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Which mythological/historical/fictional character is cited as a symbol for constant improvement or dogged persistence in re-doing his task? is explicitly off-topic per Is it appropriate to ask questions about mythology here?. I've voted to close, but it has not been closed yet. Now, three new tags have been proposed and approved by MichaelF♦. In my opinion, these three tags, , , and are useless. First off, mythology is off-topic. In my opinion, legends fall into the same category as mythology -- off-topic. is also useless.

Can we have this question closed already?

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  • It's pure folly to think that mythology, and legends aren't closely intertwined with history -- especially since academics love to try and demonstrate that yesterday's history was really myth. Likewise, myths occasionally have facts unearthed to support them. History is not a clean, cut-and dried, science. There are too many questions and not enough facts. Worse, the "facts" often boil down to agenda-driven testimony of some sort. – Brock Adams Sep 24 '12 at 12:56
  • Likewise, history without heroes (and villains), is just useless drivel in some forgotten journal. The whole point of history is to learn from the past and perhaps derive some inspiration from it. You cannot learn from history, unless you you can judge: effective/useless, right/wrong, heroic/pathetic. – Brock Adams Sep 24 '12 at 13:01
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    I have to agree with Luke. Although mythology is a part of the history of different cultures, it can't be substantiated with any form of proof. If a question is worded in a way that asks what elements of historical fact may have contributed to an element of mythology, then that is something that can be substantiated. – Steven Drennon Sep 24 '12 at 13:24
  • @StevenDrennon, neither can much of history! Often, about the only thing you can "prove" is X wrote Y. But myths are subject to proof and evidence. Troy was a myth, they've since found some archeological evidence. Likewise, Atlantis is a myth, and now they've unearthed a promising candidate for its location. A wise man said, "History is just myth with a date-stamp, probably forged." – Brock Adams Sep 24 '12 at 13:49
  • Casting the debate over mythology aside, the question that was called into question cannot be answered without sparking discussion or soliciting a list. There are a number of critical reasons why this question in particular does not fit into the StackExchange guidelines. I closed it using an option that suggests editing the question to make it more suitable. If that is done, it can be reopened. – Steven Drennon Sep 24 '12 at 17:11
  • I don't recall approving any tags, if I did I will get rid of them. I saw the question but didn't do much more than add a comment to the answer. Not sure what happened there. – MichaelF Sep 24 '12 at 18:03
  • history.stackexchange.com/review-beta/suggested-edits/1612 I was about to reject this edit when you approved it. – American Luke Sep 24 '12 at 18:07
  • @BrockAdams. I know that this is probably to late to say it, but the point of history is not to learn from it. Learning the history and the facts of the world come first. After that, it is up to the student to decide what and if they want to extract some judgement or inspiration from it. I just think that the learning history should not be driven by the search for inspiration, but inspiration should be a side effect from learning history and searching for fact. Of corse I could have totally misinterpreted your comment. – Russell Jan 1 '13 at 3:53

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