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Text: Yun Xiaoyu
Edited by Yun Xiaoyu
preface
History is written by the victors, this is a well-known thing, and did you know that there are actually several "famous lies" in history, which I am afraid that some people still believe in today.
Trojan horse
The Trojan Horse is one of the most famous tales in Greek mythology, which comes from Homer's epic poem The Iliad, which describes the siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Greek forces.
According to records, the Greek coalition besieged Troy for 10 years and was unable to capture the city, so Odysseus designed a huge wooden horse full of Greek warriors, and the Greek army pretended to retreat and left the wooden horse on the beach.
The Trojans then used the Trojan horse as a trophy and pulled it into the city, and late that night, the Greek warriors in the Trojan horse suddenly jumped out and opened the gates, allowing the Greek army to enter Troy and break it in one fell swoop.
In the 19th century, archaeologists discovered the ruins of Troy in northwestern Turkey, confirming that the ancient city actually existed, which led people to believe that the Trojan horse incident was also real, but experts calculated that such a large-scale Trojan horse could not have existed at all.
Because first of all, the Trojan horse needs to be large enough to accommodate armed soldiers, but archaeology has proved that the Trojan gate is only 3.5 meters high and 3.5 meters wide at most, and a huge Trojan horse cannot pass through it at all, even if the city wall is forcibly demolished, it will take a lot of time, how could the Trojan soldiers allow the Greeks to do this.
Moreover, it takes enough time to make such a huge Trojan horse, and it is impossible for the Greek coalition to make it in a short time after the withdrawal of troops, and even if the work is successful, the scale of the Trojan horse will be greatly reduced, and it will not be able to reach the original size and number of people.
Finally, how could a Trojan soldier easily trust the strange objects left behind by the enemy and transport them directly into the city? Ancient cities were heavily guarded and would not be taken lightly.
Therefore, it is likely that the Trojan horse is only a legend or literary creation, rather than a historical fact, and its existence only conveys the moral that people should be careful of hidden enemies and should not be taken lightly.
Napoleon is 1.58 meters tall?
There has always been controversy about Napoleon's height, many people have always believed that Napoleon's height is only 1.58 meters, and some people even use the sentence "concentration is the essence" to describe Napoleon, but is Napoleon's height really so short, only 1.58 meters?
Napoleon's height records before his death are of different origins, but his height was recorded as 161 cm on the physical examination form of his military academy at the age of 15, considering that Napoleon was just beginning to develop at this time, and his height will definitely continue to grow in the future, which proves that Napoleon could not be so short after that.
Why is there such a numerical discrepancy? One of the important reasons is that the units of measurement used are different, France uses the legal system, the United Kingdom uses the imperial system, 1 foot is equal to about 30 centimeters, and directly using the units of measurement of different systems to convert to each other may produce errors.
In addition, an individual's subjective judgment of height can also affect the recording. For example, when we look at a random person on the street, we may also use approximate values such as "1.6 meters" or "1.7 meters" to estimate the height of the other person, not to mention, most of the early height records are based on visual measurement rather than precise measurement.
However, a comparison of the records shows that Napoleon was indeed between 168 and 171 centimeters tall, which is not as short as the popular "only 158 centimeters", and the figure of 158 centimeters is likely the result of the imperial records being mistakenly converted into meters.
Why is Napoleon's height underestimated? One reason for this was political attribution, as relations between Britain and France were traditionally strained, and Britain saw Napoleon as an enemy and a threat, so Britain may have deliberately belittled Napoleon as a diminutive man, as can be seen in many British political cartoons, where Napoleon is often portrayed as a "little man".
Another reason may come from the stereotype of the successful man, Napoleon was a military genius, and people often subconsciously thought that he should be a tall and powerful man. When it was discovered that his actual height was not as high as he expected, the first impression of his short stature was fixed and widely circulated.
