I’m declaring a jihad on historical inaccuracies because I’m sick and tired of full-grown individuals accepting myths as reality. This list is the first in a series, a full listing of which you’ll find here (as they become available).

1. Marie Antoinette said “Let them eat cake”

In 1769, Jean Jacques Rousseau wrote an autobiographical book entitled Confessions. That book would become the earliest work to feature the quote “let them eat cake” in response to the statement that the peasants had no bread.

But Rousseau never specified that the source of the quote was Marie Antoinette. He just said “a great princess”. In fact, Antoinette was just 13 years-old at the time the work was finished. The French Revolution wouldn’t begin for decades.

2. Napoleon Bonaparte was short

It’s widely believed that Napoleon was at least partially driven by an attempt to overcompensate for his short stature. In fact, we now use the term “Napoleon complex” to describe a short person, usually a male, who tries to overcompensate for being vertically challenged.

But contrary to popular belief, Napoleon was 5’6” tall — a perfectly respectable height for his day.

Why the confusion? His height was noted in an autopsy in 1821 as just 5’2″. But that was in French feet. It hadn’t been converted into the standard English measure. Hence the myth of a short stature.

3. Columbus discovered the shape of the Earth

Most of intelligent Europe didn’t need to be convinced that the world was round — they already knew as much. Instead, he was looking to establish a new trade route to the Far East. That’s right, his journey was driven by “greed” — not science.

4. Eve ate an apple, get expelled from the Garden of Eden

Actually, the Bible doesn’t specify what kind of fruit got Adam and Eve kicked out of the Garden of Eden. Genesis 3:3 just says it was a “fruit”. So it could have been an apple but not necessarily.

5. Witches were burned at the stake in Salem

With the exception of Corey Giles, who was crushed to death under heavy stones for refusing to enter a plea, all those executed in Salem for supposedly being witches were hung. Accused witches were burned at the stake in other parts of the world, but Colonial America punished witchcraft with hanging.