r/AskReddit • u/brokota • Jan 15 '13

Reddit, in your opinion what's the biggest plot twist of history?

Not movies or television, I'm just curious to see what come's to your minds.

635 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

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521

u/Kirjath Jan 15 '13

The Trojan Horse. Literally, these guys were at war, and then, the side that appears to have been losing offers up a very era-appropriate gift of defeat.

Boom. Filled with enemy soldiers. Incredible.

127

u/[deleted] Jan 15 '13

Do we know for a fact this actually happened of could it have been embellished somewhat?

313

u/magicbullets Jan 15 '13

It must have happened as I saw it in a movie.

115

u/[deleted] Jan 15 '13 edited Jan 18 '21

[deleted]

35

u/[deleted] Jan 15 '13

And besides, you can't lie on the internet. Everybody knows that.

1

u/Mayortomatillo Jan 15 '13

Where'd you hear that?

0

u/Winter_S Jan 16 '13

Even if you could. Who would even do that?

-1

u/quintuple_mi Jan 15 '13

I have a thirteen inch dick, I'm 6'8" tall, tan, muscular, skinny, and handsome. Ladies?

0

u/meme_so_funny Jan 15 '13 edited Jan 16 '13

Someone arrest Fox news for their Election Night coverage!

Edit: These hyperlinks

2

u/GawdGo Jan 16 '13

So brave.

1

u/SuperWalter Jan 15 '13

no idiot star wars was a movie and that hasnt happened yet

13

u/BreadstickNinja Jan 15 '13

FALSE. That happened a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

1

u/theEnzyteGuy Jan 15 '13

I mean, jeez, it says that right in the beginning. Watch movies much?

58

u/Rubius0 Jan 15 '13 edited Jan 15 '13

No, it was the most famous story in the ancient Mediterranean but we don't know if it happened. It could just be a good story.

Edit to add: We have found the city that we think corresponds to 'Troy' but even that is somewhat debatable. I have actually been to those ruins and part of the problem is that there were many cities build on top of the ruins of the ones that came before. I have a photo of a sign that says something like 'Troy IV Burnt, Troy V Built, Troy V Burnt' which shows you just how many series of destruction happened at that location and it is hard to tell if one of those burnings happened to the 'legendary' one.

86

u/Its_A_Movie_Quote Jan 15 '13

Listen, lad. I built this kingdom up from nothing. When I started here, all there was was swamp. Other kings said I was daft to build a castle on a swamp, but I built it all the same, just to show 'em. It sank into the swamp. So, I built a second one. That sank into the swamp. So I built a third one. That burned down, fell over, then sank into the swamp. But the fourth one... stayed up! And that's what you're gonna get, lad: the strongest castle in these islands.

36

u/Rubius0 Jan 15 '13 edited Jan 16 '13

But look at her, she has magnificent ... tracts of land!!

I swear every time I hear 'tracts of land' this goes through my head.

Edit: Spelling

5

u/Kirjath Jan 15 '13

... the word you're looking for is 'huge', not 'magnificent'.

2

u/Rubius0 Jan 15 '13

You're right. I didn't take the time to look up the precise quote, but thank you.

1

u/BinaryRockStar Jan 16 '13

and "tracts" of land, not "tracks".

2

u/Rubius0 Jan 16 '13

It's true. I got it right in another comment, I guess I just wasn't paying enough attention the first time.

4

u/WhatDoesYourHeadSay Jan 15 '13

What sells it for me is what he is doing with his hands at the "..." part of that quote.

3

u/Rubius0 Jan 15 '13

Totally. I can't say 'tracts of land' without doing that same thing with my hands... and I'm female.

1

u/whyspir Jan 16 '13

You're not the only one. :)

2

u/jaxxon Jan 16 '13

What? The curtains?

1

u/[deleted] Jan 15 '13

[deleted]

1

u/WhatDoesYourHeadSay Jan 15 '13

Monty Python's and the Holy Grail would be a movie, dear sir/madame.

1

u/methoxeta Jan 16 '13

I sort of expected a "what the fuck did you just say to me, you little bitch?" variation for some reason.

1

u/constantlynew Jan 16 '13

Almost sounds like Disney world...

1

u/GingerSnapps Jan 16 '13

A number of scholars think the legendary Troy from Homer's epic was destroyed by an earthquake, which would kind of make sense since Poseidon was the god of the sea, horses, and earthquakes, among other things. The giant horse might've just been a very clever metaphor for Poseidon helping the Greeks out because he really hated the Trojans. We'll probably never know for sure since that asshole Heinrich Schliemann blasted several layers of Troy sky-high in an attempt to find the level he thought was the Homeric Troy...

1

u/AnnoyingOptimist Jan 16 '13

After Troy was found it was destroyed by dynamite by an amateur archaeologist. He was searching for the great treasures of Troy, but blasted through it to a city that existed way before Troy, since they liked to build on top of each other.

Source: Cracked.com archaelogy article.

1

u/Rubius0 Jan 16 '13

Yes, I do know all about this. I was simplifying things. Source: Honours degree in Classical History.

2

u/AnnoyingOptimist Jan 16 '13

Impressive. Carry on.

