Many of the stories that actually happened, storytellers season with interesting facts and fables, making reality embellished.
Passing the tale by word of mouth, authenticity and facts were lost, but the story was overgrown with nuances and enshrined incredible details in the plot, becoming more interesting for the layman.
In our top, we have collected the 10 most common myths that everyone has believed in since the days of school. It seems time has come to destroy them and find out the real truth.
10. Newton's apple
Everyone thinks that Newton discovered the law of gravity by sitting under a tree in his garden. Reflecting on why the Moon does not fall to the earth, and what kind of power holds the sun in outer space, Newton could not at all predict that the answers to questions would come from an apple blow to his head.
The story is partly true: the apple really fell from the tree, but not on Newton’s head, but on the ground next to the scientist.
Seeing the fallen fruit, Newton became interested in gravity and decided to understand what attracts an apple to the surface of the earth, but what causes the moon and the sun to remain in place.
9. Forbidden fetus
In all the paintings, Eve is depicted with a red apple in the palm of her hand, as well as in the stories they mention that people tasted the apple from the Tree of Knowledge.
In fact, this is a myth. The Bible never once mentions an apple; Adam and Eve ate some fruit from the Tree. What this fruit looks like is not described in the Bible, and therefore it was customary to depict an apple in the paintings because of visual recognition.
Moreover, apple trees do not grow in the Middle East, which means that the fruit from this tree could not be mentioned in the Bible.
8. Van Gogh's ear
The fact that Van Gogh cut off his ear was told to us at the first lessons of fine art at school. But why he did this - no one could explain, but in the heads of the children the image of the artist with a bandaged head was preserved. The bandages, of course, hid the bloody ear hole, because Van Gogh mercilessly cut everything else with a kitchen knife.
Nobody still knows why the artist cut off his ear. There are several theories here: someone says that the artist was in crisis after a quarrel with a friend, someone believes that Van Gogh could not come to terms with the news of his engagement to his brother.
Only one fact is known - Van Gogh did not cut off his ear. Only a small part of the lobe, and the ear remained in place in full working condition.
7. The growth of Napoleon
On caricatured images and in literary works, emphasis is often placed on Napoleon's small stature. They joked a lot about the tiny conqueror, and the emperor’s growth was the most frequent subject of humor. Like, Bonaparte's frantic ambitions were explained by his small stature.
But all these are jokes and myths that have come down to our times, because Napoleon had quite an average height of 170 cm. Perhaps he looked lower next to other men, but you can’t name this dwarf like that.
6. Who is the author of Hamlet?
The plot of most of Shakespeare's works is a legend taken from the people. Thanks to Shakespeare, the folk tale was surrounded by plot twists and new characters, but the basis of the story remained invented by other people.
Shakespeare's merit, of course, does not belittle. Still, it is not in vain that the writer is considered a genius of drama.
5. Date of birth of Jesus
In the Bible itself - the main historical source - the date of birth of Jesus Christ is not indicated throughout the story.
Therefore, December 25 - accepted by the Catholics as the birthday of Jesus - and Orthodox on January 7 - are only assumptions and symbolic dates.
4. First President of the United States
One of the biggest misconceptions related to historical facts. After all, many believe that George Washington is the first president of the United States.
Would you be very surprised if we say that Washington has not even entered the top ten presidents? He was only 15 ruler of the country!
Paignton Randolph is considered the first president, and Washington was the first president elected by the people.
3. Deutsche Einstein
Why this myth was invented is unknown. It is possible to support schoolchildren and the legend that it is not necessary to have good grades at school in order to achieve something meaningful in later life.
This statement has the right to exist with one mark: you can study poorly at school and achieve heights, but the statement does not mean that you need to be lazy and not study at all in all subjects.
It is permissible not to waste energy on objects with which a person does not want to connect his life.
This is what happened with Einstein - he studied well at school, Einstein was never a loser! But here he had problems with philosophy - he did not pass this subject when he entered university.
And since philosophy was far from being a specialized field for the future scientist, Einstein was allowed to fail this exam.
2. Nationality of Cleopatra
We all know Cleopatra as the greatest queen of Egypt. According to the generally accepted myth, it is believed that she was an Egyptian, but the real nationality of the woman is Greek.
Cleopatra was from the Ptolemaic dynasty. After the capture of Egypt, the associate of Alexander the Great, Ptolemy, entered the throne. It was he who founded the dynasty with the purity of blood, the main idea of which was to marry the brothers to their sisters, so as not to “pollute” the genus with another gene pool.
The last representative of the Ptolemies - Cleopatra - was of Greek origin.
1. All Vikings are Savages
Thinking of the Vikings, an image of an unwashed and huge man, in the old skins of dead animals and in a horned helmet, is unconsciously drawn in his head. The stereotypical image of the Vikings came to us from children's stories and cartoons, but in reality the Vikings did not look the way we used to think.
For example, helmets with horns were worn only for rites and rituals, and the usual form of military Vikings is armor made of strong metals.
There is something to argue about the untidy look of warriors. Yes, a disheveled beard, dirty clothes, and an unpleasant smell were most likely an integral part of the Viking image. But this was after the battle and before the first trip to the bathhouse. Any warrior in the first place went to wash off the dirt, and no one went in everyday life in a homeless manner.