kingoftheamericas

"he slew a giant"

Where do History and Literature meet? Is one really that different from the other? In a book "Heroes and Hero Worship" we see a great man or woman's feats and their exploits recorded by reporters and witnesses. Yet often in less than a generation, these 'great feats' become legendary. He didn't knock out a big man, me slew a giant. Instead of using bread for bait and netting a bunch of fish to feed friends, the person multiplied the meager for all the masses. Then when modern researchers look for the mythical legend, they find fictions...overgrown facts. This is then used to claim the individual(s) never existed at all. King Arthur, Beowulf, Budda, Yeshua, Achillies, Caesar, Aragorn...who were they, really? Pure fictions, or overgrown legends turned myths? A man named Heinrich Schliemann took Homer's "fictions" and found a real Troy. Does that make Homer's work a history? How many accurate facts are required for Literature to become History? The more I read, research, and find, the more I conclude that these two studies should be combined.