Hot answers tagged culture
21
Here is one noting:
The European medieval diet was largely determined by social class. For the majority of the of the people, peasants, a large portion of their daily diet was made up of grains such as wheat, rye, oats or barley(carbohydrates). The grains were boiled whole in a soup or stew, ground into flour and made into bread, or malted and brewed ...
19
That depends on what you mean by 'socks'.
Hesiod (Greece, ~700 bce) recommends that farmers line their boots with felted wool for extra insulation. That wool layer could be considered the first sock, and it was commonly available to people who weren't particularly rich.
When the Romans invaded northern Europe (ie, Gaul), they started wearing sewn foot ...
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Were Shakespeare's plays written for “high culture” or “entertain the bawdy masses” during his time?
As I recall from my readings, the floor of the theatre was where the masses sat, when they attended. Most would probably be drunk, considering the state of water sanitation at the time beer was the favored drink over raw water, and most would probably be ill-mannered. The well-to-do when they attended sat in the box seats above the "rabble", so that should ...
14
Japan shut out the West very successfully so its emergence from isolation was all the more abrupt, and Japan's history to 1945 could be seen as trying to integrate Japan's self-image and national mythologies, and its powerful social factions, into a post-feudal, industrial state. And quickly!
The Japanese leadership made a quick but effective plan to ...
11
The Burgundians were originally a Germanic tribe that settled the area that became known as Burgundy. Because it was so deeply in the heart of "French" territory, it adopted the French language and culture as soon as the Franks started pushing back the Saxons under King Charles Martel, and his grandson, Charlemagne. After the death of the latter, it ...
11
I think this is not specific to the U.S. at all. (Although I freely admit that, from what I know American education, it would certainly benefit from being less concerned with only the U.S., and a bit more with the rest of the world.)
Politics had always been a game of power, and, historically, the only, or at least the most successful, way to gain power ...
11
These did not have indigenous alcoholic beverages, aiming to be as exhaustive as possible:
Inuit (called "Eskimos" in Hornsey "Alcohol and Its Role in the Evolution of Human Society", p. 1)
peoples of Tierra del Fuego (South America) (ibid)
Australia (ibid)
most of the natives of the North America (ibid)
including Navajo (Hornsey, p. 554)
including Hopi ...
10
The Maya did: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_religion , in most cases this seemed to be more extaordinary and in a way of trying to get the attention of the gods in extreme circumstances, such as famine, flood or alternately kings ascending the throne.
As did the Aztec: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztec#Human_sacrifice , although I have never seem much ...
10
All the mathematical works of Hypatia of Alexandria for example were lost. From the secondary sources we do have, she was an amazing mathematician. Her death could be argued as the end of the classical times and the decent into the Dark Ages...
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Superstitions are hard to nail down as to the source, but this one doesn't seem to go back far and from what I have been told, in the US, it originates or resonates from the Last Supper. Jesus had 13 at the dinner the night before he was killed. So if you take many of the following sources at face value:
13 in numerology is unlucky because it's an ...
9
According to Katherine Grier author of Pets in America: A History (2006, UNC Press, arguably the authoritative work on the subject), the sentiment is probably rather recent, since the 1970s.
I will first make a couple of quick points:
You are asking about the rivalry between so-called "cat people" and "dog people," not between dogs and cats themselves. ...
8
The concept of praying to the Roman Gods as well as to whatever local deity did mean that the Republic then Empire could assimilate a lot of cultures. After all, they were always worshuiping the same gods, and now they can have access to all the good things that Rome provides -- see Life of Brian's "What did the Romans ever do for us?" speech. Even when the ...
8
The Serapeum is actually a smaller "branch" of the original library, formally part of the Temple of Serapis. The temple was converted to a Christian church by Theophilus around 390 AD, and it appears this is the reference you have noted above. This "branch" was not actually destroyed, but there is no doubt that many documents were destroyed during the ...
8
Perhaps one of the most influential things that raised awareness and popularity with these cultures was the involvement of the Beatles in exploring their own "spiritual awareness". At the height of their popularity, they drew a lot of attention to these alternatives to spirituality. The drug culture of the late 1960's included a very large movement of ...
8
If you heard that the pouring of wine was to kill bacteria, you know it's a fake. You have to wait till Louis Pasteur for bacteria. Also, unless there was a whole lot of wine/alcohol poured, it would have no effect whatsoever on the water in the well. Wine was very expensive in Roman times -- up to several slaves for a barrel in Gaul around 50BC as Caesar ...
