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Many believe the real reason behind the Trojan War was the control of the Bosphorus Strait that ships like this had to cross to reach the Black Sea from Greece.
by noncoml 8y ago
Many believe the real reason behind the Trojan War was the control of the Bosphorus Strait that ships like this had to cross to reach the Black Sea from Greece.
- pilsetnieks 8y agoWho believe, and why? Many also believe that there is an uncontacted civilization under the Atlantic ocean, unseen apex primate cryptids in the Himalayas and the Pacific Northwest, and a Paleozoic reptile in a lake in Scotland.
- Tor3 8y agoBut you do see the difference between believing in what you listed up and believing in what you replied to? There is a difference between "maybe the guy crossed the street over there" and "maybe aliens teleported the guy from the sidewalk". The two suggestions are not equally worth believing in.
- pilsetnieks 8y agoThat is how false news spread. Yes, there is a difference in that the original comment is much more believable than Bigfoot or Atlantis but offering up a plausible statement without proof or source is how society is misinformed. Eventually someone will trust that comment, and start believing in something like that as well, even though it's not really known to be true, and the comment doesn't even make any claim to truthfulness ("many believe..") Ultimately, it could as well be false because it doesn't really say anything, just that many people believe a thing like that, so it's pointless at best and misleading at worst.
- Tor3 8y agoOh, I agree with that (that a reference should be added). The comparision is still not valid though. As to why false news are spread - no, I do not agree that the reason is that somebody is just claiming something. The reason is that people have stopped checking, in a time when checking is easier than ever before (and in this particular case - some checking will find that although there seems to have been a Troy, the Trojan War, as described by Homer, was probably more of a literary work. So it doesn't make much sense to try to figure out the "reason" behind the war. That doesn't take much googling.)
- PhasmaFelis 8y agoAll that may be true, but there was no call to be such a jerk about it. Something like "Interesting, but I'm skeptical--do you have a source for that?" would have worked just fine, instead of implying that OP was as dumb as Loch Ness Monster believers.
- noncoml 8y agoI used “many believe” because it is very difficult or impossible to know. Do you know what was the real reason behind the war against Iraq? If anything “many believe” should nudge you to do your own research. Or you can complain about “fake news” or “trolls” or whatever is the phrase du jour to discredit strangers over the internet.
- noncoml 8y agohttps://www.archaeological.org/pdfs/papers/AIA_Troy.pdf https://www.archaeological.org/pdfs/papers/AIA_Troy.pdf “Whoever controlled Troy, or Gallipoli for that matter, could control all maritime traffic between the Aegean and Black Seas. The wars, in other words, were fought for money and power, not for a woman named Helen.” That’s the reason I said “many believe” and not “it is proven”. I didn’t even claim it as truth. Not every reply is supposed to be a PhD thesis so please don’t be a dick.
- consp 8y agoTo add: No It was the Dardanelles (the Bosphorus is quite far off, though just as important). You can (as usual) read a bit and find some starting articles on the wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dardanelles https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dardanelles
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- noncoml 8y agoAbsolutely right, it is Dardanelles and not Bosporus. Thanks!
- ashelmire 8y agoThe most interesting thing I learned from that wiki hole you just sent me down: Xerxes apparently threw irons at, whipped, branded, and had his soldiers shout at the Dardanelles. That must have been quite a show.