Questions tagged [classical-antiquity]
A broad term used for the period of cultural history of the Greco-Roman world that lasted from the 8th century BC to the decline of the Roman Empire in the 5th century AD.
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Is there a standard authority on the textual history of the authors of antiquity?
Given a book coming to us from ancient Greece/Rome (no reason to necessarily limit just to those two, if there's a wider answer), is there a standard way for me to find out how the text came down to ...
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What was the nature of conflict between Helvetii and German in prelude to Gallic Wars?
In Caesar's diaries from Gallic Wars, he states that Helvetii battled Germans "almost daily, repelling them from their own territories or waging wars on German frontiers".
What were German ...
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Since when has there been a clear distinction between sciences?
Since what historical event or what exact date is there a clear distinction between sciences?
According to my knowledge in antiquity there were many scientists who were all mathematicians, physicists, ...
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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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What was the extent of free speech under the Hellenistic empires?
I have been doing independent research on censorship during the Hellenistic Period, particularly during the reins of the Seleucid and Ptolemaic Dynasties. So far the only example I can find of ...
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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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Did Rome conquer the Parthian Empire during the conquests of Trajan?
I read from wikipedia that Rome never managed to beat Parthia after the mind blowing defeat the Parthian General Surena inflicted on Crassus during the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BC, but then after being ...
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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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Where does Herodotus discuss judging the wisdom of decisions by the evidence at hand vs. the consequences?
Physicist/statistician Edwin T. Jaynes, in a broad overview of the history of ideas about reasoning amidst uncertainty (precursors to Bayesian inference), attributes an early articulation of an ...
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Were there "Taxes Paid" slave tattoos in the Roman Empire?
In this video, YouTube: Did Ancient Romans Use Tattoos? @ 4:35, the presenter mentions a "Taxes Paid" tattoo. I understand it's just YouTube but I believe this creator doesn't typically ...
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What is the name of this ancient means of identification based on broken objects?
I'm gathering data about the origins of identification/authentication means. I remember having read about a way of identifying a friend, during the bronze age. Maybe during classical antiquity also.
...
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Is it reasonable to claim that peaceful transfers of power began, globally, in the United States? [closed]
One of my children's history textbooks claimed that Adams' peaceful concession to Jefferson following the US election in 1800 was the first peaceful transfer of power between rival executives in ...
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What are the stages of traversals of the Mediterranean Sea?
Different tribes and nations have existed all around the Mediterranean sea in the bronze age and later. They would know their land-neighbors, and may have communicated and traded with each other ...
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Is Josephus' account for the length of the Jewish War generally accepted as correct?
In Josephus' famous work on the subject, the First Jewish-Roman War is depicted as lasting a full number of years,1 inasmuch as it is presented as starting in the month of Artemisius (II Wars 14:4), ...
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What ancient manuscripts were lost when the Huguenots destroyed the Cluny Abbey library?
I've heard that the destruction of the great Cluny Abbey library (in the Burgundy region of France) both by the Huguenots (1562) and later during the French Revolution meant that a massive number of ...
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Did Hellenic-Romans have Ancient Greek heritage?
I had the results of my "true ancestry" back. You upload DNA data and they compare it to DNA obtained from ancient burial sites.
Interestingly, I had a strong match to "Hellenic-Roman", but nothing ...
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Why are the buildings built in classical style in the first half of the 19th century in Russia so frequently yellow-and-white - coloured?
So many buildings built in neo-classical style in cr. 1800-1850 in Russian empire are yellow (always the same shade of yellow) with white columns. There are some exceptions, e.g. grey or blue of beige ...
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Were Roman males ever named after their mothers?
We know that Roman men often named sons after them, and daughters were usually given the feminine form of their father's name. But are there any records or evidence that a Roman man was ever given the ...
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Did they use nicknames in ancient Rome?
Praenomens in ancient Rome seemed to have been rather limited, especially by the time of the empire. There must've been cases where close friends or cousins and the like would've had the same ...
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Where is it recorded that Spartan common meals were followed by a recounting of noble deeds?
I'm having trouble finding a particular historical reference.
In On Manly Courage: A Study of Plato's Laches, on page 57, the author implies that Spartan common meals were followed by the recounting ...
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Earliest evidence of objects intended for future archaeologists?
In modern times, it is not unusual for people to wonder what, if anything, will archeologists of the future (human or otherwise) will learn about our civilization from various artifacts we leave ...
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What is the etymological origin of the Marsi, the ancient Italic people?
The English Wikipedia article does not provide any etymological explanations on the demonym. The Italian article, which is marked as "recommended", points the name's origin to the Italic deity Mamerte,...
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Were the ancient Greeks very poor compared to the ancient Persians?
Today, one way modern scholars determine civilization is by it's material prosperity and consumption levels. To be prosperous is for the man of today a good thing and we consider poverty in a nation ...
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What is the chair depicted in Cesare Maccari's 1889 painting "Cicerone denuncia Catilina"?
There are a number of inaccuracies in Cesare Maccari's painting. Wikipedia notes that the arrangement of the chairs was of parallel rather than radial as depicted. Did Maccari accurately depict the ...
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What is the oldest known work of fiction?
What is the oldest known work of fiction that we know was meant to be taken as fiction? I mean to exclude mythologies; the audience of these was meant to believe they were true. What is the oldest ...
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Did ancient Germans take pride in leaving the land untouched?
I remember reading something along those lines, perhaps in the De Bello Gallico. Can anyone provide source material to confirm this?
EDIT: I think the claim was also that the tribes there were ...
