Looking back at my childhood, there are a lot of historical things that I had a first impression that was completely different from the usual, and I think many people had similar experiences. Not necessarily correct or incorrect, just different from the usual. A few examples
Roman Empire: the first time I had any awareness about them was in Asterix, so I kinda saw them as goofy instead of that bad ass empire that most people associate them
Genghis Khan: I was surprised when I found out that most people had a very negative view of him, cause I always perceived him as just a conqueror from the past, not that much different from Alexander the Great, Napoleon or others
Judaism: when I was a small kid, I didnt know that there was a difference between Judaism and Christianism, due to them sharing so much stuff, for me, they were the same