8
Computer?
The Antikythera mechanism device for computing eclipses. Nothing much like it appears in history until Charles Babbage created his machines in the 1800's.
The following BBC special further explores the device.
Probing the secrets of the Antikythera Mechanism (Preview)
The Antikythera Mechanism as it is known, is regarded as the ...
8
Nixon is of course known for Watergate.
Benedict Arnold is known for his betrayal.
Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait with the intent of dominating the Middle East in the name of Arab nationalism and Islam. He believed the US would not wish to get involved. Yet, it united the UN including Egypt and Syria against him, leading to his defeat. Instead of being ...
8
Spain is in the western end of the Central European Time. This means despite the same clock, they have later actual sun cycle (e.g. later actual sunrise, noon, sunset, etc.) than other countries. Human activities are partly influenced by the sun cycle, so it is logical that their meal schedule is later than the rest of Europe as well.
For example, for 21 ...
8
Here's my proposition, basically it's just a set of Caucasus characteristics making this region especially interesting. By which we mean: there're numerous languages, 3 distinct language families, characteristic just for this region.
My first point is, language diversity / fragmentation is normal for regions without a strong state / commerce / any unifying ...
7
"Nationalism" as a term in its modern definition
Regularly being referred to as an author of remarkable influence on the terms nationality and nationalism in their modern recipation is Johann Gottfried Herder (1744-1803). In his work Ideas for the Philosophy of History of Humanity (1784–91), he is at least one of the first to claim that human societies ...
7
This is not a complete answer because your question is actually a huge topic with many possible approaches.
Birth is ethnicity
My personal view on this is that, long ago, at a time when the nomadic way of life was the rule, nations did not relate to geographical origin but rather to birth.
The etymology of various IE languages is very clear on this:
...
7
Archeologists have found evidence of religious rituals in Neanderthal burial sites 300,000 years ago. So this was likely a behavior we shared with our common ancestor, Homo Rhodensiensis at least 350K years ago when they diverged.
Unsurprisingly, the first literate societies, Sumer and Egypt, used their literacy to record some of their religious practices.
...
6
The end of Japan's isolation wasn't voluntary - Japan was forced out of its isolation by American gunboats sailing into Tokyo Bay.
Basically, they saw the world being divided into colonizers and the colonized, and decided they'd rather be the former. (Despite being theoretically closed to all outside contact before then, Japan did get some news from ...
6
Carthage practised mass infant sacrifice to their gods in particular Baʿal. The practices increased as Rome was defeating Carthage culminating just before the destruction of the city.
Source: NY Times and The Punic Wars by A. Goldsworthy.
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One example of human sacrifice was a practice called Sati in India. It was a Hindu tradition, mostly restricted to some northern regions of India. Under Sati, a widowed woman would sit on her husband's pyre and burn along with him. What differentiates Sati from other examples above, was that this practice was voluntary and the decision rested with the widow ...
6
Whithout any doubt, the history part of the contemporary Russian culture is absolutely military. About 95% of Russian alternative history novels are about how this or that war could be replayed. Is it due to Russian agressivity? It seems so... But ... the utterly unmilitary culture of the contemporary Czech republic is very much interested in ancient wars, ...
6
As all the other answers indicate, there are thousands of such examples. Here are a few more.
The Aeolipile was essentially a steam engine invented at the latest around 1st century CE which was when Hero of Alexandria described it. It has also been mentioned in works possibly dating back to 200 BCE.
The aeolipile consists of a vessel, usually a "simple" ...
6
It seems that the diminshing use of the Roman three-name practice (which includes the cognomen as the 3rd name) was primarily due to the influence of early Christian & Greek "naming" traditions.
Personal Names of the Aristocracy in the Roman Empire During the Later Byzantine Era
...
Personal names in the Byzantine era of the Roman Empire ...
6
People all over Europe still customarily use Roman numerals to write months, whatever ISO standards say.
What may be of interest to you I've tried to find an example of such format, including the unusual single slash. It did not seem German-like (they usually prefer dots over slashes), but I've found letters from Marc Chagall ...
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James B. Conant, a higher education reformer and president of Harvard University from 1933-1953, adopted the Scholastic Aptitude Test (now known simply as the SAT) for Harvard admissions in 1941. Harvard was one of the last selective Northeastern schools to drop its separate entrance examination— though it had used the SAT for evaluating scholarship ...
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