Hey Pandas, What Is A History Myth Everyone Believes And No One Talks About? (Closed)
I want to hear some interesting stories.
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Cleopatra was the first/only female Egyptian pharaoh. There was also Hatshepsut, Sobeknerfu, and several others.
The 300 Spartans holding back the Persian army.
Sure, 300 Spartans, were there. And sure, they led the defence. But there were 7 thousand warriors. Yes, they were severely out numbered (Persian's are estimated to have numbered between 120,000 and 300,000), but they had the terrain on their side and may have held out indefinitely. They held out for a week, with only 3 day of actual battles.
The first 2 days of battle were a cake walk for the Greeks, using the terrain to their advantage, they shrugged off every attack.
The morning of the final battle it was clear that the Persians had found a trail that would allow them to flank the Greeks, so the Spartan leader sent most of the army away. *Some sources say he told his allies they could leave if they wanted to, but I think Leonidas was thinking of the bigger picture and the larger defence of Greece that would required, so it makes more sense that he would send them on a retreat.
The last stand was around 1400 warriors and 900 Spartan slaves. It is believed that 400 Thebans surrendered, every other man fought to death. The Ironic thing is, they chose to meet their death on the open field of battle, whereas had they stayed at the most narrow part of the pass, they might have held for long enough to break the spirit of the Persians, or at least reduced their army to a fraction of the size and compromising the whole invasion.
That George Washington had wooden teeth.
That Napoleon Bonaparte was short. He was 5 foot 5 inches which at the time was average height.
That Vikings had horns on their helmets.
That Christopher Columbus thought the world was flat. The ancient Greeks had established that the earth was round around 3rd century BCE.
