Questions tagged [ancient-greece]
Ancient Greece was a civilization centred around the Greek peninsula, that lasted from the 8th century BC to the end of the classical antiquity era (ca. 600 AD).
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Alexandria by Islam Issa--Did Artistotle know Latin or Hebrew?
I started reading the book Alexandria by Islam Issa, which is a history of the City of Alexandria, Egypt. However, early on, there was one detail that seemed really off, and I wanted to get feedback ...
MCW♦
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Did the Spartans really taunt Philip II of Macedon with a single word?
I came across this excerpt that was put up as a "joke" in an issue of the Reader's Digest:
After invading Greece, Philip II of Macedon sent a threatening message to the Spartans: "You are advised ...
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Which Greek word was used in the text "Charmides" which was translated as "science" in some translations, or as "knowledge" in others?
I wanted to know which Greek word was used in the text Charmides which was translated as "science" in some translations and as "knowledge" in others.
For example,
“Isn’t medicine ...
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Was homosexuality rarer in ancient Sparta than in any other Greek state?
I have been told that this was illegal under the law that
No man shall submit to another
However, this does not sound to me like it is banning homosexuals, perhaps banning one from being a ...
MCW♦
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Is there any evidence of arachnophobia in ancient history?
Are there any sources that would tell us whether (any) ancient Greeks or Romans were afraid of spiders?
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Did Romans collect notes/minutes/protocols of Senate meetings? Ditto Greeks?
Did Romans have official note-takers of important meetings, such as Senate debates? If so, did any of them survive?
Similarly for Greeks. Plato's "Apology" is the closest thing to minutes ...
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How do we know the Alexander Mosaic actually depicts Alexander the Great in the Battle of Issus?
This overlaps slightly with this question; That question is more general about statues and can naturally be applied more generally to other historical depictions of important figures. In this question ...
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When/where did men with families get less "disposable"? [closed]
Herodotus tells us that when Leonidas selected three hundred Spartans to face the Persian army he chose "all fathers of families, who had left sons at home to succeed them". My ...
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Was there an assassination attempt against Xerxes in the battle of Thermopylae?
I watched Frank Miller's 300 last night with my girlfriend, and after the movie ended she mentioned the assassination attempt against Xerxes would have been a great plot element for the movie and that ...
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Were early accounts of ancient child prostitution accurate?
I'm doing research about the history and background of Child Sexual Abuse and due to the few sources related to the topic, I've been stuck, but recently a I found this book "The Encyclopedia of ...
MCW♦
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How were streets lit at night, before street lights were invented? [closed]
For example, how were the streets of ancient Greek cities and of ancient Rome lit at night? I suspect that street lights as we know today didn't exist in ancient Greece and Rome, so there were other ...
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Where was the theater in Byzantium?
As a Hellenistic city, there must have been a theater or maybe even an amphitheater in Byzantium, which would have also been present during the Constantinople era, but never have I seen or heard any ...
CommunityBot
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Which text asserts that "An assembly with no minority/opposition should be dissolved"?
This 19th century Jewish work, section 20 of Benjamin Aryeh Hakohen Weiss's "Even Yekarah”, refers to an ancient gentile text (this usually means Ancient Greece, but not necessarily) which ...
MCW♦
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What is the work Academicorum Philosophorum Index Herculanensis, and how reliable is it?
I've been reading some text1 from a weird Turkish author, who writes about politics and philosophy in a deliberately obscure fashion. In one of his texts, he says that he read a quote from Plato "...
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Why were male oracles replaced by female oracles?
Joeseph Fontenrose, a renown classicist, writes on Didyma:
It is now certain that after 334 BC, a prophetess spoke the responses
of Apollo Didymeus, as at Delphi a woman received Apollo's inspiration
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What is the historical reason for 18 years being the most commonly accepted age of adulthood?
Most countries define the age of adulthood at 18 years.
Why is this? Was there some historical precedent set in ancient Rome/Greece or something like that? Why 18 years and not some "nicer" number ...
