what did our ancestors believe to be true when it came to everyday living what myths and
legends did they use to explain and find sense in the world around them many of our long-held
beliefs and concepts are a jumble of true facts misinterpretations and blatant fabrications and
history or the things we take for granted is often times just something that was repeated again and
again until people started believing it it's all too simple to be duped into accepting something
that's simply not true and the ancients had very little recourse to verify their long-held beliefs
number 10. ancient greece's issues with size when reading about ancient greece it's easy to overlook
the fascinating phenomenon of the kainedesmu which is greek for dogtai young people with penises in
ancient greece used to wrap the glands of their penis securely inside the foreskin in essence
creating a small goodie bag their partiality for the foreskin over the majority of the exterior sex
organ appears to have stemmed mostly from the time societal beliefs around sex and penises it turns
out that in ancient greece size didn't matter in fact a smaller penis was thought to indicate
exceptional self-control and intelligence whereas a large one especially one lacking a foreskin to
be tucked into was thought to indicate savagery and barbarism the phenomenon is even depicted
in the era's art one of the most well-known examples of the particular practice is the ancient
bronze sculpture known as the boxer in which the penis is not only confined beneath the foreskin
but also tucked away and tied up there are so many historical writings and works of art that
mention this practice that some academics believe it later came to influence religious circumcision
9. earth was the center of the universe around the second century ce the greek astronomer ptolemy
standardized the geocentric model of the universe in the almagest prior to ptolemy's standardization
only partial models created by his predecessors can be found in the geocentric model the earth
was imagined to be the immobile center of the galaxy ptolemy's model was not replaced by the
modern heliocentric model until the publication of nicolas copernicus as de revolutionibus in 1543 ce
meaning that until the 16th century the earth was not recognized as a planet however accepting the
earth's status as a planet still took the church a very long time earning copernicus the title of a
heretic as well as several trials and inquisitions the church stood by the geocentric model and did
not give up its opposition to the heliocentric system until the 18th century just before uranus
was discovered number eight ancient egyptians had blessed eyeliner to protect their eyes even
though we now know that lead can damage the brain and cause several other health issues including
miscarriages the ancient egyptians believed that lead-based products protected them from various
ailments in fact one of their most recognizable features their legendary eye makeup was worn in
the firm belief that it was blessed with healing powers by the deity horus the falcon god of
kingship and the sky and it was no easy feat to make when a team of scientists from cnrs and the
louvre museum in paris studied the composition of various samples of the egyptian's famous thick
black eyeliner in the museum's collection they discovered two forms of lead salt that aren't
present in nature that is to say ancient egyptians synthesized them in a long and drawn-out process
that began with the synthesis of lead salts and ended with the creation of the perfect black coal
which they used to treat eye ailments scars and discolorations number seven ancient indians put
their faith in the healing power of saliva india is the birthplace of hinduism one of the world's
oldest religions as well as buddhism and jainism commonly such as reincarnation emancipation
karma and achieving nirvana are all based on the shared beliefs and customs of these religions as a
result ancient indian wisdom contains a wealth of beliefs myths and strange medical treatments that
have been passed down through the ages and are trusted to be beneficial to health treat
health problems and protect us from bad health and evil the use of saliva to treat a number of skin
diseases including wounds is one of them however despite the antibacterial properties of saliva
many scientists advise against wound licking claiming that it is neither safe nor beneficial
to one's health human slipper includes a diverse range of bacteria that are normally healthy in the
mouth but can cause serious infection if they are introduced deep into an open lesion it is
common knowledge that a human bite is often more dangerous than an animal by unless that animal has
rabies of course number six ancient misconceptions around semen when early christians recognized that
semen did indeed serve as the seed it was viewed as the individual soul and it became recognized as
a living thing the pure spirit of the individual or in some religious concepts as material support
semen production in fact the substance would come to play a major spiritual role in a multitude of
egyptian myths and its point of origin would be considered a fact for many centuries the great
philosopher plato referred to it as a soft flow from the spine and leonardo da vinci's earliest
atomic renderings would continue to portray this misconception for years to come number five the
many misconceptions around the northern lights the northern lights or aurora borealis have captivated
