That was interesting. No way to know if it's accurate, but the story it tells of ideas that come and go, then come again centuries later, and historical records that slowly disappear, before being discovered and championed, then discredited, then reexamined again with modern evidence, is rather haunting. It's like history is a weak signal that wavers in strength from era to era, that we need precise equipment and patience to hear. posted by Kevin Street at 1:29 PM on February 6 [6 favorites]
briank, you really need to make that show. Really. posted by steambadger at 2:12 PM on February 6
Wait, it doesn't have anything to do with Chang and Eng?
Anyhoo -- connect this with the discussion of the manuscripts of Timbuktu, and how prized they are precisely because West Africa lacks so many written records from before the colonial era. In the same way a millennia earlier European peoples lack so much of their own history. I found it fascinating that the Richard III exhumation brought forth a particular history of the loss of one specific fact of history, i.e. the location of this grave. Henry VII placed a marker, to be sure, and its value is known, but no other record of it exists. A mere century later the site was essentially lost to history forever ... but for some plausible assumptions put together by some puzzle-obsessed amateur historians many centuries later. posted by dhartung at 1:36 AM on February 7
England was first colonized by ancient Egyptians bearing protractors.
I believe it was the Greek Heterodotus who observed this "magical land of angles", or Angle-Land.
The Vikings later shortened the term to "Angland" and finally the Normans put a French twist on it and dubbed it "England". posted by Renoroc at 5:12 AM on February 7
England was first colonized by ancient Egyptians bearing protractors
posted by ocschwar at 12:12 PM on February 6