Phantom time:
The phantom time conspiracy theory is a pseudohistorical conspiracy theory first asserted by Heribert Illig in 1991. It hypothesises a conspiracy by the Holy Roman Emperor Otto III, Pope Sylvester II, and possibly the Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII, to fabricate the Anno Domini dating system retroactively, in order to place them at the special year of AD 1000, and to rewrite history to legitimize Otto’s claim to the Holy Roman Empire. Illig believed that this was achieved through the alteration, misrepresentation and forgery of documentary and physical evidence.[2] According to this scenario, the entire Carolingian period, including the figure of Charlemagne, is a fabrication, with a “phantom time” of 297 years (AD 614–911) added to the Early Middle Ages. [Wikipedia]
That’s an odd one. Noted in “What Is the Truth Behind the Controversial Phantom Time Hypothesis?” Benjamin Plackett, Discover:
Contrary to what you might believe, you aren’t actually living in the 21st Century. Instead, you’re in the 1700s, and the reason that most of you don’t recognize this fact is that the elites of the early medieval period worked hard to deceive you. At least, that’s what German historian Herbert Illig puts forward in his phantom time hypothesis. “There’s this outrageous claim that all historians have made a mistake and that we’ve all had the wool pulled over our eyes and that the chronology we all follow today is wrong,” explains David Hamon, an independent researcher who has studied alternative histories.
