Ancient and Medieval Conspiracy Theories: The History of the World’s Most Persistent Conspiracy Theories

Summary

Perhaps it should also not be surprising that the themes found in contemporary conspiracy theories are often echoed in ancient conspiracy theories. While some people still insist that Lyndon B. Johnson was in on John F. Kennedy’s assassination, it was speculated across the ancient world that the young Macedonian king, Alexander the Great, conspired to have his own father, Philip II of Macedon, assassinated. Likewise, the New Age beliefs that Mesoamerican ruins in Mexico were somehow tied to extraterrestrials find common cause with people who believe the ancient Indus Valley site at Mohenjo-daro was destroyed by a nuclear weapon. And through it all, the lack of surviving documentary evidence about much of antiquity has allowed for all of the unknowns to become highly speculative sources of debate. For example, did Caesar’s men burn the Library of Alexandria in the 1st century B.C., or was it destroyed later, if at all? Some people even suggest that the Library of Alexandria, whose ruins have never been located, never existed at all.

Few eras are easier to let the imagination run wild than the Middle Ages, which have often been coined the Dark Ages based on a perceived lack of progress and information. In some respects, that is not completely unfounded because less is known about that historical period compared to the eras that came after it. In addition, it was a period marked by a great number of deaths caused by plague epidemics, crusades, and inquisitorial persecutions. Often, researchers are not even sure how and why certain events happened, and these mysteries still occupy the attention of historians.

At the same time, some historical mysteries about the era may never be solved, if only because the relevant excavated material has been lost or the archaeological site has been destroyed. Of course, the lack of answers only makes these enigmas more intriguing.