55
votes
Accepted
Did ancient Germans take pride in leaving the land untouched?
It's probably nonsense, but it's nonsense with an interesting history.
The actual ancient Germanics were herders and farmers, with cattle, barley, and wheat as their staples. Given the natural ...
- 122k
39
votes
Earliest evidence of objects intended for future archaeologists?
Coins, dedications, and other 'ritual' objects have been buried in the foundations of buildings since prehistory. The function of these artefacts is unclear, but they do not appear to have been ...
- 77.2k
38
votes
Accepted
Did germophobia exist in classical antiquity?
What is germaphobia? It's an obsession, it
"is a pathological fear of contamination and germs. "
If we look for something similar in antiquity we just need to turn that onto its feet: this ...
- 80.8k
34
votes
Accepted
Did early northern Europeans drink alcohol?
Yes.
Residue analysis has found chemical signatures consistent with the presence of honey, and organic compounds associated with fermentation suggesting that mead was being drunk by the late ...
- 77.2k
30
votes
What is the oldest known work of fiction?
I remember being taught that the oldest known work of fiction was the Ancient Egyptian Tale of Two Brothers.
The story was one of those found on the Papyrus D'Orbiney, which has been dated to the ...
- 77.2k
28
votes
Accepted
In Antiquity, were Persian arrows considered superior to their Greek counterparts?
A slightly different translation reads as follows:
The Persian bows were also large, so that such of their arrows as were taken were useful to the Cretans, and they continued using their enemies’...
- 80.8k
28
votes
Were Roman males ever named after their mothers?
Yes, they were, but not until the Imperial period. A specific example is this one:
The practice of Constantinius Aequalis and Pacatia Servanda is typical
of the later first or second century. The ...
- 108k
26
votes
Do historians support the existence of brothers to Jesus?
Historians quite widely agree that there very probably was a historical person called Jesus. They do agree that this person provided the blueprint or projection space for the belief that centered on ...
- 80.8k
26
votes
Accepted
What is the oldest known work of fiction?
If folktales count, then The Poor Man of Nippur (c. 1500 BCE) probably beats the Egyptian Tale of Two Brothers by at least a few centuries. It's certainly not mythological in any modern sense, being ...
- 946
25
votes
How did early Judaism and Zoroastrianism influence each other, if they were so far apart?
They weren't in fact far apart at all. Zoroastrianism was the state religion of the Achaemenid Empire, which encompassed Israel.
Its actually even closer than this map implies though. In the period ...
- 122k
24
votes
Accepted
Do we have any surviving texts by Romano-Celtic authors?
Since I have a good memory, I remembered and/or looked up a few names of Roman citizens who lived in Gaul or Britain or came from Gaul or Britain to other parts of the empire, and who wrote. These ...
- 19.4k
24
votes
Accepted
Does anyone know what type of structure this is?
This is a roman fountain at Djemila, Algeria (Latin: Cuicul or Curculum). There's a vast amount of literature and web material on Djemila in general (and some on the fountain), for example:
The ...
- 3,640
21
votes
Accepted
Where does Herodotus discuss judging the wisdom of decisions by the evidence at hand vs. the consequences?
Macaulay, 1890 the counsel which has been taken is no less good, though it has been defeated by fortune; while he who took counsel badly at first, if good fortune should go with him has lighted on a ...
19
votes
Earliest evidence of objects intended for future archaeologists?
The ancient Sumerians and Babylonians, from about 3000 BC on, used to bury clay tablets in the foundations of their temples and other major buildings giving the name of the king who founded the temple ...
- 9,694
18
votes
Do we have any surviving texts by Romano-Celtic authors?
There is a certain Rutilius Namatianus who lived in the early 5th century Gaul. I do not know how much Celtic ancestry he had.
He admired Rome and considered his family part of its "sacred Genius", ...
- 4,324
18
votes
Accepted
Were there "Taxes Paid" slave tattoos in the Roman Empire?
Apparently yes, that is one possible way of reading one surviving inscription. But it is not so clear cut easy.
This is evidenced by one find, a rather isolated appearance from Ephesos:
often ...
- 80.8k
14
votes
Did germophobia exist in classical antiquity?
Obsessive compulsive disorders do not exist in a vacuum - you have to put them in their context. Mysophobia is stereotyped as excessively washing hands today, but it is not intrinsically about hand ...
- 97.6k
14
votes
Did the Romans see Africa as a black continent? Was there a perception of a divide between Africa and Europe?
You can't really compare the two, because the Romans lived in such a different world than we do.
The Romans didn't really have the concept of a "continent", as they didn't know for a fact that land ...
- 122k
13
votes
Did ancient Germans take pride in leaving the land untouched?
Unless specified further it seems quite contestable that Caesar wrote much to this effect.
If any ancient Roman author comes to mind, with sufficient detail, then it is primarily Publius Cornelius ...
- 80.8k
12
votes
Accepted
Was bronze ever used for chainmail?
"Was it ever?" Certainly. The style of armour evolved with swings of a pendulum as can be seen from the earliest bronze age up until now, with conspicuous heights found in the trench warfare ...
- 80.8k
12
votes
Accepted
What is the chair depicted in Cesare Maccari's 1889 painting "Cicerone denuncia Catilina"?
Roman senators sat on benches while the consuls had the privilege of sitting on curule chairs (which are not shown in the fresco).
In addition to the arrangement of the seating, Cesare Maccari's ...
- 108k
11
votes
Accepted
Was there a tax on being fat in Gaul?
I think you're remembering a comment in Strabo's Geography, Book 4, Chapter 4, where he quotes Ephorus saying:
Ephorus, in his account, makes Celtica so excessive in its size that
he assigns to ...
10
votes
Accepted
Can Alexander III of Macedon's success be attributed to good logistics management?
The Macedonian army was indeed relying on a well-established logistics organization.
The following book, as already mentioned in the comments, is probably the most well-known one about the subject ...
- 1,089
10
votes
Did early northern Europeans drink alcohol?
Mead was the alcoholic drink of northern Europe, particularly "Celtic" northern Europe, e.g. the British Isles and northern France. It also figures prominently in the literature of the Scandinavians. ...
- 104k
10
votes
What was different about the "right" (recto) side of papyrus sheets compared to the other side?
Several reasons added up to prefering the recto side:
As long as the roll was the preferred form for books (yes, you can fold papyrus and yes, it was done quite a lot when using it for codices, 2./3. ...
- 136
10
votes
Accepted
Why wasn't there more use of wind power in antiquity?
I believe windmills have to wait until the late Middle Ages because, due to the inequities of the cube-square law, making life size operational windmills is very difficult.
The cube-square-law is a ...
- 72.5k
9
votes
Accepted
Is Josephus' account for the length of the Jewish War generally accepted as correct?
I doubt that anyone has been bothered by this coincidence because it's not terribly unlikely.
If there are 12 months in the year and if wars last a random amount of time, one war in twelve will end in ...
- 8,172
8
votes
How much did a ship cost in Ancient Greece?
As has been stated also by others, the real cost of a navy was not the construction cost, but the operating cost. According to Thucydides, the operating cost in 5th century Athens amounted to one ...
- 308
8
votes
Accepted
Which groups of people were awake at night in antiquity?
Aside from the Vigiles (basically, firemen and police) mentioned by sempaiscuba in his comment, there were quite a few groups of people who would have been active at night in Imperial Rome.
Perhaps ...
- 108k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible