, Pyay in Berma, Sukhotai in Thailand, Angkor Wat and Preah Vihear in Cambodia, all likely to be connected a long time ago. And then over to the little known island of Aneityum in New Calodonia, then Easter Island. ibid.
Nobody was surprised to see the Golden Ratio showing up again. ibid.
These sites are built in the most earthquake-sensitive areas. ibid.
What is the importance of the Precession of the Equinoxes? ibid.
Do you ever have the feeling that the world is full of disasters, calamities, catastrophes. Well so did our ancient ancestors. Alice Roberts, Curse of the Ancients s1e1: Ancient Global Warming, History 2022
Scientists are now unearthing the evidence for cataclismic events in the past and their disastrous consequences.
The rise of civilisation in the Bronze Age. A time of great architecture, literature and the arts. But most of these Bronze Age civilisations collapsed. ibid.
6200 BCE: Doggerland was a fertile landscape lost in time. ibid.
The tsunamis unleashed were the largest ever in the northern hemisphere. ibid. landslide off coast of Norway
Doggerland survived the catastrophic tsunami but it couldn’t escape the deeper impact of climate change. ibid.
1600 BCE: Southern Europe, the Bronze Age. Greek civilisation was in its infancy. The mainland and the Aegean Islands were dominated by the Mycenaeans, a warrior elite society ruled by a legendary king and living in fear of the gods. ibid.
The Minoan culture spread across the Aegean Islands with Crete in League One of several major trading centres. ibid.
The Minoans were about to experience a catastrophe that must have seemed like a real curse from the gods. ibid.
What brought about the violent end of the Bronze Age and heralded the dawn of a new era? ibid.
A brave new world: the dawn of the Iron Age. ibid.
The Roman Empire was one of history’s greatest and most influencial civilisations. Alice Roberts, Curse of the Ancients s1e2: Rome’s Rise & Fall
While Rome itself enjoyed the riches of empire, many of the civilisations that opposed her expansion were cursed with warfare and destruction. ibid.
The northern European tribes wouldn’t forget and would remain bitter enemies of Rome. ibid.
The Great Fire of Rome was a disaster for the city but also a disaster for Nero. ibid.
The Carthaginian Empire predated that of Rome. ibid.
The last days of the Roman Empire, and the power vacuum that followed its collpse. Alice Roberts, Curse of the Ancients s1e3: The Darkest Age
The Roman Empire’s collapse was gradual, five centuries of over-expansion. ibid.
The heart of the empire, Rome itself, besieged by Germanic tribes. ibid.
A new civilisation was on the rise in the East. ibid.