History!!!?

Question

What would happen if there were errors or omissions in writing history?

Answer 1

What do you mean "if"? There are errors and omissions ALL of the time! Each day in this world there are one hundred million births ... of these, how many will go down in history? Maybe a thousand ... the others will all be omitted because someone, somewhere has decided these people have lived a life of insignificance.

To add to this, there is a constant process whereby one group will decide to write the history of someone who is important to them, but in an effort to expand that person's significance they will use hyperbole, exaggeration to make a point, and we will end up with a biased view of that person, one that ultimately could be false. It's all politics and perceptions. That's exactly what makes history so interesting and so much fun. History is dynamic and ever changing.

Answer 2

There is a great deal of history that is still unknown, but more and more is being found every day.
In the last twenty or thirty years an enormous amount of information has been that has been lost for three thousand years. Scuba diving gear has made it possible to recover material that was impossible to bring to light a few years ago.
Another source of new information of lost history is in examining rubble from ancient buildings that have crumbled recently die to earthquakes. In many cases the large stones were salvaged from earlier buildings that fell.
The Romans decorated everything with feats of the heros of their day. In rebuilding, the Romans would turn the former inscriptions inward, and re-inscribe the new outer surface. All this hustory is revealed when buildings tumble.
Errors are galore. Historians work with what they have. When new material is found, it must be balanced with what was previously known or believed. Little by little the true story emerges.

Answer 3

History is always been written, re-written, criticised and argued over as a new theory of looking at it emerges, or as new information comes to light. A excellent example was the finding of a piece of stone in a cafe in Greece that was being used as a door stopper - was actually a missing piece of stone that provided information on the expulsion of the Athenian Themistocles.

For example, the rise of Feminist history and looking at history not merely as events, but as genderisation - competition between the sexes or how women have been treated during that time.

History is also never complete - historians, archaeologists, philosophers, political science, sociologists - constantly debate and argue the meaning and interpretation of events.
A classic example is the building of the Pyramids in Ancient Egypt and the debate over the use of labour to build them.

Even recent events such as the Iraq War and what caused it to happen are constantly being scrutinised and re-written and will be debated after we are all dead and buried.

You could pick up a book about a subject - and find that over 2000 books on that subject exist and with so many different view points.

Answer 4

if? There is no "if" here, my friend. Those who chronicle current events will leave out things that they did not know or wished glossed over, or they will play up a factor that they especially approve of (or disapprove of, in some cases). Those who hand-copied existing texts or translated them may make a mistake in it--as a matter of fact, a teacher told me that's why there are a few repetitive lines in the Bible; someone lost their place & recopied the line. Sometimes the account is deliberately revised.
Always check multiple sources when you can, and from both sides as far as is possible. You still won't get the complete truth, but you'll be a lot closer.

Answer 5

if there were errors ana omissions in recorded history, we'd be right where we are right now with all the errors and omissions constantly that are constantly being introduced.

Answer 6

I agree with John B... those who are victorious in battle are also the writers of history. There's always more than one side to every story.