[diminoten]

Has anyone else here heard of the historical conspiracy theory (I don't know how else to describe it) that the european dark ages literally never happened, and the Gregorian calendar simply skipped those years entirely?

It's pretty fascinating as a concept, though it hits many obvious pitfalls (what about all the stuff that's said to have happened during those years?!?!) and I'm not versed enough in the "theory" to give it justice.

It's certainly fun to think about, even if it's complete nonsense!

[jonjacky]

You might be thinking of Fomenko's New Chronology, presented in a series of books that were popular in Russia in the 1990s. It sounds very far-fetched:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Chronology_(Fomenko)

[nonbel]

I actually thought this on my own after watching some history channel series about the first millennium AD, roman empire, whatever. I was struck at the similarity of some events that were supposedly separated by hundreds of years, almost as if it was the same story told from a different perspective.

Then I found Anatoly Fomenko, Gunnar Heinsohn, Herbert Illig, etc had investigated this.

I'll add another link to the two already shared by sister responses: https://www.q-mag.org/the-1st-millennium-a-d-chronology-cont...

Definitely a fascinating topic. I emerged from that rabbit hole unconvinced but definitely with far more doubt about the reliability of the mainstream chronology.

[edgarvaldes]

The Phantom time hypothesis?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_time_hypothesis