Myth vs. History

As I worked on a particular branch of my tree over this past weekend, I started following a line of Scottish and Gaelic kings back for dozens of generations. Well, to make a long story short, I eventually came to a bit of a fork in that branch, and led to the royal line in Judah. And as that continued, I started seeing figures from Biblical history, such as King Solomon and King David. Following that would eventually lead me to Adam and Eve, if you use the Bible as a historical reference.

I realized that as you travel farther and farther back into history, the accuracy of records can get suspect. Myth and folktale begins to blend with true historical fact.

So where do you drawn the line? When do real historical figures stop and fictional ones begin? I'll admit I'm not that much of an ancient historian, but I think I may have to do a lot more research along those lines in order to make that distinction.

I think this happens whenever you are researching very old royal lines. Tales are woven around people in power, relating them to the all-powerful Gods. True events are embellished to the point of becoming indistinguishable from actual fact.

One example is the ancient Greek work, The Illiad. Many consider the text to be pure fiction and legend, but others feel that there may be varying levels of historical accuracy in the stories. There is an interesting article on the historical accuracy of The Illiad on Wikipedia.

Another example is the already mentioned Bible. There are a great deal of historical events, and even genealogical references in the Bible, but how much of it is myth and how much is real? That can be a touchy subject among Christians who consider the Bible to be purely accurate in all ways. Even searching the Web leads to many evangelical sites, rather than ones of historical research.

As for how to include possibly mythical information in one's family tree, I tend to keep it in my records. Though some of the information may be questionable, it adds to the flavour of my ancestry. It reminds me of the social times when these people lived. Can I point to the exact spot where my various branches stop being real and the fictions starts? Nope. And that's OK with me for now.

_{first published at Suite101}