ALL MYTHS HAVE TO START SOMEWHERE, RIGHT?

You Won’t Believe These 10 Myths Originated In Real People

Image: Fine Photographics

While most myths are based on fiction, some are based on real-life individuals. Greek, Egyptian, and medieval figures that once were thought to be inventions have turned out to be real people thanks to archaeological findings. So, scroll down and learn more about 10 larger-than-life characters that actually existed.

Image: Juliet Furst

Paris, the handsome Trojan prince from The Iliad who abducted Helen, was in fact a real person. The city of Troy was located on the west coast of Anatolia (modern Turkey), and it might have been known as Wilusa, during the Bronze Age.

A surviving treaty from this period was signed between a man named Alaksandu (which sounds very similar to Prince Paris's second name, Alexander) probably from Wilusa/Troy, and Muwatalli II of the Hittites. Also, other historical documents hint that Alaksandu lived in and ruled Troy/Wilusa.

Image: Nathan Cima

Since we are talking about Troy, Paris wasn't the only Trojan who might've been real; his father, King Priam, might have been a legitimate Trojan ruler. In the Late Bronze Age, the Hittites ran into some trouble with an individual named Piyaramadu, who was a rebel who took over Troy/Wilusa.

Image: Babak Habibi

The phrase "rich as Croesus" is used to describe a semi-legendary monarch who was extremely wealthy. But Croesus was a real sixth-century BC ruler of Lydia (in Anatolia), who was both rich and martial, conquering many Greek towns that were located in what is now Turkey.

Image: Carlos Felipe Ramírez Mesa

The Roman general Cincinnatus was a military man who only reluctantly assumed power when the Romans faced a dangerous rival group called the Aequi. They called Cincinnatus to defend them who, at the time, was busy working on his tiny farm outside the city.

After defeating the enemy in just one day, Cincinnatus remained in power long enough to ensure Rome was safe. As soon as the crisis ended, he went home and started farming again. The humility and courageous character of this general inspired George Washington.

Image: Victoria Strukovskaya

According to an ancient legend, the Assyrian queen Semiramis was the daughter of a goddess. She invented the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and became a prominent ruler in her own right.

This might seem a bit far-fetched but "Semiramis" was the Greek name for a real ancient Assyrian queen, Sammu-ramat, who lived in the 9th BC. This queen was the wife of King Shamshi-Adad V and the mother of King Adad-Nirari III, but also maintained a lot of power in her own right.

Image: Julia Kadel

Imhotep was a real-life person, who served as the Egyptian pharaoh Djoser’s architect, healer, and minister. He served as the pharaoh’s right hand and even helped design his famous step pyramid. His popularity was such that, eventually, he was deified and worshiped as a real god.

Image: Giancarlo Corti

Maybe he was not the legendary king who ripped a sword out of a stone or had a powerful magician at his side, but Arthur was a genuine historical figure leading the Roman-British against the invading Anglo-Saxons during the late 5th and early 6th centuries.

His involvement at the Battle of Badon, in particular, is supportable but also exemplifies the problematic nature of the historical narrative, recording he slew 960 men in battle, quite an impossible number.

Image: Ani Adigyozalyan

The incredible story of "Beauty and the Beast" might have been based on a real person, Petrus Gonsalvus, a young boy from the 16th century. Petrus suffered a severe case of hypertrichosis, a condition that causes a person to grow hair all over their body, often referred to as "werewolf syndrome."

Gonsalvus was 10 years old when he was sent to the King of France to operate as a court jester. Eventually, King Henry's wife, Catherine de Medici, found Gonsalvus a wife. Though it took some getting used to, the beauty fell in love with the "beast." They remained married for 40 years and had seven kids together, four of which also had hypertrichosis.

Image: Christian Chomiak

According to Greek mythology, the Amazons were a race of legendary female warriors. This was disputed until modern archaeological discoveries gave new life to the claims. Believed to be descendants of Ares, the God of War, and Harmonia, the Goddess of Harmony, these women supposedly dedicated their lives to the perfection of martial prowess.

Recent archaeological findings have uncovered numerous burial sites of female Sarmatian warriors. With as many as twenty percent of all warrior tombs in the ancient territory containing women, this discovery has provided new impetus to believe in the Amazons as real historical individuals.

