Tour-Guide History: Fact or fiction?
 |
By Rick Steves
Walking down the Capitoline Hill towards the Arch of Septimus Severus, I stumbled onto a gang of note-taking tourists following a scholarly-looking young Italian guide. I hung out within earshot to pick up some information.
Most tour groups are territorial about their guide's services. Self-appointed vigilantes sheriff the back row making freeloaders feel cheap and unwanted. This particular guide had a fine spiel: "Back when Rome had more thieves and wolves than decent people, the great palaces of the Foro Romano were only used as quarries. It was a crude time...not a good time to be pope. In the 10th century alone, nine of 24 popes were murdered...."
Suddenly I was being leaned on by a large woman who whispered harshly, "Private tour, private tour." Leaning back I whispered, "Public attraction, public attraction."
Surveying the Forum, in every corner I saw tour guides teaching and entertaining their tired but fascinated groups with "tour-guide history." I like to think that what I've learned over 20 years of taking and leading tours is all correct. But much of what is accepted as "history" by tourists is only clever storytelling. As Napoleon said, "What is history but a fable agreed upon?"
When touring with a guide who seems reputable, I like to confirm points I want to believe but have doubts about. I remember following one wonderful old man through some BC rubble and soaking up piles of great ideas. Scampering ahead with him as he led the group to the next stop on his tour, I'd confirm and check things with him.
I said, "I've heard that columns from the three classical orders follow a canon of proportions: Doric, the simplest, is eight times as tall as its base width. Ionic columns are 10 times as tall. And the Corinthian are 11 times as tall as their base width. Have you heard this?"
The guide admitted that was new to him.
Later on that same tour, standing before a lone Corinthian column, he turned to the group and said with authority, "Columns from the various orders can be identified by their height. There is actually what we call a canon of proportions. A Doric column is eight times as tall as its base width..."
So now when I say that Stonehenge is at the junction of Britain's two strongest leylines, Mozart kissed more queens then any preteen in history, or Michelangelo secretly dissected corpses illegally and at great personal risk in order to understand what was under the skin, I have a nagging fear that "tour-guide" history is closer to entertainment than the truth. The least reliable form of a tour-guide fact is one that starts with "It's been said..."
For lots more tips, check out our best-selling Europe Through the Back Door travel skills guidebook.