VacuumFlux Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 Well it would be nice if people were not called fanatical or mocked by academics for simply doubting a positive claim with apparently no solid evidence backing it up. The Biblical gospels are complete nonsense. Doubting the reality of the character with magic powers seems like a reasonable starting position. Do people get flak from academia if they suspect there was no real Hercules? I don't ever hear debates on who was the historic Odysseus or who was the historic Achilles, or who was the real Merlin. Actually.... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/greece/7962445/Greeks-discover-Odysseus-palace-in-Ithaca-proving-Homers-hero-was-real.html a team of archaeologists has claimed the tale is anchored in truth - and that they have discovered his home on the island of Ithaca, in the Ionian sea off the north-west coast of Greece. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1490367/posts The tomb of Odysseus has been found, and the location of his legendary capital city of Ithaca discovered here on this large island across a one-mile channel from the bone-dry islet that modern maps call Ithaca. This could be the most important archeological discovery of the last 40 years, a find that may eventually equal the German archeologist Heinrich Schliemann’s 19th Century dig at Troy.... Archeologists have long and often times looked for evidence of Odysseus on modern Ithaca, but never found anything significant from the Bronze Age. This led many scholars to dismiss Homer’s version of Ionian island geography as strictly a literary creation. But two pieces of fairly recent evidence suggest archeologists were looking in the wrong place. contains pictures: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1306042/The-legend-Homers-Odyssey-true-Archaeologists-palace-began.html Same thing with King Arthur. There's strong speculation that he was a real dude, and maybe Merlin too ( http://yalepress.yale.edu/book.asp?isbn=9780300144895 ), whose stories got embellished over time. For a more recent example, just look at all the quotes and stories that the US has attached to the Founding Fathers. Sometimes that happens on accident, sometimes because someone wants to tell a more impressive story, and sometimes history is twisted on purpose for political ends. Wouldn't surpise me at all if we found out there was a historical Jesus. I wonder if maybe there was more than one; lots of crazy messiahs at the time. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blood Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 These people are aware that tombs were built for mythological figures, right? Finding "the Tomb of Odysseus" or "the Tomb of Hercules" does not mean that we have found the literal resting place of "the historical" Odysseus and Hercules. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mymistake Posted September 25, 2014 Author Share Posted September 25, 2014 These people are aware that tombs were built for mythological figures, right? Finding "the Tomb of Odysseus" or "the Tomb of Hercules" does not mean that we have found the literal resting place of "the historical" Odysseus and Hercules. Awe shucks, I was just about to dedicate my life to Zeus and the Olympians. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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