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Why was the Greek alphabet not adopted by other languages, given the Greek influence?
Most western languages adopt the Latin alphabet with minor variations. Arabic letters are adopted by quite a few other languages. The same is true for Eastern Europe with Cyrillic letters. Why was the ...
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Was Pythagoras against traditional/contemporary Greek education?
There were, however, among the wise men some who despised the knowledge of the orators, lexicographers and schoolmasters, and cavilled at those who devoted themselves to these professions. To these ...
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Who governed while Alexander the Great was away conquering Asia?
I was just watching a video that mentions Alexander the Great at the edges of his empire, but then I was wondering who was governing back home while he was gone, I mean it took forever to travel back ...
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How were the Greek city-states "unified"? [closed]
There was a sentence that said: "Though the Greek city-states were unified to some extent in the face of an external threat, as that threat waned, conflicts between the city-states made a ...
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What happened to the rowers during boarding actions in ancient Greece?
My research thus far has led me to the following conclusions: The main methods of dispatching enemy ships during naval combat in ancient Greece was by ramming and by boarding, with ramming being the ...
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Could skirmishers pass through friendly formations in ancient/medieval warfare? [closed]
I'm trying to get a visualization of how skirmishers were used in historical battles, especially during ancient Greek warfare. Could skirmisher formations pass through friendly formations? As in was ...
MCW♦
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When did Athenian archers pepper Spartan hoplites with arrows for days on an island?
The heading is basically all I remember from school. The hoplites lacked mobility and were thus harassed for day by the lightly armored Athenian archers. Athenian victory.
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What were the Oriental influences on Heraclitus?
I'm reading Karl Popper's The Open Society and its Enemies. In chapter two, he mentions in passing that Greek philosophers such as Heraclitus were influenced by oriental ideas.
Is he referring to ...
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Why is a piece missing in an English translation of Herodotus Histories?
Original text from Herodotus "Histories" (Book One, chapter 203):
ἡ δὲ Κασπίη θάλασσα ἐστὶ ἐπ᾽ ἑωυτῆς, οὐ συμμίσγουσα τῇ ἑτέρῃ θαλάσσῃ. τὴν μὲν γὰρ Ἕλληνὲς ναυτίλλονται πᾶσα καὶ ἡ ἔξω ...
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What was the average height in Classical Greece?
This is a follow-up for
Average height of Ancient Roman Men and Women? :
I'm curious what was the average height and build of men & women citizens of Greek states (Athens, Sparta, etc) in 7th-...
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Pythagoras: sinfulness of eating beans
I have read some of Pythagoras' commandments; they are strange. Any idea why he considered that eating beans was a sin?
The book from which I took the data is 'History of Western Philosophy' by ...
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How did the Ancient Greeks forge and shape metal gears?
The closest to answer I've gotten is this video:
Wikipedia: Making gears by hand without machines
However, I don't really know if Archimedes and his contemporaries would have the above tools or not. I'...
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Did Empedocles think that plants have sexes?
I was reading the book Flora Unveiled: The Discovery and Denial of Sex in Plants by Lee Taiz and Lincoln Taiz published by Oxford. In Chapter 8, "Plant sex from Empedocles to Theophrastus", ...
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Did Democritus of Abdera, Thrace accuse the Jews of sacrificing Greeks in their religious rituals?
I was on Wikipedia reading about Blood Libel when I came across the following sentence:
The earliest known antecedent is from a man named Democritus (not the philosopher) mentioned in the Suda,[15]......
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When did monogamy become the norm in Ancient Greece?
This article says
The case for an automatic association between Christianity and
monogamy is weakened further by the fact that socially imposed
monogamy was first established in ancient Greece and ...
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What were the names of these two Ancient Greek boxing/pankration legends?
Does anyone know the name of — and hopefully references — the two following ancient Greek boxing legends, mentioned in this video by MMA coach Ramsey Dewey?
A boxer who, in sudden-death overtime, ...
