Ancient history was from the beginning of recorded history (c. 4000 B.C.) until the fall of the Roman Empire (c. A.D. 500).
2
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2answers
71 views
Is there any history magazine like “Foreign Policy” for politics? [closed]
I'm a college student. I'd like to read a history magazine (online preferred) that relates to History in the same way that "Foreign Policy" relates to Politics or "The Economist" relates to Economics. ...
2
votes
1answer
129 views
Is there a known society without cult of love?
Was there ever a society in which sex was viewed either as a functional necessity, duty before the gods or pleasure without any admiration of love?
7
votes
2answers
178 views
Army formation: veterans at the first line
I am trying to understand the early roman legion deployment. I can see some advantages to putting the inexperienced warriors at the first line and the veterans at the last.
But have there been ...
1
vote
2answers
120 views
History of the Levant and Israel - 2000 BCE to the bronze age collapse - where to find info?
Where can I find information about the period 2000 BCE - 1300 BCE in the Levant with focus on Caanites and (possibly) proto-Hebrews?
Period from the very beginning of the tribal organization of what ...
4
votes
1answer
360 views
Vedas, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Puranas and the Science
For someone who is born in India, some of the few mythological stories we watch on tv/hear from our grandparents are Ramayana, excerpts from Mahabharata or other Vedic stories of gods, the vedic way ...
3
votes
1answer
123 views
Cannabis in ancient Vedic Soma, are there any sound historical proofs?
Michael Wood says in his documentary The Story of India first episode:
Soma is still used as a medicine in Central Asia. The active element in
the plant is ephedrine, and the effect that it has, ...
7
votes
1answer
281 views
How far into the past was significance ascribed to the Golden Ratio?
I think everyone knows about the golden ratio or the divine proportion (I got to know more about it after reading the wikipedia article on it). It's present everywhere in nature and also in the human ...
4
votes
1answer
141 views
Literacy in the classical world
How literate was the ancient world? I'm particularly interested in the Romans, Greeks, and Egyptians in, say, the first few centuries BC. It's hard to find authors willing to give an explicit number, ...
10
votes
2answers
271 views
Early history of prime numbers
Prime numbers are those whole numbers greater than 1 which cannot be written as a product of numbers greater than 1. I'm curious about their very early history, say 200 BC and earlier. What I know:
...
5
votes
1answer
125 views
Did the Carthaginians have the option of sending Hannibal to Sicily?
Sicily was a major focus of the First and Second Punic Wars. The first Punic war ended with Carthage handing over major grain-growing areas on the island, and the port of Lilybaem to Rome as spoils of ...
4
votes
1answer
109 views
Are there any existing foreign language teaching texts from the Ancient Near East?
The various cultures of the Ancient Near East spoke a wide array of languages and we know that there was plenty of communication between cultures. We even have a language like Akkadian that served as ...
7
votes
1answer
123 views
What is the history of standing armies in India?
Specifically, the points I am looking answers to are:
1) What is the first recorded instance of a standing army in the Indian subcontinent.
2) When did it become a general practice to have standing ...
9
votes
2answers
661 views
Who is the earliest recorded person?
Who is the earliest person recorded in history? Whose fame has survived the greatest amount of time to come down to us today?
3
votes
1answer
174 views
Who is the most ancient Indo-European who is known by name?
Who is the most ancient historical Indo-European who is known by name?
In other words, is it Pythonos, king of Kussara (17th century BC) or are there more ancient figures?
2
votes
1answer
132 views
Did the Latins see the Etruscans as a plague?
I've read that Latins considered the Etruscans as a plague. However, it seems that the Etruscans (being peaceful merchants) were more civilized and educated than the Latins.
10
votes
2answers
122 views
Animal “blood lust”
I remember reading in some older books about ancient combat that animals would sometimes get "into the fight" so to speak. For lack of a better term, this was evidenced by horses actually attacking ...
11
votes
2answers
343 views
Was lighter or darker skin pigment valued higher in ancient Greek civilization?
Did the ancient Greeks higher value lighter skin and hair, as do modern Indians?