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What are some of the earliest examples of welfare states?
I was reading about Welfare States and came across this on Wikipedia:
Emperor Ashoka of India put forward his idea of a welfare state in the 3rd century BCE. [...] The concepts of welfare and ...
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Did people 'go to the beach' for pleasure during classical antiquity?
Swimming in the sea was necessary for many in ancient Rome or Greece, but did they do it for recreation?
Re:
I have seen a picture of a Roman pool created from the sea made for relaxation and ...
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Which groups of people were awake at night in antiquity?
I've come across claims that prehistoric people didn't get much sleep, which seems to be extrapolated from observations of existing primitive cultures. I'm wondering whether there's something more ...
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Why wasn't there more use of wind power in antiquity?
Wind power [was never] taken seriously in the ancient world [...]
though Hero of Alexandria described a windmill connected to an air
pump designed to blow an organ, there is no evidence for the ...
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When were the first heating apparatus used for bathing?
If in the Odyssey they already washed themselves with warm water prepared on fire, why didn’t the athletes in the loutrons of the palaestrae do the same? They used cold water, which is ineffective for ...
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Does anyone know what type of structure this is?
I came across this picture taken at an ancient Roman site (name & location not provided) and was wondering what kind of structure it is. I've searched for fountains, wells, milestones, and ...
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Do historians support the existence of brothers to Jesus?
Jesus does not have a brother in some Christian traditions, his mother Mary is a perpetual virgin. For instance the Catholic church holds this theory as a theologoumenon, namely a theological ...
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Do we have any surviving texts by Romano-Celtic authors?
Do we have any surviving texts or references to texts with Romano-Celtic authors and how common were 'non-Greco-Italian' (I'm not sure of the best term for that) authors? Specifically within the Roman ...
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How the average female body used to be before the industrial revolution? [closed]
I have this curiosity for several reasons.History articles says that before the isdustrial revolution most people used to be quite poor and most of the population were peasants. In other words, most ...
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How was the Roman army in fact organized during Caesar's campaigns in Gaul?
I'm finding contradictory descriptions about how Roman legions were organized during the Gallic Wars (58-50 BC).
An appendix on Roman military organization in The Landmark Julius
Caesar highlights ...
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In Antiquity, were Persian arrows considered superior to their Greek counterparts?
In Xenophon's Anabasis I ran into the following part:
The Persian bows are also large, and consequently the Cretans could
make good use of all the arrows that fell into their hands; in fact,
...
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How much more productive was Aegyptus in comparison to Africa Proconsularis in classical antiquity?
On the one hand, the Wikipedia page on Africa Proconsularis states, with no references, that it "produced one million tons of cereals each year, one-quarter of which was exported." On the other, the ...
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Was bronze ever used for chainmail?
I was reading the Wikipedia article on mail, more commonly known as chainmail, when I saw a mention that mail could be made with bronze. The section in general did not appear to be talking about ...
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Why was galena used as a black pigment, when soot is more black and also more abundant?
Throughout centuries, starting in antiquity at least, galena (PbS) is reported as a black pigment. This is for painting but also (in Egypt and Rome) as a cosmetic.
Soot is a more effective pigment ...
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What was different about the "right" (recto) side of papyrus sheets compared to the other side?
Usually only one side of papyrus sheets was used to write on in classic antiquity. What is the difference between the two sides of a sheet, and why would you write on "recto" only?
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Did germophobia exist in classical antiquity?
I know nothing of the cleaning habits of the Greeks, but about Rome Mary Beard (2015) says that doctors knew that going to the public baths with an open wound would likely result in gangrene, so it ...
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What kind of gas caused the end of excavations/tunneling of the "villa of the papyrii" in the 18th century?
The reason why excavations of the Villa of the papyrii in Herculaneum had to end is usually cited to be "gas invading the tunnels". That is a common problem in coal mining. However, volcanic deposits, ...
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More honorable to plunder than to work for Germanic tribes in antiquity
Quite a few years ago, I watched a documentary about Germanic tribes which claimed that for some tribes, "plundering was more honorable than working", or something to that extent.
Is this true? ...
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Did early northern Europeans drink alcohol?
Before the Roman empire brought alcohol to areas of Northern Europe around two thousand years ago, do we know if the native people of Britain and Scandinavia drank alcohol?
My preliminary search is ...
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How did early Judaism and Zoroastrianism influence each other, if they were so far apart?
I've been reading, from various sources, fairly vague and hand-wavey claims that Zoroastrianism and early Judaism influenced each other (and that both were influenced by Atenism).
Looking at ...
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Can Alexander III of Macedon's success be attributed to good logistics management?
A friend of mine who majored in Classical History at Berkeley mentioned that we focus too much on Alexander's battles which are interesting studies in set pieces but not enough on how skilled he was ...
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Did the Romans see Africa as a black continent? Was there a perception of a divide between Africa and Europe?
Nowadays the Western world perceives Africa as the continent of the black people and hence a standard African person as a black individual.
How did the people in the Roman empire perceive the African ...
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Were the greatest rulers from before the Classical Antiquity known by ancient historians?
To clearly delimit dates and places, I ask for information about the rulers before 1000 BC in the Fertile Crescent or Eastern Mediterranean. Historians may be Greek, Roman, or peoples belonging to the ...
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How much of what we know about ancient philosophers comes from oral literature?
Have any orally-transmitted myths survived throughout the centuries in such a form that we could identify any of the ancient philosophers of Classical Greece and Rome in them? I'm interested in ...
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