On many ancient maps the words "here be dragons" were printed to indicate dangerous and/or unexplored areas. Or?
But. Maybe there is only one known historical example. http://www.maphist.nl/extra/herebedragons.html and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenox_Globe
And it was not even "Here be dragons" - but the latin HC SVNT DRACONES ("hic sunt dracones").
And still we belive that it was a common phrase on maps. How many more historical facts are just myths?
Should we trust history? Who writes history? Where does our common knowledge come from?
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Without any kind of formal eduction, I will jump on this from a small personal level. I will try to make the story short.
ReplyDeleteI was living in Houston, Texas, USA in 1981 or 1982 having moved from England. One of employees had lived near me in England, although I did not know him then.
One day out of the blue he asked me to describe the journey I took from my house to the hospital where my daughter was born. I didn't think much of the question, but humoured him anyway.
I got about 1/2 way along the route when he interrupted and asked me, "Which side of the road are you driving on?" Strange to say, even though I was recounting an English driving experience, I was very definitely driving on the US side of the road as I imagined the journey. I hope that is only a reconstructed memory and not what I was actually doing when going to witness my daughter's birth.