0
votes
1answer
126 views
What city is 2000 years old?
In his 1988 song "The Star Called Sun" Viktor Tsoi sings about a city that is 2000 years old. His fans for a long time speculated which city he could mean.
So it is interesting what cities were ...
7
votes
3answers
530 views
What was the first known war in history?
Not the first instance of warfare, which surely predates recorded history, but of an organized war between civilizations. For the purposes of this question I'll define a war as:
Defined scope: the ...
10
votes
2answers
403 views
Evidence of diets that were exclusively vegetarian
What evidence, provided by archaeological anthropology, is there in regards to diets that were exclusively vegetarian by choice from Ancient history (4th millennium BC) to Classical antiquity (5th ...
10
votes
2answers
136 views
How Was Roman Military Equipment Created and Distributed
When discussing the logistics of Roman armies, I usually see consumables and seigework discussed the most. However, I've been wondering about how the arms, armor, and tools were created and ...
5
votes
2answers
422 views
How often did city-destroying floods happen in Mesopotamia?
I keep seeing Mesopotamia described as a floodplain, and I'm finding inklings of evidence that some cities in ancient Mesopotamia were actually destroyed by floods. But how common of an occurrence ...
9
votes
3answers
657 views
Was early Sumerian civilization wiped out by a flood?
Sumerian texts speak of a worldwide flood that wiped out most of mankind's achievements on earth. I had always suspected such a flood -- even if only covering all of Sumer -- was mythical, but then I ...
6
votes
4answers
688 views
What is the oldest road in the world that has been in continuous use?
My suspicions are that a road in Rome, Italy, likely has a strong claim, or perhaps a road in Egypt. It just needs to be a road that has been in continuous use for traffic, whether it was some form of ...
4
votes
2answers
156 views
Is there a majority viewpoint for the fall of the ancient Egyptian civilization?
This article on the end of the ancient Egyptian civilization posits four different points at which the civilization ended:
Is it the definitive end of native Egyptian rule (at least until the 20th ...
30
votes
7answers
743 views
History of scientific regression
Throughout history, humans have made many subtle and many substantial scientific advancements. Humans have explored, examined, learned, applied and at times seemingly "forgotten" and/or were unable ...
9
votes
2answers
348 views
If modern human existed for hundreds of thousands years why was writing invented only some 7000-9000 years ago?
Linguistic studies indicate that human languages were not that different from modern languages 6000 and 7000 years ago. They had distinguishable sounds, vowels, consonants, syllables, roots and stems ...
9
votes
3answers
185 views
What are the most comprehensive historical references for ancient India?
India is referenced in many ancient Greek and Persian sources, but these are often fragmentary. Which sources (if any) exist which describe ancient India in detail?
Since ancient can be interpreted ...
6
votes
4answers
159 views
Resources on the History of African Civilization
I was wondering if anyone might be aware of any good resources on the history and development of African civilizations? I will of course be seeking council from the Most Wise and Great God Google, ...
9
votes
1answer
122 views
How widespread was practice of fusion of Graeco-Roman and barbarian names?
There are some instances when barbarian names were romanized in order to be similar to already existing Roman or Greek names. Just some examples that come to mind:
Hebrew Martha -> Marta ("of Mars")
...
13
votes
1answer
254 views
Comparison of Ancient Greecian and Egyptian schools and methods of studying to modern day
I've been watching some documentary that stated that our modern schools are used to make people submit to authority and think in a linear way. Just to make us good workers.
And I wonder - What was ...
4
votes
2answers
145 views
When were the lictors abolished?
I wonder when the institute of lictors was abolished in the Ancient Rome? Who was the last emperor to have lictors as companions?
10
votes
3answers
241 views
What is the evidence to claim that political order in ancient Rome was sufficiently different under “kingdom”, “republic” and “empire”?
Traditionally the following stages are counted for the political order of the Ancient Rome:
Kingdom
Republic
Empire (subdivided into Principate and Dominate)
The "kingdom" is usually regarded as ...
16
votes
8answers
3k views
Why is Dravidian history ignored?
