Table of Contents
MostAmazingTop10 host James explains the phantom time hypothesis and then argues that it fails. He dates it to a German writer in 1991. On that account the years from about 614 to 911 never happened, so nearly three centuries were invented and the present count sits hundreds of years too high. A ruler remembered as Otto III, Pope Sylvester II, and perhaps a Byzantine emperor are said to have wanted their reign to fall in the year 1000, and to have altered calendars and chronicles. Charlemagne and Viking raids on England become filler. The clues James lists are sparse finds for the seventh through ninth centuries, and a complaint that by 1582 the old Roman calendar should have been about thirteen days off the sun, yet the reform dropped only ten. He answers that those ten days repaired Easter as fixed in 325, and that Chinese annals, the Islamic golden age, India, Japan, and the Americas already cover the missing years. Tree rings and radiocarbon dates, he adds, place European objects there too.
Key points
- The hypothesis, dated here to 1991, erases roughly 614 to 911 and lowers the present year count.
- Otto III, Sylvester II, and maybe a Byzantine ruler are said to have wanted a reign in the year 1000.
- Famous early medieval figures and events are treated as invented filler with planted remains.
- A thin dig record and a three-day gap in the 1582 calendar repair are offered as clues.
- James answers with non-European chronicles, the Easter-based reason for dropping ten days, and lab dating.
Short quotes
Otto along with the Pope decided to rewrite history to make it appear as though they were living in the prestigious year 1000 ad
James, Phantom time hypothesis
James states the motive the theory gives the emperor and the pope. Watch at 4:18
10 days were then skipped October 4th of 1582 was immediately followed by October 15th of 1582
James, Phantom time hypothesis
He uses the real papal calendar repair as the clue the theory reinterprets. Watch at 7:47
Chinese history during this period is also well documented
James, Phantom time hypothesis
His counterexample is a written record outside Europe for the years the theory deletes. Watch at 9:48
Video by MostAmazingTop10. Watch on YouTube.