Questions tagged [ancient-history]
Ancient history was from the beginning of recorded history (c. 4000 B.C.) until the fall of the Roman Empire (c. A.D. 500).
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Are there any authentic and unvarnished records in ancient Europe? [closed]
Is there a historical book in ancient Europe similar to the Records of the Historian of ancient China? Was there a offier in ancient Europe to record history? How reliable is the decline fall of the ...
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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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Is there a record of a rabid human attacking another human?
I was just reading the Wikipedia page on rabies, and the following claim is made:
Although it is theoretically possible for rabies-infected humans to transmit it to others by biting or otherwise, no ...
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Were the Assyrians and the Akkadians different people or the same people under a different name?
Were the Assyrians and the Akkadians different peoples, or were they one and the same?
I've noticed that the Assyrians didn't seem to have their own gods as far as I have read and are just worshiping ...
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Did courtiers of antiquity hold in their pee or did they have common commodes available in the king/queen's court?
Self-explanatory. Did any royal court in history from ancient to medieval times (of any culture) have a public restroom that people who attended court can use, or were they sort of left to their own ...
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What is the oldest continuously circulating story that survived until 1890’s? [closed]
What is the oldest continuously circulating story (specifically prior 13th century BCE) that survived until 1890’s? (eg myths/histories etc)
I am specifically looking for a myth/story/history that ...
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When was The Tale of Sinuhe first REdiscovered?
I have found a website that gives the details of all of the sources of The Tale of Sinuhe, but I can't figure out what the actual date of discovery was for each of those sources (in order to find the ...
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Roman Empire Netflix Map
Netflix's recent series, called "Roman Empire", has this miniature for the Portuguese language:
We can recognise this as a map of the Roman Empire, especially during the early Principate ...
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What is "Distributed Survival Theory"?
I'm just going through "History of the Steppes" on Wondrium/Great Courses. The lecturer mentions "Distributed Survival Theory" for explaining language acquisition with nomadic ...
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Is there truth to the Dynastic Race Theory regarding Ancient Egyptians?
According to Dynastic Race Theory,
[T]he earliest roots of the ancient Egyptian dynastic civilisation were imported by invaders from Mesopotamia who then founded the First Dynasty and brought culture ...
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What is the true origin of Capri's "Scala Fenicia" ("Phoenician Steps")?
On the small Italian island of Capri (located about 25 miles south of Naples), there is a 2700-plus year old stone stairway which was literally carved into a small mountain. These "921 steps&...
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Was the Tetrarchy known under a different name by contemporaries?
It made me curious that the Tetrarchy should be known by a Greek name, so I've spent some time searching for a Latin alternative, but I didn't find any mention of it, including in the Latin-language ...
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What is the historical origin of the story of the Temptation of Christ? [closed]
In the New Testament of the Christian Bible, there is a story in which Jesus meets the Christian Devil (Satan), and Satan tempts Jesus to give up his mission through promises of power.
I want more ...
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What was the Gothic language name for Ravenna?
I'm trying to surmise what was/might have been the Gothic name for Ravenna, which served as the Ostrogothic capital for some time. Gothic does have the sounds to emulate the Latin pronunciation (...
Greg N.
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What is the origin of this medallion?
I want to get information on what looks
like a medallion that my father found at a construction
site (at his home) in 1968 in Port Colborne, Ontario, Canada. It was found about 10 feet underground. It ...
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How do we reconcile hierarchical and violent aspects of Ancient Egypt with its nonviolent principle of Maat, as exemplified in negative confessions?
Maat represents and refers to the ancient Egyptian concepts of truth, balance, order, harmony, law, morality, and justice. Ma'at was also the goddess who personified these concepts, and regulated the ...
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What is the source for exact years of the Hittite/Egyptian state of war?
The following is an excerpt of a critique on "Reason to Believe":
Critic: Under these conditions, were the Ten Plagues and a total crush of the Egyptian army in the Red Sea waters to happen,...
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When did the Babylonian king Amel-Marduk reign?
According to Wikipedia, the reign of the Babylonian king Amel-Marduk (also known as Awil-Marduk and Evil-Merodach) was started in October 562 B.C.E. and was ended in August 560 B.C.E. So, it lasted ...
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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 ...
user56240
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How was the Baalbek Trilithon dated?
In alternative history circles there's a frequent claim that the massive trilithon at the temple to Jupiter in Baalbek is evidence of a lost civilization or alien interference.
A less fantastic claim ...
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Please help me to identify these items?
My toddler, who likes to collect stones, came across these items during a walk around the outskirts of Norwich, England. The item that looks like the head of a spear is definitely man-made. I'm not ...
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Has Sun Tzu ever advocated for something that in modern society is a war crime, or what has Sun Tzu ever said about war crimes? [closed]
I've read The Art of War 3x, but I didn't yet know the concept of 'war crime'. So I never really paid much attention to the text in that regard.
Question: Has Sun Tzu ever advocated for something that ...
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Who would have been worshipped as the god of engineering in Ancient Rome?
I am wondering who people, like the Roman architects that designed the aqueducts and other engineering marvels, would pray to to make sure their designs were good and would work?
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What religions were persecuted and disappeared (between 1000 BCE – 1 CE)? [closed]
R Gottlieb wrote in his book called "Reason to Believe" on page 66 that many cultures were persecuted between 1000 BCE – 1 CE, and none survived. As far as I'm aware, he does not provide any ...
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Did ancient Axumites use papyrus for writing?
Why are there Ge'ez texts only on rock and not on parchment or papyrus before the 4th century CE?
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How can we be confident that Tacitus really wrote his Histories and Annals?
How can we be confident that Tacitus really wrote any of the works attributed to him, namely his Histories and Annals?
