A Catholic faithful holds a figurine of baby Jesus during a religious procession on Holy Innocents Day in Antiguo Cuscatlan, on the outskirts of San Salvador, December 28, 2014. Festivities are held every December 28 in honor of children, termed the Holy Innocents, below the age of two who were ordered to be killed by King Herod, according to biblical passages. (Photo by Jose Cabezas/Reuters)

Balinese men hold cock fighters during the Tabuh Rah ceremony at a Temple in Gianyar, Bali, Indonesia, 28 December 2014. Traditional cockfighting or locally named “Tajen”, was once performed as a sacred ritual in Bali but now has become a source of gambling for many local Balinese men. Cockfighting is staged during the anniversary of a temple. The rituals are mainly aimed at preventing the evil spirits from harming people. (Photo by Made Nagi/EPA)

Chinese relative of a missing passenger on Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 reacts as she weeps outside the main gate of the Lama Temple on March 8, 2015 in Beijing, China. Foreign and local media were prevented by Chinese police from covering the relatives visit to the temple where they tried to pray .There were 239 people on board the flight when it disappeared March 8, 2014 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. After one year and an exhaustive search, investigators still have no clue as to the whereabouts of the missing airliner. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

A sign advising to pray for rain hangs above an exhibit area at the 47th Annual World Ag Expo in Tulare, February 12, 2014. About a hundred years ago, when urban water systems were being developed throughout the state, the city of Sacramento wrote protections from metering into its charter, vowing that residents would always have the right to use as much water as they needed. But on Tuesday, the state's top water regulators released a framework for enforcing California's first statewide mandatory restrictions on urban water use – cuts of 25 percent for non-agricultural users ordered last week by Democratic Governor Jerry Brown as a devastating drought enters its fourth year. (Photo by David McNew/Reuters)

Sinabung mountain spews volcanic smoke in Tiga Pancur Village, Karo, North Sumatra, Indonesia, 09 June 2019. According to BNPB, Mount Sinabung erupted, blowing volcanic ash more than 7,000 meters high. Sinabung is one of the most active volcanos in Indonesia. It erupted in 2010 and since then killed 17 people in eruptions in 2014 and another nine people in 2016. (Photo by Sarianto Sembiring/EPA/EFE)

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 couple passes the sculpture “Transformer” by Chinese artist Bi Heng during snowfall in Kassel, central Germany, Tuesday March 12, 2013. Frankfurt airport closed, a quarter of flights out of Paris were canceled, Belgium suffered record traffic jams and high-speed trains were stuck in stations – all because of a sudden dump of oddly late snowfall on Western Europe. Less prepared for the kind of heavy snow that regularly hits northern and eastern neighbors, France, Britain and Belgium struggled Tuesday to keep moving amid the frosty, blustery conditions. (Photo by Uwe Zucchi/AP Photo/Dpa)