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Why is syncretism mostly described through an "interpretatio graeca", rather than any other polytheism? [closed]
Ancient Greeks such as Herodotus thought other culture's gods (e.g. Egyptian) are actually same deities as theirs, just having different names.
For example, Plutarch said
Not different gods for ...
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How did the Greeks and Romans move between their destinations?
As we know, the Greeks and later also the Romans built street networks to connect their settlements to each other. For me, this fact raised an issue: How did the Greeks and Romans move between their ...
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Did the ancient Greeks ever climb Mt. Olympus?
We all know that the ancient Greeks believed that their gods lived on top of the mountain Olympus (and some of them in other places like the Underworld). But Olympus - they knew where it was (between ...
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How did Athenian citizens living standards compare to that of other Greek city-states?
Athenian democracy
Athenian democracy is described as having been a direct democracy whereby the citizens directly controlled all parts of the political process.
World History Encycopedia
In Athenian ...
MCW♦
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What is the difference between the Ancient Greek religion and the Ancient Roman religion?
What is the difference between the Ancient Greek religion and the Ancient Roman religion?
My question is about, not cultural differences, but conceptual differences." Wikipedia doesn't compare them. ...
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What coin/pendant is this and is it worth any money?
This was found a long time ago by my neighbour who has now passed it on to me. It has NAX IOIA on the coin with what I believe to be a kings or gods face on one side and some grapes and vines on the ...
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What were the requirements for Ancient Greek colonist groups?
Disclaimers
Given that the colonies were not created in empty space, it may not have been necessary to equip each and every group of colonists with the skills needed to be self sufficient.
Assuming, ...
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How serious was Fermat's statement about the ancients?
I am extremely interested in the idea that there was a period in time when, at least in the west, people looked upon the ancients (Romans/Greeks) as possessors of wisdom that had been lost. Fermat ...
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What would a simple Carthaginian bronze coin have bought?
I possess a Carthegian Zeugitania bronze coin which was reportedly minted around 220 BC between the First and Second Punic War. It is 16mm wide and features Tanit on the reverse. My query is what ...
CommunityBot
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Did the polytheist Greeks or Romans call their priests “father”?
I assume not, but perhaps it has just escaped me, because I am so used to this form of address from the Greek Orthodox Church. There might be texts showing that some of them did, or texts commenting ...
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How did the US "Greek" fraternity system at universities arise and what is its relationship with ancient Greece?
How did the American college fraternity and sorority system come to incorporate ancient Greek names and motifs? Was this a 19th century phenomenon?
Any color on the following would also be appreciated....
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How did ancient Greek city-states secure mines to mint coins?
I have a basic question about mines and coinage.
I have read that different cities minted their own coins. The Athenians were lucky with the Laurion mines which contained silver. But what did cities ...
MCW♦
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Are there historic references to sorcerers and their scrolls?
According to 'Acts 19:19' (of the Christian bible):
A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the ...
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What did the letter theta symbolize in ancient Greece?
In a Hubbard Communications Office bulletin, L. Ron Hubbard claims:
A THETAN is, of course, a Scientology word using the Greek “Theta” which was
the Greek symbol for thought or life.
Source:...
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Did Zoroastrianism influence some Ancient Greek Philosophers?
Ancient Greek Philosophy, was never monolithic, that is to say, the diversity of thought represented in the Greek Philosophers is well documented and well chronicled. However, did the Persian ...
MCW♦
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Were there political parties in ancient Greece?
So I'm reading a Spanish translation of Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War and he frequently mentions a "popular party". For example:
That is why the Athenians made many other ...
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What was this king/ warrior's exact name (AGATHOFLIS)
I'm reading some books (in Arabic) about north African history, and exactly the Igilgili (modern day Jijel ) region and I found a story about a warrior / king who tried to conquer the region (4th ...
MCW♦
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Where did Theophrastus write about a "a common chest" into which funds are placed in case of a member's hardship?
Theophrastus was a pupil of Aristotle in Greek circa 371-287 B.C. The claim is that, in some unnamed writing by Theophrastus, he makes a mention of how some people in Ancient Greece would pool their ...
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