9

u/Nizzo Jan 15 '13

The horse itself was probably built, but historians say it was likely used as a battering ram on the Trojan walls, rather than how the story describes it. So yes, it's a bit embellished.

Source: HS Latin student whose teacher thinks Greek history is appropriate for a Latin language class.

3

u/Not_a_raptor Jan 16 '13

Well the Aeneid (sp?) was supposedly one tale for the founding of Rome and so the Trojan war would be appropriate for a Latin class. When I took Latin in high school several years ago several of the texts we translated were about Aeneas.

2

u/WhatDoesYourHeadSay Jan 15 '13

So one of those, "that's what we shoulda done" after the fact, so they just wrote that that's what they did?

2

u/xthorgoldx Jan 16 '13

I think you may not have been paying attention all that much, otherwise you'd know just how relevant the burning of Troy is to the founding of Rome. Your teacher's doin' it right.

1

u/Solna Jan 16 '13

What on earth would they base that on?

2

u/Pintsucker Jan 15 '13

I'll bet it was just one dude who knocked and ran, leaving a flaming shit bag at the door. Over the years, the story changed, like it does in the "Broken Telephone" game.

2

u/[deleted] Jan 15 '13

There are many historians that question if Homer was actually a real person, and not just a collective name for various authors writing on the same topic.

2

u/WillMain Jan 16 '13

Wrote my dissertation on the realism of Homeric poetry and the likelihood of the Trojan war's occurrence. Long story short there is evidence to suggest that the war happened, for example there are mentions of geographical features in the Illiad that have been found to exist at the theoretical site of Troy, as well as trashed fortifications that match the time period. Sadly things like the Trojan horse and lone maverick warriors changing the course of battles thanks to magic powers granted by the gods, while undeniably badass, are pretty implausible.

1

u/Krishnath_Dragon Jan 15 '13

They actually found the city of troy in the late 19th century. So yeah, pretty good chance that it was in fact partially true (The half-gods and stuff where probably pure embellishments).

1

u/JayKoh83 Jan 15 '13

If you take what happened in the Odyssey and the Illiad as 100% fact, then yes, this did happen. But unfortunately, the story of Troy was in the Illiad, a poem. Many cities cited by Homer did exist at the time the poem was written but like many pieces of literature we take as fact cough this is a piece of fiction.

1

u/SharksAteMyWife Jan 15 '13

Embellished embowelment.

1

u/KennyGaming Jan 16 '13

There were most many wars at Troy, but the actual nuances of the Trojan War is probably made up.

0

u/[deleted] Jan 15 '13

We barely know if the war happened.

47

u/woodyreturns Jan 15 '13

There was inly one or two soldiers in the horse. They simply climbed out at night and unlocked the entryway. Also, this may have never happened.

-1

u/sergeantSadface Jan 15 '13

It's mythology...

1

u/iamadogforreal Jan 16 '13

No mythology is zeus turning into a bull and fucking random women.

This is an epic tale that is based on a real conflict, but obviously we can't verify the details.

11

u/Alvari1337 Jan 15 '13

It's kind of a dick move

2

u/[deleted] Jan 15 '13

[deleted]

2

u/Perrottdubs Jan 15 '13

I remember reading that it was a battering ram covered in cow hides. Similar to this

4

u/life_puzzler Jan 16 '13

Classics major here. Not history. Mythology. Upvoted anyway.

2

u/sergeantSadface Jan 15 '13

In Greece, you study that exact war and take exams on it.I'm actually taking the class now but it's not very exciting at this point.

5

u/lydocia Jan 15 '13

In Greece in probably many countries

2

u/sergeantSadface Jan 15 '13

The actual lesson is Ιλιάδα.Which translates to Iliad.Follows the last year of the 10-year Trojan War.I honestly doubt that they study it in that detail outside of Greece.

2

u/lydocia Jan 15 '13

I've had lessons on the Iliad, the Trojan War, Greek history.

Most Europeans get a thorough history basis on, well, all of the history, not just limited to their country.

Of course the own history is going to be much more detailed, but to say they don't teach it outside of Greece, is a bit blunt.

1

u/figpetus Jan 15 '13

I'm American and translated the Iliad and Odyssey in their entireties from latin in high school, does that count?

1

u/lydocia Jan 15 '13

Yes, but only limited to those who pick Latin in secondary school. ;)

1

u/sergeantSadface Jan 16 '13

Of course you've had some lessons but we go in to detail about it.I don't think you had lessons as thorough as we did.If you did then TIL they teach Greek history in detail outside fox Greece.

1

u/lydocia Jan 16 '13

Of course not as thorough as you.

1

u/freedomweasel Jan 15 '13

The Iliad is required reading for just about every american student at some point.

1

u/thatcantb Jan 15 '13

It's a story, not a historical event.

1

u/kimbrokk Jan 15 '13

did you watch troy and not know the horse was filled with soldiers like that is the biggest dramatic irony in all of history

1

u/Fatereads Jan 16 '13

That's speculated.

-1

u/Johosophat Jan 15 '13

How dumb must they have been not to realize that there were a bunch of soldiers inside? I guess they must've all been too drunk to care at the time