Customer Reviews

History and Myth in Romanian Consciousness

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Like all histories, Romania's history reflects not only the personal viewpoint of the historian writing the history, but also of the political environment of the moment. Tracing the history presented in various school textbooks over the years, the author notes the changes in the Romanian "heros" who are presented. And he uses the mythology built up around Michael the Brave (Mihai Viteazul), who was the first to "unite" the three historic principalities of Romania, to illustrate how history can be rewritten to fall in line with current political ideologies.

Mythology crept into Romania's history because history is normally written about the powerful people in a country. And Romania had few powerful people to raise up on a historic pedestal. So the Romanian historians often invented a hero or raised his actions from the obscure to the heroic level.

Lucian Boia doesn't claim that this is some kind of intentional evil, but is often done simply because the Romanian people throughout most of their history have been village oriented people who were subdued by powerful kingdoms and empires who controlled the city (and about whom the history books were written).

The book is a "must read" for anyone attempting to unravel the sometimes conflicting "histories" of Romania. And even for Romanians themselves who feel that their school history textbook was infallible and presented the only true history of Romania.