mankind for thousands of years today we understand that the breathtakingly beautiful light display
is caused by the interaction of bouncing particles in the earth's atmosphere but what did our ancient
forefathers think as they stared intently at the dazzling night sky it goes without saying that
the northern lights play a significant role in the mythology and folklore of most native groups
living within and beyond the auroral oval in sweden the ancients believed that the northern
lights were caused by massive shoals of fish in the northern seas and that a brilliant display
promised abundant catches in the near future the northern lights were also thought to ease the
pains associated with childbirth in traditional icelandic folklore mothers were not however
supposed to look at them until after their babies were born north american indians on the other hand
used to whistle at the northern lights to coax them closer in order to whisper messages that
would swiftly be delivered to the dead number four mesopotamians feared crying babies would be eaten
by the gods a crying baby can bring out the best or worst in us depending on how much time we've
got left in the airplane the ancient mesopotamians however were particularly concerned when it came
to crying babies the ancient society believed that if they didn't silence them the terrible
disturbance would provoke the gods and bring their full fury down on all the humans and babies alike
babies and young children in particular were thought to be especially vulnerable to the goddess
lamash too who they believe preyed on children until the time they finished breastfeeding
at around the age of three ancient depictions of le mash2 looked like something straight out of a
nightmare the terrifying goddess sported a lion's head an eagle's talons a serpent for a penis and
she delighted in eating newborns and toddlers especially their bones during archaeological
excavations a prayer to lamashtu was discovered that details an intricate ceremony to safeguard
a sick kid from her vengeance the ritual included food sacrifices to appease the goddess's appetite
most pregnant mesopotamian women also wore ambulance in an attempt to frighten her off
number three ancient greeks believed children were wet hot animals aside from our sarcastic remark
in the previous item people appear to have been angered by the folly and destruction perpetrated
by rowdy children for a really long period of time according to the ancient greek view which we can
deduce from the philosophers plato and aristotle children were by nature wetter and hotter than
their adult counterparts they also believed that children had extra rolling tempers in distinct
soft bodies that would eventually harden as they became adults and were irrational greedy and loud
in fact plato himself said it best of wild animals a child is most difficult to take in hand for
insofar as he most of all has a spring of reasoning that has not yet been channeled
he becomes cunning shrewd and the most hubristic of all wild animals ancient greek children's
souls were definitely considered as overly active in need of instruction and education
to quieten them down and help them be less horrible the goddess artemis was in charge
of both children and wild animals for a reason they were essentially seen as the same thing
2. disconcerting misconceptions on female roles in the han dynasty some of the most
significant sources of information pertaining to gender roles in ancient china's han dynasty came
from ban zhao a distinguished scholar whose book lessons for women was defined by one major fact
she was a woman herself ban zhao is among the most well-known chinese scholars and historians
in history which makes her point of view on female roles in hand society rather unsettling in a book
she praised the three practices her ancient civilization observed within three days of a
baby girl's birth the infant girl would be placed beneath the bed which was done to show that she
was lowly and weak zek and the infant girl would be given a fractured piece of pottery to play with
implying that she would have to work hard and third her birth would be reported to the gods
by an offering concluding that she should think of her main duty as performing the sacrifices in her
home 1. trials and tribulations of aztec children many people might immediately associate aztec
childhood with child sacrifice and that'd be correct it was recently discovered the 42
children were regularly sacrificed to the reingold clarlock and these poor children had to be crying
beforehand because clarlock needed the tears of children in order to wet the earth human sacrifice
was most likely invented by the olmec civilization not the aztecs but it was continued by other
civilizations such as the mar and the toltecs but credit must go to the aztecs who took human
sacrifice to a whole new level in the mistaken belief that they needed to feed the gods to
secure the world's survival even if you weren't to sacrifice growing up as an aztec child wasn't easy
infants were taken to be consecrated to the temple or school where they would be educated
around 20 days after being born the dedication was a solemn affair as evidenced by the fact
that little children were given a multitude of tiny incisions girls received ritual incisions
along their hips and breasts while boys received holes in their lips which were filled with jewels
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