The background here is that when we discuss the historicity and/or accuracy of ...
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Did Lucian of Samosata make this joke on purpose?
This is going to be a bit of a niche question, so bear with me.
Recently I've been reading the work of famous satirist Lucian of Samosata. He's pretty funny, but the thing is, I can't read the ...
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Are there any books with history short/summarised stories?
I was recently reading Atrocities by Matthew white, which has stories about the 100 greatest atrocities in world history. It is the first history book I have managed to complete. I prefer to read a ...
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What early sources other than the books of Maccabees and Josephus are there for Judean rebellions under Antiochus IV?
Other than the books of Maccabees and Antiquities of the Jews (book XII) by Josephus, can anyone help me by pointing me to other early (3rd century or earlier) sources for the Judean rebellions under ...
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Where did this claim about the Egpytian Theban army come from?
In this old Locomotive Engineers Journal, there is a short discussion of ancient vs modern army sizes. The writer gives a list of very large ancient armies. Most of the items on the list have easy ...
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What was the calendar used by ancient Palmyrenes?
An inscription found on one column in Palmyra, dated on April 252 AD, reads
"To Septimius Odaenathus […] in the month of Nisan the year 563" (April, 252)
Found on the book The Roman ...
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When did horseback riding start? Are Doosheh cave petroglyphs authentic and correctly dated?
I am trying to reconcile 3 answers I have got so far. Perhaps there are more. My main question is about when horseback riding started.
In Ashmolean Museum (Oxford, UK), the information panel in the ...
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What was the most historically accurate part of Zecharia Sitchin's account of Sumeria?
As a trained economist / logistics guy, it's little wonder that Zecharia Sitchin's Sumerology has many holes. His cuneiform was apparently self-taught and this led to major distortions of the original ...
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Is this cairn/mound-like structure in Germany real or imagined?
EDIT: I have found the answer - it was Waldviertel Pyramid. I have provided details in the answer.
The thing is that I have either read about or seen on a TV documentary about a certain cairn-like ...
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Why did Hadrian put Jupiter's statue in Beith Hamikdash?
The third Roman Jewish war happened 'because Hadrian put Jupiter's statue in Beith Hamikdash' (Temple in Jerusalem).
Why would he do so?
I've heard that originally his relationship with his Jewish ...
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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 ...
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What route would 1st century BCE travellers have taken from Alexandria to Jerusalem?
The Babylonian Talmud recounts a story in which a sage, Yehoshua ben Perachaiah, and one of his students travel from Alexandria, Egypt to Jerusalem (Sotah 47a, Sanhedrin 107b). The story takes place ...
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Why do ancient Jewish sources increasingly downplay Rome's role in Jerusalem's destruction?
Josephus, the (in)famous Judeo-Roman historian, in his pivotal account of the Jewish-Roman war, seeks to persistently and systematically distance the Romans from any moral responsibility in the Temple'...
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Why is there such a dramatic shift in Tamil script during the 3rd to 5th centuries AD?
I have already asked this question in Linguistics.SE but I didn't get any answers and the comments there spoke of historical reasons rather than Linguistics shifts so I'm asking here.
Recently, I was ...
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Why wasn't Akkadian translated into other more common languages?
From what I have gathered I believe there are currently no examples of Akkadian literature, written on cuneiform tablets, being translated into other languages onto papyri outside the Mesopotamian ...
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Was Haman (who is mentioned the Book of Esther) a historical person?
according to wikipedia
Haman is the main antagonist in the Book of Esther, who according to the Hebrew Bible was a grand vizier in the Persian empire under King Ahasuerus, commonly identified as ...
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What were the dimensions of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem? [duplicate]
I think I remember reading somewhere that the Jewish temple in Jerusalem - either Solomon's temple, the Second Temple, or Herod's Temple - was very tall overall. What I seem to remember was that its ...
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As far as Themistocles's journey after his exile is concerned why do modern historians conclude that Plutarch meant Thasos instead of Naxos?
I am referring to the flight of Themistocles after his ostracism. When he finally reached Macedon and to Pydna he tried to reach Asia via a merchant ship. Thucydides says that a storm forced him to ...
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Was the Achaemenid Empire richer than the Sasanian Empire?
A while ago I read a passage regarding the economy of different Persian empires. The passage was implying that the Achaemenid Persian empire (a.k.a first Iranian empire) was in total ``far richer"...
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From where did Aryans originate?
When one reads the Ancient Indian History and Ancient History as a whole, the much-discussed theory of Indo-European migration to India often comes up.
Ancient Indian History in introductory books is ...
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What made Seleucid monarchy so unstable?
I would not claim that the Seleucid monarchy was more unstable than other Hellenistic monarchies (though contemporary Antigonid Macedonia appears to be more politically robust) but throughout the 3rd ...
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Where did the idea of weeks originate and why do they have seven days?
Years, months and days are based on obvious astronomic cycles, which makes them largely standardized and ubiquitous across all societies. Weeks, on the other hand, have no relationship to astronomical ...
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How safe were ancient boats on the sea? [closed]
On Wiki, it is said that even in the Bronze Age, sea people looted with boat.
But is it safe to cross the sea by boat in the Bronze Age?
If not, since when has it been stable to cross the sea by boat?
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Any evidence of woman named Claudia being a Welsh princess?
There is a passage in the Bible (II Timothy 4:21) about a woman named Claudia, whom presumably was married to a man mentioned in the same passage named Pudens. I've read various blogs that suggest ...
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Are the sources in Flora Unveiled correct?
According to the book, Flora Unveiled: The Discovery and Denial of Sex in Plants by Lee Taiz and Lincoln Taiz published by Oxford, Chapter 8: Plant sex from Empedocles to Theophrastus (pg 213), the ...
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