Future Archaeology and Folk Heroes

Future Archaeology of Folk Heroes
Copyright © 2016 Michael J. Costa, All rights reserved.

The Future does not know us.  When we venerate a comic book character in film, toys, or other entertainment, they will believe the characters were once real people, and then they will set out to prove it.
 
1.    King Arthur.  Some “scholars” said King Arthur was based on a real king.  Most people believe he was a fictional character from Romantic tales of Chivalry and Knighthood. 
2.    King Solomon.  The Bible said he was real, and a wall in Jerusalem is said to be from his destroyed Temple.  Was he real or contemporary fiction?
3.    Batman.  Batman was revered as a superhero for most of the last half of 1900’s and into the next century.  Many people, mostly children, worshiped his “action figures” (idols), and a cult center was found in Universal Studios.  Perhaps the future will believe he was a real person? All the evidence found suggests this.
4.    Alexander the Great.  No tomb of his was found.  He was a legendary hero who destroyed the Persian Empire, wore Achilles’ armor in battle, and died from a fever contracted when mourning his best friend (Greeks did not believe in germs).  Many fictional legends are attributed to him.
5.    Jesus of Nazareth.  No physical remains were found, yet false artifacts circulated in Medieval times, like the Shroud of Turin and pieces of the True Cross, carbon dated to later times.  He was venerated in a Book and in entertainment.  His future life was a prophecy but he was compared to contemporary individuals of the same Astronomical data as found in many other non-Christian cultures including Meso-America, Greece, Persia and Egypt.
6.    James Bond.  He was a modern hero of the Cold War.  He is remembered by films, artifacts (props) and toys.
7.    Superman.  An extra-terrestrial from another, now-destroyed Planet came to Earth and became the Messiah.  Many films and artifacts about him abound.

The Future will see this and wonder. 
M7