
Debunked: The Strange Tale of Pope Gregory and the Rabbits - sohkamyung
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/13/science/rabbits-pope-domestication.html
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Sangermaine
It's interesting both that this myth is so relatively new (they traced its
origin back to 1936) and that it apparently spread entirely inside the
scientific community, not the Catholic community where it seems entirely
unknown.

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teilo
Christopher Columbus was trying to prove the world was round. Martin Luther
wrote Away in a Manger. Constantine invented the doctrine of the Trinity.
Mithras was born of a virgin. Paul Revere single-handedly warned the colonies
that the British were coming. And now, Pope Gregory inadvertently domesticated
rabbits.

It's amazing how many widely-believed modern myths can trace their origin to
the assertions of (often) a single author that nobody bothered to fact check.
It seems to be more common when there is a religious element, but that's just
my anecdotal observation.

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DanAndersen
I get what you mean -- but I think the defining characteristic for what causes
these incorrect histories to propagate is not so much a religious element but
a myth/storytelling element, in which there is a narrative that is being
promoted. This is of course present in religious traditions, but also in
politics.

For example, there's the cultural image of Rosa Parks being a quiet, mild-
mannered woman who one day decided not to put up with oppression. It makes for
a smoother media story. But rather, Parks had been involved in activism and
her actions were part of a calculated campaign: [
[https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/12/01/...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/12/01/how-
history-got-the-rosa-parks-story-wrong/) ]

Modern science-lovers have a simple progress-oriented narrative about people
like Galileo and Hypatia, but the historical details are nowhere near as
straightforward as the tales would have us believe: [
[http://tofspot.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-great-ptolemaic-
smac...](http://tofspot.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-great-ptolemaic-
smackdown.html) , [http://tofspot.blogspot.com/2015/02/hypatia-part-i-mean-
stre...](http://tofspot.blogspot.com/2015/02/hypatia-part-i-mean-streets-of-
old.html) ] The triumph of Science over Superstition is one of the founding
myths of the modern era, and so of course the rough edges or complicated bits
get filtered out in the retelling.

Same with the Paul Revere bit you mention. If there was no interest in the
Revolutionary War to the average person, the few stories about Paul Revere
would have kept their details. But because it's part of the founding myth,
part of the civil religion of the US and something we tell to children, it
becomes simplified and polished into digestible pieces.

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Hextinium
Does anyone have a mirror for this? I have hit my limit due to other uni
people taking my free articles.

~~~
dang
If you see this, and don't mind, could you please email me at
hn@ycombinator.com? I have a random question for you.

