1. POCAHONTAS
The myth – The indigenous Pocahontas was the daughter of Chief Powhatan, who commanded tribes in the eastern United States. When the English arrived in May 1607, she fell in love with one of them.
The reality – Although it existed, its history is not at all romantic: Pocahontas was taken by force by the English at the age of 16, catechized in the British mold and convinced that she had been abandoned by her father. Renamed Rebecca, she married an Englishman in 1614. The ending is not happy: Pocahontas probably died at age 22 of tuberculosis.
2. UNCLE SAM
The myth – The US icon became famous in World War I when he was printed on posters calling for young men to join the Army.
The reality – It’s a combination of two different people. The name came from Samuel Wilson, who traded the barrels of meat that fed soldiers in the 2nd US War of Independence, in 1812. The cartoon appeared in 1870, inspired by Abraham Lincoln.
3. MULAN
The myth – It appeared in a poem written in the 5th or 6th century in China. Mulan serves in the Army in place of her father, who doesn’t have an older son to fill the role.
The reality – There are no indications that the story is based on fact. But the conflict did exist: at the time of the poem, China was divided into north and south, and the two sides were at war over cultural differences.
4. ANASTASIA
The myth – Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna, daughter of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, managed to escape the execution of her family by soldiers in the October Revolution in 1917 and lived in hiding.
The reality – The princess even existed, but did not survive the massacre. In 1991, after several women claimed to be Anastasia, the family’s bones were exhumed and the girl’s presence was confirmed – her brothers, Alexei and Maria, identified in 2007, were missing.
5. ZATOICHI
The myth – He looked like just a blind wanderer begging the roads of Japan around 1830. But in fact, he was a skilled samurai who protected the defenseless.
The reality – It is fictional, but celebrated as a national hero in Japan, where he has starred in over 20 films.
6. BEOWULF
The myth – It is the main character of the poem of medieval English literature. A Norse hero, Beowulf fights monsters and dragons and dies in the end.
The reality – Pure fiction. At the time the story was created, it challenged the dominance of the Catholic Church with a clearly pagan message: it is better to fight for victory than to wait passively for divine providence.
7. ROBIN HOOD
The myth – Thief who stole from the bourgeois to give to the poor. He is mentioned in William Langland’s poem Piers Plowman, published around 1377. Later tales expanded the myth.
The reality – There is a tombstone of a Robin of Locksley, in Dewsbury, in the British county of Yorkshire, attributed to Hood. But it is impossible to say for sure whether it is from him. As the legend emerged in oral tales and only later was put on paper, there are no historical records of the character’s existence.
8. MERLIN
The myth – It originated with King Arthur in the 12th century.
The reality – If it existed, it was during Classical Antiquity, between the 2nd century BC and 2nd century AD, but there are no documents proving it. His figure as a magician, prophet and adviser, however, can be considered a generalization of the druids. He would have belonged to that class, which actually existed, according to Roman authors.
9. HUNCUSE OF NOTRE DAME
The myth – He was a lame and deformed man who fell in love with the gypsy Esmeralda, according to the work Notre Dame of Parisby Victor Hugo.
The reality – In 2010, sculptor Henry Sibson’s personal records were analyzed and references were discovered to a hunchback who worked at Notre Dame in the 19th century, around the same time Hugo wrote the novel. Other than that, there is no evidence that it existed.
10. KING ARTHUR
The myth – It is linked to Celtic culture. The character, which emerged in the 12th century with tales about the fictional kingdom of Camelot, would represent the Christianized model of the perfect king, the influence of Christian ideology on literature.
The reality – There are no documents to prove it, but it may have been inspired by a real man, called Artof, who would have lived between the 5th and 6th centuries in Brittany. His greatest achievement was the victory against the Saxons at the Battle of Mount Badon.
11. NICOLAU FLAMEL
The myth – Also called «Nicolas», he was a French alchemist who tried to discover the elixir of life and the philosopher’s stone. Quoted in Notre Dame de Paris and in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.
The reality – He is real and lived between 1330 (or 1340) and 1418. In addition to having studied eternal life, he wrote The Book of Hieroglyphic Figures, from 1399, and would have managed to convert other chemical elements into gold.
12. GUILHERME TELL
The myth – He gained fame as a skilled archer in 1307, at the time of a Swiss peasant revolt against the Austrian-ruled government. Challenged by the governor to hit an apple placed on his son’s head, Tell got it right, saving both their lives.
The reality – There was a peasant revolt in 1308, but no record of the Archer. Still, he is a hero in Switzerland, honored on 18 November.
13. BLACK BEARD
The myth – A bloodthirsty pirate, Blackbeard ruthlessly wrecked ships and stuck burning matches in his hair to smell of sulfur.
The reality – He existed, he was British and his real name was Edward Teach. He lived in the golden age of piracy: he was born in 1680 and died in 1718, when a group of soldiers and sailors sent to liquidate him shot, stabbed and decapitated him.
14. HOMER
The myth – The texts of Iliad and the Odysseyworks written around the 8th century BC, are attributed to him.
The reality – Both his existence and his authorship of the poems are questioned. Someone did put these stories, which were oral, on paper, but it is unlikely that this work was done by a single person and that his real name was Homer.
15. HERCULES
The myth – Called Heracles in Greek mythology, he was the son of Zeus and the mortal Alcmene. He was tasked with completing 12 jobs to redeem himself after he had killed his family in a rage.
The reality – It didn’t exist. Like other stories in Greek mythology, the characters and their deeds were created to explain the events of life. Heracles represents the hero as the victor over chaos by restoring order.
16. HELEN OF TROY
The myth – Daughter of Zeus and Leda in Greek mythology, Helena, then from Sparta, was seduced by Paris, son of the king of Troy, which caused a war.
The reality – The story is in Iliad, but the information was committed to paper centuries after it supposedly happened. There is no evidence that it ever existed, but in 1870 archaeologists discovered ruins that may have been the Troy of the poem.
17. ROMULO AND REMO
The myth – They were twin brothers who, abandoned, were suckled by a she-wolf and later became founders of Rome in 753 BC
The reality – Officially fictional, the story has been recorded by poets and historians since the 5th century BC. In 2007, a cave decorated with shells, mosaics and pumice stones was discovered, which archaeologists believe could be the place where the legend originated.
18. WE WERE THREE (JUST NO)
The controversy over the total of Magi
Most biblical characters are controversial – when their existence is not doubted, their deeds are questioned. But the problem with the Three Wise Men is different: quantity. There is no historical evidence, not even in the Bible, that it was three men who visited Jesus (or even that they were kings). What the Bible says is that “some wise men from the East came to Jerusalem,” and the notion that there were three arose because of the gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Still, the existence of «Wizards» (wandering men) in the East was recorded in ancient documents.
CONSULTANCY André Chevitarese, historian and professor at UFRJ, and Álvaro Bragança Júnior, professor in the graduate program of comparative history at UFRJ
SOURCES Smithsonian, Princeton, National Geographic, Telegraph and The Guardian