Do We Live in the 18th Century?
Ryan Archer
Eddy
Period 1
6 May 2010
Do We Live In the 18th Century?
There are a few German scholars who believe that a 300 year time period was just written in the history books, without actually existing. The gap in history has been coined the Phantom Time Theory or Phantom Time Hypothesis. Although it is not a very widely accepted theory, there is a fair amount of evidence to back it up. Time itself has very many definitions, the historical records of the time don’t coincide, and astronomy and dendrochronology can’t definitively prove the theory wrong.
What exactly is time? One of time’s many definitions is “the system of those sequential relations that any event has to any other, as past, present, or future; indefinite and continuous duration regarded as that in which events succeed one another,” (Time 784) Basically, this means the order of events occurred in relation to each other. Since there are numerous other definitions time is very subjective and who is to say that time even really exists. Different countries have different calendars and started counting years at other various times. For example, the Islam calendar started in the year we know as 622 AD. Niemitz asks “How was it possible to insert this phantom time into history?”(8), which has no easy answers. One might respond in a way as to say that we made a mistake when changing from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar. If that were to be the case, then how would it have been a 300 year oversight? Maybe, the switch in calendars may just be a small part of the problem; could it have been the start of the falsified history? If so, then where else could the gap have come from?
Most of the historical documents of the time seem to have either been falsified or just don’t exist. For example, Heribert Illig believes “…Charlemagne was a fictional character,” (Bellows 1). If Charlemagne was a made-up figure in history, than what else has been made up about that era? Maybe all of it has been
Eddy
Period 1
6 May 2010
Do We Live In the 18th Century?
There are a few German scholars who believe that a 300 year time period was just written in the history books, without actually existing. The gap in history has been coined the Phantom Time Theory or Phantom Time Hypothesis. Although it is not a very widely accepted theory, there is a fair amount of evidence to back it up. Time itself has very many definitions, the historical records of the time don’t coincide, and astronomy and dendrochronology can’t definitively prove the theory wrong.
What exactly is time? One of time’s many definitions is “the system of those sequential relations that any event has to any other, as past, present, or future; indefinite and continuous duration regarded as that in which events succeed one another,” (Time 784) Basically, this means the order of events occurred in relation to each other. Since there are numerous other definitions time is very subjective and who is to say that time even really exists. Different countries have different calendars and started counting years at other various times. For example, the Islam calendar started in the year we know as 622 AD. Niemitz asks “How was it possible to insert this phantom time into history?”(8), which has no easy answers. One might respond in a way as to say that we made a mistake when changing from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar. If that were to be the case, then how would it have been a 300 year oversight? Maybe, the switch in calendars may just be a small part of the problem; could it have been the start of the falsified history? If so, then where else could the gap have come from?
Most of the historical documents of the time seem to have either been falsified or just don’t exist. For example, Heribert Illig believes “…Charlemagne was a fictional character,” (Bellows 1). If Charlemagne was a made-up figure in history, than what else has been made up about that era? Maybe all of it has been
Cited: Bellows, Alan. “The Phantom Time Hypothesis.” Damn Interesting. 04 Oct. 2006. 07 May 2010. <http://www.damninteresting.com/the-phantom-time-hypothesis>. Beaufort, Jan. “Illig’s Hypothesis on Phantom Time-FAQ.” 06 May 2010. <http://www.korthweb.de/PhZT/FAQ_E.html#1> Kneis, Phil J. "Philjohn.com - Essays: Illig the Magician." Philjohn.com - Internet Diary, Poetry, Serial Photography. 20 Dec. 2002. 08 May 2010. <http://www.philjohn.com/papers/pjkd_h04.html>. Niemitz, Hans-Ulrich. "Did the Early Middle Ages Really Exist?" 03 Apr. 2000. 07 May 2010. <http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/volatile/Niemitz-1997.pdf>. “Time.” Merriam-Webster 's Collegiate Dictionary. 11th ed. 2003.