Area Historian

Randall Stephens

Heather sends along this amusing satire of historians "making it all up" from the Onion. I knew there was something fishy about the Golden Age of Greece. Especially the 5th century. Just too much fascinating intellectual development for one century. And so long ago!

"Historians Admit To Inventing Ancient Greeks," The Onion, October 7, 2010.

WASHINGTON—A group of leading historians held a press conference Monday at the National Geographic Society to announce they had "entirely fabricated" ancient Greece, a culture long thought to be the intellectual basis of Western civilization.

The group acknowledged that the idea of a sophisticated, flourishing society existing in Greece more than two millennia ago was a complete fiction created by a team of some two dozen historians, anthropologists, and classicists who worked nonstop between 1971 and 1974 to forge "Greek" documents and artifacts.>>>

See more absurdest takes on history from the Onion. Some favorites:

"Second-Grade Class Has No Questions For Visiting Local Historian"

"Historian Has Big News For Grover Cleveland Fans"

"San Francisco Historians Condemn 1906 Earthquake Deniers"

"U.S. Dept. Of Retro Warns: 'We May Be Running Out Of Past'"