Certain early historians such as, for example, Tacitus, [Geoffrey of Monmouth]? and Herodotus were the progenitors of urban myth, recycling hearsay and anecdotal accounts as historical facts; these writings, in turn were used as the basis for other accounts, and thus many cycles of inaccurate historical narrative became self-perpetuating vicious circles. Contemporary historians tend to cast a very cold and careful eye over historical evidence emanating from writers such as these. A list of these and other works considered to be suspect is to be found at Dubious historical resources. |