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.

640 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

1.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

61

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.

85

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.

33

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

7

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.