10 famous legends that have been scientifically explained
12/11/2017
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Myths have fed the souls of people for centuries. As it turns out, some ancient legends have roots in the prosaic events, and science can explain that. Do you still believe in werewolves and vampires? Just take a look at these simple explanations of the nature of the most famous mystical characters and events in history.
Many cultures have stories about the Great Flood, and, as it turns out, a really dramatic flood took place in Mesopotamia around 10,000 BC
According to other sources, the Flood myth was based on the Black Sea deluge, a theoretic catastrophic rise in the level of the sea around 5600 BC.
People still tell stories about giants, but what if one of the most famous myths in history had been based on a genetic mutation?
Robert Wadlow, a man who reached 8 ft 11.1 in (2.72 m) in height, is in the second picture. He is still known as the tallest human being in history. Some scientists believe that people with an abnormally high level of human growth hormone and other problems of a kind have always been around, and that's how the myth about terrifying giants appeared.
In the past, people who were thought to have been werewolves just suffered from a rare disease
Hypertrichosis is a condition characterized by an abnormal amount of hair growth over the different parts of one's body. It can be both congenital or acquired. Now it's clear that people who lived thousand years before were not able to explain this. They were afraid, and probably that's why they started such rumors.
The ones who were thought to have been vampires suffered the same pain!
People who suffer from porphyria can't stay under the sun: their skin starts swelling, they experience terrible itching. This rare disease affects approximately 50 per 50,000 people. Anyway, the exact frequency is unclear. Such people have a lot in common with mysterious vampires, don't you think? According to different reports, people who suffered from porphyria in the past also looked quite scary due to the lack of proper treatment.
Many people believe that the dragons were inspired by the bones of dinosaurs
Ancient civilizations who believed in the existence of dragons could have easily come across the bones of the dinosaurs. In Mongolia, for example, dinosaur skeletons can be found even today! Two-headed dragons could have been inspired by lizards or snakes, as they can also have two heads sometimes.
A myth about centaur was probably created by Greeks after their first meeting with the horsemen of the nomadic tribes
The Scyths, Tauri and Kassites were skillful riders, while the Greeks didn't know the horseback riding yet. The Greek farmers got scared and didn't find another explanation.
The legend about Minotaur, a creature half man – half bull, can also be scientifically explained
According to the myth, Minotaur dwelt in a mysterious Labyrinth and his terrible roar could be heard for several miles. Scientists believe that was the way the ancient Greeks explained the earthquake activity on Crete.
The cyclops legend was probably inspired by the skulls of dwarf elephants
As you can see, the ancient Greeks could have mistaken the central nasal cavity for the eye socket.
The Giant Rhinoceros of Siberia were creatures not as graceful and beautiful as unicorns...
...anyway, they are called "unicorn prototypes" or Siberian unicorns.
Was this information new for you? Which explanation surprised you the most? Do you have any other information about the ancient legends to share with us?
We are waiting for your comments!
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42 Comments
Elsy O. Stromberg
Porphyria victims don't have anything in common with vampires except avoiding sunlight.
dougwerner
Noah building the Ark before the flood came has been physically documented with evidence all over the world along with the petrified remains of the Ark in Turkey, exactly the area where it is described in the book of Genesis. I'll take God's word over man's any day.
Vimala Padmaraj
Carolyn DeLautre, ABOUT NOAH'S ARK " In the 7th century, the Etymologiae states that remains of the Ark are still at Mount Ararat in Armenia".
Tina Marie Haddad Rhodes
I’ll stick with the legends because I feel that just because you can explain away something different or strange doesn’t mean it’s right or true.
Connie Siffring
Carolyn DeLautre, Right! a really dramatic flood took place in Mesopotamia around 10,000 BC...
Steve Tingle
I have never liked the description of dinosaurs giving rise to dragons, nor do I like the explanation of Komodo Dragons leading to it - the reason being that dinosaurs aren't easily found all over the world, just a few distant desert areas, and the Komodo Dragon is only found on a few small islands in the far east, but dragon myths are found in almost every part of the world, not sure dinosaurs are found in Wales or the North East of England (Lamptom Wyrm). Oh and it wasn't until the 19th century in the west that dinosaurs were identified as reptiles, before then they were usually thought to be large mammals. I would love to know how such a widespread myth did originate.
Rajeev Beohar
Very lucid logic used to explain the myths... !
Julie Domaille
It is said rabies explains the werewolf theory. Porphyria is not like vampirism. The king George 3 of Britain was porphyric, discoloured urine, stomach cramps, mad as a train load of spiders due to chemical imbalance etc-he didn't drink anyone's blood or have adverse reactions to holy water & garlic though
Thomas Capuson
Your Realities are are interesting theories and some are possible explanations.
Many would call my book that has explanations for some of these “myths” a book of fairy Tales and Fiction. None the less I call it my Holy Bible.
Carolyn DeLautre
Love the explanation of The Great Flood as “myth.” Nice try.
Susan Golebiewski
Thank you - quite interesting!
Joan Schmidt
Very strange explanations. Most don't really work, but if you like them, it's okay with me.
Barb Beck
Very good explanations and also interesting
Pamela Spallin
Very interesting. Commonsense answers a lot of questions
Janette Will
Very interesting.
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