Herodotus, the so-called Father of History, made a few rather extravagant claims in his time (his time being the 5th century B.C., which is when he wrote the world's first history books).

The Ionian Greek's accounts of Himalayan marmots* pursuing and devouring camels and of giant ants that prospected for gold are just some of the "Histories" that earned him the less complimentary title bestowed by jealous peers: "Father of Lies."

But Herodotus was a damn fine storyteller. He obviously listened to a lot of other storytellers — and he got a lot of things right.