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Jul 5, 2022Liked by Jonn Elledge

Fodder for a new conspiracy theory: suspicious that the book cover says "b*llocks" while the supposed author says "boll*cks."

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I absolutely love Illig's theory. It tells us more about human credulity than any amount of historical lessons ever could. The sheer breadth and depth of its debunking in German historical circles are things of beauty and wonder. The maths doesn't add up, the history of other regions (outside Europe? Nooooo!) render it nonsensical, the discovery of various artefacts and texts utterly contradict it.....and yet a fair few books and lecture tours have gathered in money from it, and occasionally still do. Humanity, please don't ever change.

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‘no conspiracy theory has yet emerged arguing that the Empire never really fell at all, and that everywhere from Carlisle to Cairo is still secretly being run by an emperor hidden somewhere under Rome”

Indeed, but there is a conspiracy theory that the Roman Empire never existed at all!

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