Image: Igam Ogam

One of the most supernatural characters in our list is based on a real-life individual. Count Dracula, the literary villain created by Bram Stoker was, at least partially, based on Vlad III, also known as Vlad Dracula, a Romanian prince who employed some gruesome tactics to defend his territory of Wallachia, a region south of Transylvania.

During his lifetime, Vlad was known for his enjoyment of torture and killing, reportedly impaling tens of thousands of enemies on stakes and then feasting among his victims.

WHAT IS A LED ZEPPELIN?

What are the Dead Grateful about? 10 unusual band names explained

Image: Graydon Driver

Due to constant repetition, the names of successful bands become household names. But, when we stop to think about them, some of those names are downright strange or, at the very least, curious. What is an Aerosmith? Or a Supertramp? Find the answers to these and a few other existential questions by scrolling through the following stories.

Image: JC Gellidon

In case anyone wondered, The Ramones were not a band of brothers named Ramone. The name of the band was first suggested by Dee Dee, after learning that Paul McCartney would check into hotels under the fake name 'Paul Ramon'. He convinced the other members to adopt the last name, and The Ramones came to be.

Image: Desi Mendoza

There are two versions of the origin of Alice Cooper’s name. In the early days, the story was that Alice Cooper was a spirit the band contacted via an Ouija board.

But in later years, the frontman himself has said that they came up with a name that could be someone’s grandmother – which made it a perfectly unorthodox match for a bunch of cross-dressing shock rockers.

Image: The National Library of Norway

If the rumors are correct, Jimmy Page (guitarist and frontman for what would become Led Zeppelin), Jeff Beck (guitarist for The Yardbirds, a band Page had been part of), Keith Moon (drummer for The Who), and John Entwistle (bass player for The Who) came up with the idea of forming a supergroup, but Moon suggested this would "go over like a lead balloon".

Sometime later, Page remembered this expression and, after swapping "balloon" for "zeppelin", decided to drop the "a" in "lead" to make it clear how the word should be pronounced: Led Zeppelin.

Image: Adrian Ordonez

Billy Gibbons, the guitar player for ZZ Top came up with the band’s name thanks to his obsession with blues music. He thought of combining the names of two bluesmen: Z.Z. Hill and B.B. King. But when ZZ King didn’t sound all that great, Gibbons made the slight shift to ZZ Top.

Image: Brands&People

There are many bands whose names are literary references to authors and their works. Uriah Heep got their name from a character in Charles Dickens’ 'David Copperfield.' Uriah Heep was a man untrustworthy and unlikable in the extreme.

As guitarist Mick Box said "We were formed on the 100th anniversary of Charles Dickens. There was publicity all over London to celebrate his birthday."

Image: Cody Board

Being the American answer to The Beatles, the Monkees needed a moniker similar to that of the Fab Four. Accordingly, they mispronounced the name of a creature from the natural world just as the Beatles had done in the first place.

Image: Tim Toomey

Another legendary group that got its name from a book is Supertramp. The British art-rockers got their name from W. H. Davies’ 1908 memoir 'The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp,' in which the Welsh writer details his wandering early days.

Image: Sisi

The fact that the Grateful Dead came up with their band name while under the influence surprises no one. Perusing a folklore dictionary, Jerry Garcia discovered the term, which related to the soul of an unburied dead person expressing karmic gratitude to someone who arranged for their eventual burial.

Image: Wayne Hollman

Not many bands are named after the drummer and the bass player. But Fleetwood Mac is. The outfit was christened after the names of Mick Fleetwood and John McVie. This was a ploy devised by guitarist Peter Green to keep them in the band. And it worked; 5 decades and countless lineups later, the pair is the only remaining members from the ‘60s.

Image: Daniel Ebersole

The curious name of this legendary hard rock outfit originated, according to drummer Joey Kramer, while he and his girlfriend were listening to Harry Nilsson’s "Aerial Ballet" and the couple began toying with cool band names that had the word "aero" in them.

He liked how "Aerosmith" sounded, but the band he was in at the time didn’t. So it was shelved until Kramer joined Joe Perry and Steven Tyler’s group. The convincing was done and the rest is history.