History Facts They Didn’t Teach You At School

[01dragonslayer]

Before Julius Caesar invaded Britain, many Romans didn’t believe it existed.​

Julius Caesar was the first ever Roman to invade Britain. He did it twice in the years 55 and 54 BC.

Up until this point, there were many divided opinions on Britain within the Roman Empire.

Some believed Britain to be just the foot of another huge northern continent. Others thought it was a place full of unbelievable riches, whilst most thought it just didn’t exist.

Caesar’s first invasion of Britain was, in a militaristic sense, a resounding blunder.

Yet, due to the mythical nature of Britain, his invasion of the country was a huge PR success. It made him legendary in the eyes of many Romans.

 

[01dragonslayer]

Cleopatra wasn’t Egyptian.​

She was part of the Ptolemy dynasty, who were derived from one of Alexander the Great’s generals, Ptolemy.

Her ancestors ruled over Egypt from the city of Alexandria. Named after… you guessed it, Alexander the Great.

Bonus fact about the Ptolemy dynasty: All male members of this dynasty were called Ptolemy. It makes learning about them really confusing.

 

[01dragonslayer]

Cleopatra was the first member of her dynasty to speak Ancient Egyptian.​

Ancient Egyptian is considered one of the most difficult languages to master in history.

Well, Cleopatra was able to master it.

Along with 8 other languages including: Ancient Greek, Ancient Iranian, Ancient Parthian, Syriac, Ethiopian, Troglodytae, Hebrew and Arabic.

 

[01dragonslayer]

Alexander the Great named over 70 cities after himself.​

That might sound a touch egocentric on the face of it…

But let’s not forget that Alexander the Great conquered over 2 million square miles of the Earth’s surface. And he did this all before he was 30 years old.

So yeah, over 70 cities might be a little excessive.

But, if you’re a boy wonder with the world literally knelt at your feet, why not go a little crazy. Am I right?!

 

[01dragonslayer]

It’s believed that roughly 97% of history has been lost over time.​

I can’t really think of a more appropriate fact to end this article on really. Mainly because the chances are, you’ll only remember 3% of these history facts when you tell your friends later.

History’s documentation is so subjective, not to mention all the lost historical accounts of the world. So it’s no surprise that what we know of our history is just a snapshot of the whole thing.

Written accounts of history only started roughly 6,000 years ago. And modern humans first appeared around 200,000 years ago.

This 194,000-year gap is, in itself, huge.

However, considering all the historical writings lost over the years when written history did exist, it makes the mind wonder…