1. Napoleon Bonaparte wasn’t all that short. In fact, he was actually slightly taller than the average Frenchman at the time.

2. Despite the name “cavemen,” our ancestors didn’t actually spend most of their time dwelling in caves. A few genuine cave dwellings have been found, but for the most part until the last glacial period early humans were nomadic hunter-gatherers who lived in temporary structures like tents or wooden huts.

3 The stereotypical image of a Viking is that of a dirty, barbaric, unruly haired man enthused by the prospect of pillaging any and every foreign city. But contrary to popular belief, the Vikings were no savages at all; in fact, they preferred to keep their hair well-groomed and they were known for bathing far more often than their Anglo-Saxon neighbors.

4. In 1938, Orson Welles broadcast a radio adaptation of H.G. Wells’s science fiction novel The War of the Worlds. As the story goes, people all over the country thought the broadcast was real and that aliens really were invading earth, which led to mass panic. Only, that never actually happened. In reality there were only a handful of noteworthy calls to the police and the aftermath was blown way out of proportion as a way to discredit radio as a legitimate means of advertising.

5.  Marie Antoinette never actually uttered the famous phrase “let them eat cake,” in response to learning that her subjects were starving that’s so often attributed to her. In fact, it was first published in Confessions by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and attributed to “a great princess.” At the time, Marie Antoinette would’ve been just nine years old.

6. Vikings did not wear those iconic horned helmets. The image of Vikings wearing horned helmets was popularized by German composer Richard Wagner’s 1876 opera production of Der Ring des Nibelungen.

7.   The average person in the Middle Ages didn’t die in their 30s or 40s as is commonly believed. Rather, that was the average life expectancy at birth given the high infant mortality rate. An individual who had made it to adulthood could expect to be alive well into their 60s

Number 4.

#7

1,3 and 6.

Apparently I don’t know shit about Vikings.

Whoever actually said "Let them eat cake,"  for much of my life I thought the word "cake" referred to a sweet, baked confection.  I learned otherwise at about age 40.

4 wasn’t just a “few” as you put it. The entire studio was detained by police and there were in fact thousands of calls to the police and the news outlets as well as to the network itself. There were also several midwestern towns that reported having angry mobs in the streets. There was in fact mass panic over it.

Yeahhhhhh 4 - that’s incorrect. It WAS in fact a big deal

OP, please cite your source.

Someone's been following click bait.

Yup.

It was likely few in relation to the population. My dad thought it was funny.

Jeffrey Epstein didn’t kill himself.

Guilty as charged

Anyone attacked by Vikings likely considered them savages. But they would have been rather advanced savages in many ways.

Migration era Anglo-Saxons were pretty much the same culture as the Vikings. Weapons, ships, gods and language all very similar. Early English is closer to Scandinavian than German I believe.

You got me with #7.  I just recently learned this and was discussing it with the wife the other night.

I don't think it was as big a deal it was made out to be. Probably was bigger when the repeated it in Peru in the 70s (the radio station was attacked).

Vikings also didn't dress like outlaw bikers.

They coveted fine fabrics in bright colors.

People of the Middle Ages were much more advanced than people generally think.

Also, from the Battle of Towten and the Henry 8th ship Mary Rose, the average height of the recovered dead was 5'7". And an English longbowman would have a powerful build, probably stronger on average than modern men.

Marie Antoinette didn't say "let them eat cake".  She said "let them eat brioche"

It was a huge deal. Orson Wells discussed it repeatedly on several of his shows.

Number 7 is ignoring the plague and a few other disease outbreaks. It also ignores malnutrition which was a big deal for the unwashed masses.

"Cakes" = cakes of dung, iirc

I'm suspect of #7. While infant mortality absolutely skews the numbers somewhat, it's easy AF for a healthy adult to die of simple injuries, sickness, and infection without medical care.

I'm suprised no one knew the facts about Vikings. Because according to that "What's your ancestry?" post all of GD are either Vikings or Indians.

I never believed any of the listed myths. But I’ve always been a student of history.

Makes me think of this series.

America: Fact vs. Fiction

A lot of interesting stuff. I'm not a historian. So I i don't know how accurate it is.

Go down into the rio grande valley and dig in literally any of the thousands of caves, I guarantee each and every one of them were used as habitation sites. I know this for a fact.

Flat earth wasn’t a universally accepted idea even thousands of years ago.  Uneducated dumb fucks, which was majority then, and maybe slightly less now, thought it, but people with access to education and early form of sciences understood that Earth was probably a sphere.

Decent evidence, caveman ancestors you referred to as hunter gatherers weren’t that either.

Instead, civilizations grew rapidly rather than being nomadic hunter gatherers.

Actually a fascinating topic to look into.

There are entire tribes in Africa that eat meat as a matter of course that will kill you damn quick. Some of them hunt elephants by stabbing them in the bladder. They then follow the elephant until it dies of sepsis.
People back then had a better immune system as a matter of course.

