List of common misconceptions about history

Each entry on this list of common misconceptions is worded as a correction; the misconceptions themselves are implied rather than stated.

These entries are concise summaries; the main subject articles can be consulted for more detail.

The ancient Romans did not use the Roman salute depicted in The Oath of the Horatii (1784).
A vomitorium in a Roman amphitheater
Medieval depiction of a spherical Earth
Portrait of Marie Antoinette
The phrase " let them eat cake " is misattributed to Marie Antoinette .
George Washington's dentures
Napoleon was not especially short.
Albert Einstein , photographed at 14, did not fail mathematics at school.
The flag that Betsy Ross purportedly designed
The Thirteenth Amendment abolished chattel slavery in the United States nationwide, not the Emancipation Proclamation (red areas only).
The Wendell O. Pruitt Homes and William Igoe Apartments complex