Whenever I read an article on ancient Indian history, I see people only writing about the Indus valley civilization and the Aryans. But what about Dravidians? Didn't they exist even before the Aryans ...
11
votes
1answer
295 views
When did the Hebrews stop speaking Hebrew and start speaking Aramaic?
The Torah was written Hebrew, and most of the old testament was written in Hebrew, although parts of Daniel were written in Aramaic. By the time of the 1st century, Aramaic was the common language for ...
3
votes
1answer
154 views
What was the origin of the Classical Antiquity culture?
I many times heard a version that the advances of the Ancient Greek culture were in fact borrowed from Egypt or the Middle East. I will not buy this. Classical Antiquity civilization had a lot of ...
0
votes
0answers
217 views
How human knowledge is passed by tens of thousands of generations without loss (especially today)? [closed]
I'm trying to understand how human knowledge is passed down from generation to generation without loss. Or loss occurs?
I believe that today is extremely rare that someone (a single person) can build ...
14
votes
2answers
775 views
Where was human history first purposely recorded?
I recently read about ancient cave paintings in France. Would this be an example of the first purposely recorded human events? If not, what was? When did it happen and where?
I am not much of an ...
9
votes
1answer
247 views
When did key locks first appear?
When and where did the first metal key locks appear (not the door bolts)?
When did they became widespread?
25
votes
2answers
376 views
How accurate or supported is Jared Diamond's “Guns, Germs, and Steel”?
Jared Diamond wrote a fascinating book that purports to explain, in a very broad way, the development of civilization. It has several explanations for the development of Eurasian civilization rather ...
2
votes
0answers
110 views
What's the name of the (false) assumption that people in past ages were less able to reason? [closed]
In arguments involving past decisions or tradition, people frequently blow off a claim to tradition by using the (false) assumption that people in days gone by, or even ancient history were less able ...
7
votes
2answers
236 views
Organized crime as a historical phenomenon
Is there any scholarly consensus about the origins of organized crime historically? Do movements such as the Ndrangheta have analogues in the pre-Christian or Medieval world? Or is it a relatively ...
14
votes
1answer
316 views
What did the Romans do for Judea?
I watched The Life of Brian and I heard this quotation:
And from our fathers' fathers' fathers.
Reg: Yes.
Stan: And from our fathers' fathers' fathers' fathers.
Reg: All right, ...
10
votes
3answers
203 views
What would be accurate illustrations of vikings and viking culture?
Vikings didn't have horned helmets as is often depicted. Where can I find accurate representations how vikings and viking society looked?
10
votes
3answers
623 views
Real-life examples of finding long-lost treasure?
Whether it's Indiana Jones, National Treasure, or the latest Dan Brown novel, popular culture has fallen in love with the idea of finding long-lost treasure, preferably in some elaborate underground ...
12
votes
5answers
677 views
How well can cavalry fight infantry?
In the Battle of Pharsalus, Caesar's infantry won by throwing their spears at the horsemen's faces.
So how come in Battle of Zama and many other battles, including the battle where Khalid ibn ...
4
votes
1answer
131 views
Are there any independent historical records of ancient Persia allowing freedom of worship for the Jews?
Starting from this claim that the king of Persia respected the Jewish' God.
http://niv.scripturetext.com/daniel/6.htm
The only surviving text is the Jewish text.
Are there independent sources of ...
7
votes
2answers
196 views
Did the Gallic army besieged in Alesia conduct itself well when expecting relief?
During a Gallic revolution against Rome, a Gallic army of some 80,000 men took shelter in the fortress town of Alesia, where they were besieged by some 50,000 Romans under Julius Caesar. (His army may ...
9
votes
4answers
212 views
Are there ancient historical sources which have been permanently lost?
I'm in a Yr 11 Ancient history class studying Rome, and whenever I look over ancient sources on wikipedia there is always a list of lost works and occasionally a sentence describing how unfortunate it ...
26
votes
5answers
1k views
Which came first: Polytheism or monotheism?
It seems a common position that monotheism tends to evolve out of polytheism. Wikipedia offers a few historical examples of this.
However, many polytheistic religions seem to have monotheistic ...
