A Beijing Opera performer dances for a show by designer Hao Weimin at China Fashion Week, China, October 28, 2019. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)

Kites fly in the sky during the Kite Show at the historical complex “Fort Konstantin” in city of Kronstadt outside Saint Petersburg, on June 7, 2025. (Photo by Olga Maltseva/AFP Photo)

Midnight at the Palace, at Big Yin at Gilded Balloon Patter House during Edinburgh fringe 2025 in the first decade of August 2025. (Photo by Damian Robertson/The Guardian)

Maya Jama reaches for the skies in a rainbow swimming costume. Presenter Maya posed in the sun during a getaway trip to Ibiza on August 19, 2025. (Photo by Instagram)

Do you think that history is a science? Well, not exactly. First, and foremost, history is the state's “legend of wars”, it’s official regalia. Of course, public historians are not interested in scientific truth – quite the opposite. In this respect, any attempt to present a state’s history as altruistic and benevolent as possible is welcomed and encouraged – as opposed to any revisionism attempts that may be more accurate. In this matter, Chinese have surpassed us all – they revised in highly creative manner (but rather shamelessly) the technology already invented by Europeans, a process that resulted in oldest state on the planet. Here is an interesting paradox: ask any sinologist about the Middle Kingdom during second century B.C., and he will describe it to you in such a vivid manner as if he has been living there all his life – but as soon as you will ask him to describe Chinese history in the 19-20th centuries… let's say, his eagerness will be greatly diminished. However, we will discuss China in a different article, and in the meantime we will try to understand how exactly historic “legend of wars” is formed and functions – based on a specific and well-known example. A great example is Ferdinand Magellan's first voyage around the world.

A man rides a horse at a playground on a hill in Kabul April 19, 2015. (Photo by Mohammad Ismail/Reuters)

“Chameleons (family Chamaeleonidae) are a distinctive and highly specialized clade of lizards. They are distinguished by their parrot-like zygodactylous feet, their separately mobile and stereoscopic eyes, their very long, highly modified, and rapidly extrudable tongues, their swaying gait, the possession by many of a prehensile tail, crests or horns on their distinctively shaped heads, and the ability of some to change color. Uniquely adapted for climbing and visual hunting, the approximately 160 species of chameleon range from Africa, Madagascar, Spain and Portugal, across south Asia, to Sri Lanka, have been introduced to Hawaii, California and Florida, and are found in warm habitats that vary from rain forest to desert conditions”. – Wikipedia

Photo: A woman with the latest fashion accessory, a chameleon. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images). Circa 1926

Cat lounges and makes itself at home at the new Cat Café by Purina ONE on Wednesday, April 23, 2014 in New York. (Photo by Amy Sussman/Invision for Purina ONE/AP Images)