However, it is worth noting that in Napoleon's time, a person's height was not regarded as a hard measure of ability as it is today, and Napoleon's military victories and political achievements relied more on his talent and courage than on height conditions.
Cleopatra is stunningly beautiful?
When we mention Cleopatra, the first impression is often the legendary beauty, however, the historical Cleopatra is not as beautiful as the legend says.
The archaeological statue of Cleopatra shows a mediocre-looking woman, she is not elaborately dressed or wearing ornate jewelry, she is just an ordinary empress, and the most complete surviving portrait of Cleopatra is preserved in the Museum in Berlin, Germany.
Cleopatra is short, has obvious fat, and her teeth are not easy to arouse beauty, and the statue of Cleopatra on display in the British Museum also presents a well-defined and stern image of the queen.
So, what did Cleopatra fascinate the two great men of the time, Julius Caesar and Mark Antony? The answer lies in her extraordinary wisdom and talent.
Cleopatra has an amazing ability to learn, is proficient in many Chinese, and has a wealth of knowledge in literature, science, politics, etc., she is good at using her ingenuity and skillful use of power, winning the trust and support of Caesar and Antony, and winning the autonomy of Egypt.
When the library of Alexandria caught fire, Cleopatra was saddened to organize a rescue and eventually recovered 200,000 books, which is a testament to her erudition.
It can be said that the secret of Cleopatra's success lies in her excellent intellect rather than external beauty, a mediocre-looking woman who ruled Egypt for 22 years through wisdom, which is enough to rewrite the prejudice that "only beautiful women can appear on the stage of history".
Three hundred Spartan warriors against 300,000 enemy troops?
Legend has it that in 480 BC, King Xerxes I of the Persian Empire gathered an army of about 300,000 men and conquered Greece, vowing to conquer the last independent city-state.
At this time, the king of Sparta, Leonidas I, acted quickly, led 300 elite Spartan soldiers, stationed at the strategic point of Thermopylae Pass, he wisely judged that the frontal battle was bound to be destroyed, so he ordered the navy to withdraw to the strait, stick to the Greek mainland, and at the same time, he personally led 300 warriors to buy time for the coalition to establish a defensive line.
When the dense arrows rained down, the Spartan warriors risked their lives to hold their positions, and after the death of one warrior, another was immediately on top, so the defense was changed, and in the predicament of being outnumbered, 300 warriors and the Persian army began a fierce battle for two days.
Leonidas fought alongside his soldiers at the front, and despite the knowledge of his death, the Spartan warriors fought until the last moment, and finally waited for reinforcements, who bought precious time for Greece and defended the independence of their homeland with their flesh and blood.
Although the battle ended with the annihilation of the entire army of the 300 Spartan warriors, their tenacious resistance spirit shocked future generations and became a legend, however, the rational analysis of this battle seems to be a bit far-fetched to only 300 men against hundreds of thousands of troops.
In fact, the Greek coalition involved not only the elite of Sparta, but also the reinforcements of other city-states, with a total number of about 7,000, and the Spartan side not only sent 300 regular troops, but also a large number of slave soldiers to fight with the army.
Sparta had a strict hierarchy that divided the population into three classes: citizen, frontier and slave, and citizens were required to undergo rigorous physical and military training from an early age, and women were no exception in order to produce strong offspring.
Although the border people have freedom, they need to obey the citizens and act as strong men in wartime, while slaves have no human rights at all, not only have to go to war with the army as cannon fodder, but also kill collectively after each battle to prevent resistance, so every time Sparta goes to war, a large number of slave soldiers will be sent, and their number is incalculable.
Finally, the strength of the Greek coalition was not as disparity with that of the Persian army as legend has been, and despite a certain degree of glorification and inaccuracy, the story of the 300 warriors has become a model for bravery and sacrifice passed down from generation to generation.
epilogue
Through these historical stories, we can gain some inspiration, but we cannot fully believe in their authenticity, history is always controversial, and as the evidence of experts infers, these events are still unfounded after all.