Actually correct.   Michelangelo lived into his 80s.  Granted he died in the 1500s but some still consider that the end of the Middle Ages.

There is a lot of documentation of individuals living into their 60s and later during the Middle Ages.


And just an FYI many people in Ancient Greece and Rome lived as long as we do.

Yep, road apples.

Also, contrary to popular belief - most Vikings were farmers. And when the Vikings traveled to foreign lands, they generally acted as traders. There was very little rape, pillaging, plundering, and rape.

99.98% Irish.
0.02% East Asian.

To be honest, French men are not noted for being tall compared to other ethnic groups.  To say he was average would imply he was short.

My great aunt left a family history, starting about 1900. I can't tell you what the average age of death was but every page had someone who had died at an early age, usually from TB.

God helps those that help themselves isn’t actually in the Bible.

The word Bible isn’t in the Bible.

The word Trinity isn’t in the Bible.

Neither is the word rapture.

Double this ^

Everything I recall is late 40s, very early 50s average at best - if you were male and alive at 25.

People certainly did live into their 60s - especially monks, aristocrats and upper churchmen.  But even Popes who should have least disadvantages avg'd less than 65. So the male population avg couldn't have been into the 60s.

Tuco comes to mind.

Helicopter crashes and the whole ball of wax.

Why you tryin to gaslight?

I was taught Lee Harvey Oswald killed JFK.

A large portion of England was 'resettled' by Vikings. Normans and the Normandy region of France was named for the Norseman. Russians are named after the Rus, who were Scandinavian settlers.

A lot of modern English is due to the people having to learn to converse with each other. You can thank the multiple invasions of England for us having a variety of rules for grammar, such as plurals:  mice/mouse, moose/moose, horse/horses.

I had a class in Norwegian during college. It was fairly easy to pick up because of the similarities.

Sanitation standards were different in the past, which should have made some difference.

I was reading some old newspapers from the late 1800s, the Gold Rush era. One article:

The Dishonest Ratcatcher
A tall man, with a nose like a muffin, went into a restaurant one day last week and asked for a dinner.
“Owing to the general depression of business, and consequent scarcity of the rhino,” said the proprietor, looking the tall man over, “a dinner will cost you thirty five cents in advance.”
“I have nothing with me but a check on a Boston bank,” observed the man.
"Checks on Boston banks ain’t worth a copper,” remarked the landlord. "I guess you'll have to dine more sumptuously elsewhere.”
"Can’t I do something for my dinner?” asked the tall man, as a hunger pang gripped him. “I am a champion ratcatcher. You give me my dinner and I'll agree to drive out every rat in your building. I have performed the feat in many hotels throughout the country, with most satisfactory results.”
The proprietor accepted the bargain as a most advantageous one to himself, and the tall man seated himself at the table, where he did fearful execution among the victuals. He finished his dinner in half an hour, picked his teeth with a fork, called for a cigar and proceeded to enjoy it.
“Now, then,” said the proprietor, when the tall man had finished his smoke, ‘“let's get to business. Color the nits.”
"Ah, yes," returned the tall man; "with pleasure. Procure me a light iron bar, about four feet in length, and I will proceed to business.”
The bar of iron was produced, and the loafers gathered around to witness the interesting proceedings.
“Now, begin," said the proprietor. “Where will you commence first?”
"Right here,” said the tall man, as he carefully rolled back his cuffs, spit on his hands, and grasped the iron bar firmly, while the proprietor stood by with great anxiety depicted on his countenance.
“Now,” said the tall man impressively, as he slowly elevated the bar, "are you all ready?”
"All ready,” returned the proprietor excitedly.
"Then,” said the tall man," “bring on your rats.”
He slammed the bar hard on the floor three times. That woke up every rat in the building and they all went running across the floor. For the space of five minutes the excitement of an entire presidential election filled the room. When it subsided, the dishonest ratcatcher man was nowhere to be seen and the proprietor was standing before a mirror nursing a new black eye. The rats still revel in their native freedom.

Also the lion doesn't lie down with the lamb. Apparently it says wolf.

That Napoleon height thingy was part of a British campaign to denigrate his public persona. he was of average height or a little more.

Socrates was reputed to be 71 years old when he was forced to drink Hemlock tea as his method of execution

He was Corsican by birth and that island wasn't French until shortly before the American Revolution.

No doubt, sanitation > medicine

But much of early medicine was sanitation Semmelweis, Holmes, Lister, Pasteur was simple hygiene, Snow associated contaminated water with disease, hell the only one I can think of not a doctor was Chadwick - Atty. Jenners the one whose contribution would be considered something more traditionally medical

Great story

Humpty Dumpty did not fall, he was pushed.

That’s not the myth OP is discrediting.  The myth is that there were whole cultures or generations of people who primarily dwelt in caves.  The truth is that caves preserved evidence of people living in them much better than the other, often temporary dwellings ancient people used, so most of the artifacts we have from some cultures is what survived in the caves.