History AnachronismStew / Literature

* Literature/TheBible, especially in some versions/translations, has been known to contain a few anachronisms since often the "books" composing it were written some time after the events were supposed to have taken place. For example the descriptions of armor, especially that worn by Goliath, in [[Literature/BooksOfSamuel 1 Samuel 17]] are typical of Greek armour of the 6th century BC rather than of Philistine armour of the 10th century BC.
** [[LostInTranslation The original Hebrew]] text is, however, a surprisingly accurate description of the 11th century BC ''maryannu''.
** The Tribes of Israel are RetConned as having extensively used iron weapons - Deborah is given a battle chariot protected by iron plates - even though bronze would have been universal for all peoples - including mighty Egypt - in this time period. And ignoring that in another passage Israel was unable to defeat an enemy army because the ''enemy'' possessed iron chariots.
** All of the Hebrew Bible from [[Literature/BookOfGenesis Genesis]] through [[Literature/BooksOfKings 2 Kings]] wasn't written down and in its final form until around 500 BC or later, so descriptions such as the above would be based on contemporary examples.
** The Apocrypha-- books written between the Old and New Testaments not found in Protestant Bibles (but found in Catholic and Orthodox Bibles, and considered inspired Scripture) often have these. Whether or not this is deliberate is debated. Some, like Judith, are so riddled with anachronisms that they are essentially the Israelite equivalent of a Tarantino film (only with more morals).
*** The book of Tobit takes place in the 8th century BCE but uses quotes from the books of Chronicles (which many scholars date to the 4th century BCE.)
*** The Literature/BookOfJudith begins by declaring Nebuchadnezzar as the king who "ruled over the Assyrians", though he actually ruled over the Babylonians. A Catholic Bible commentary suggests that this was an Assyrian king that went by this name that was a contemporary of King Manasseh of Judah, and thus should not be confused with the Babylonian king.

* If Myth/KingArthur was a real historical figure, he lived in TheLowMiddleAges -- the 5th or 6th century. Most texts telling his story date to TheHighMiddleAges -- the 12th to 16th centuries -- and take on the trapping of their day.

* An in-universe version in ''Literature/SixtyEightRooms''. Ruthie finds a pencil in an eighteenth-century French room and a late seventeenth-century American mug with a plastic barrette inside in a sixteenth-century English room. These are shown to be clues in a mystery for her.

* In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'', it's briefly mentioned that Dudley threw his UsefulNotes/PlayStation out the window during a temper tantrum. The scene is set in the summer of 1994, when the original [=PlayStation=] didn't come out in Japan until December of that year nor in Europe until September of 1995.

* More often than not, the Knights of the Round Table are portrayed in [[KnightInShiningArmor plate-and-mail armor]] with big chargers that didn't get to Western Europe until hundreds of years after these myths supposedly took place. This dates back to ''Literature/LeMorteDarthur''.
* Knights living in huge stone castles. There were no new stone fortifications built in Britain between the 6th century and the 11th century. Most of the old Roman forts were abandoned, dismantled for their stone, or repurposed. All of the great castles were built following the Norman Conquest.
* The Knights of the Round Table themselves, as feudalism had not yet arisen in the Roman-era Britain when the historical Arthur is believed to have lived.

** Actual monarchs of the 14th century are referred to as mythical figures. Which places it after the 14th century, or an alternate 14th century where Arthur and the historic monarchs swap places or something. And [[Literature/LeMorteDArthur Tom Mallory]] (1415-1471) appears on the eve of the final battle. White [[WordOfGod once said]] that if you piece all the references from the different books together, you will be forced to the conclusion that the end of Arthur's reign came centuries before its beginning.