The mathematician Anatoly Fomenko is one of a number of Russian academics advancing revisionist chronologies which portray a greatly foreshortened view of European history. He argues that mediaeval and classical histories as we know them today were fabricated in Renaissance times. In his book 'History: Fiction or Science', he 'proves' that Jesus Christ was born in 1053 and crucified in 1086, and that the Old Testament refers to mediaeval events... Fomenko's theories have been debunked, but his ideas have nevertheless gained some currency in Russia: among his supporters is the former chess champion Garry Kasparov. Of course, Fomenko is by no means the first mathematician to grapple with the subject of chronology: indeed, any history must be founded in part on a calculus of dates... Are there any parallels, I wonder, between the spread of theories like Fomenko's and the renewed prevalence of Biblical chronologies in the US, for example: is there some kind of psychological solace in perceiving history on a smaller scale than current academic orthodoxy allows? (more inside).
posted by misteraitch on Mar 2, 2004 - 50 comments

The Historian of Things That Never Were: Edgar Governo collects timelines, chronologies, and histories of events that never happened, to people and things that never existed. Like who? Like Dr. Who, and Final Fantasy VII, Gargoyles, Buckaroo Bonzai, Gulliver's Travels, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and many more.
posted by iconomy on Mar 28, 2003 - 13 comments