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1500 questions
29
votes
4 answers
How would slaves have addressed their masters in Ancient Greece?
In Ancient Rome, slaves addressed their masters as Dominus or Domina (male or female, respectively).
Would the slaves (or servants) of Ancient Greece have used a similar title, or would they have simply used their masters's names?
samiz
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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 the people living in Palestine.
At what point…
aceinthehole
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Did Arab policymakers have plans for the Jewish population, in case of victory in 1948 War?
Presumably the Arab goal in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war was to defeat Israel. Total victory would probably mean the total control of the whole Mandatory Palestine, which at this point already contained significant Jewish population, and the abolition…
ASandhiyudha
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What form of home address did Romans use?
Were the buildings in an ancient Roman city numbered, named or something else? How would they tell each other where they lived? Were the numbers painted on the walls? Did they have apartment numbers? What would've happened when they wanted to know…
Anixx
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28
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3 answers
What is the earliest known account of the modern military salute?
The military salute, made with right hand to head of a soldier, seems to be a European tradition, however it is adopted by many armies in the world.
What are origins of this gesture?
I came across a theory that it comes from a medieval knights'…
Voitcus
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28
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3 answers
Why did the clocks go back in Shanghai on December 31, 1927?
If you are a Stack Overflow user you may already have read Jon Skeet's excellent answer that discusses a time zone change at the end of 1927 in Shangai, when the clocks went back for 5 minutes and 52 seconds.
While I understand that time changes…
yannis
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28
votes
4 answers
How unfavorable were the terms of Germany's "surrender" in WW1?
The First World War ended when an armistice was signed between the Germans and the Allies. At that point, while Germany had no realistic hopes of winning the war, they had no enemies within their borders and still had troops in enemy territory.
I…
Orion
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28
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1 answer
Did Romans complain about sundials?
In the episode History of Timekeeping from the excellent "You're Dead to Me" podcast, the host states that some Romans complained about the increasing use and public visibility of sundials making their life feel too hurried (around the ~12-minute…
Amos Joshua
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28
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Why did it take so long for Europeans to adopt the moldboard plow?
According to the book 1491: New Revelations of the Americas:
The design of the moldboard plow is so obvious that it seems
incredible that Europeans never thought of it. Until the Chinese
style plow was imported in the seventeenth century, farmers…
JonathanReez
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28
votes
1 answer
How likely is it that any non-Celtic language was spoken in the British Isles when the Romans invaded?
We know from Roman writers the names (or Latinized versions of them) of many ancient British tribes that they encountered, the Iceni, Parisi, Trinovantes etc. but the Romans were rarely interested in recording or classifying the dialects that such…
Timothy
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How to explain the apparent discrepancy in the use of papyrus vs. clay tablets between Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia?
Nowadays, the papyrus plant apparently thrives relatively well in certain sections of the Tigris-Euphrates system. With that in mind, one naturally wonders why in ancient times the Sumerians and Akkadians would not have written their languages on…
5th decile
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28
votes
5 answers
Why was the northern boundary of the Mongol empire set where it was?
The Question
By the latter part of the 13th century, the Mongols' frantic territorial expansion was losing momentum. In the east, their empire reached the Pacific, and their efforts to conquer Japan were thwarted by the famous "Divine Wind". In the…
Tom Hosker
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28
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1 answer
Did a unit of 40 men hold off Rommel's "ghost division" for 18 days?
I found the following baffling claim on a Wikipedia article regarding the "Chasseurs Ardennais" in World War II:
A unit of only 40 men held off the combined arms of the German forces, including General Rommel's "Ghost Division" for 18 days and only…
Luatic
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28
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How difficult was to escape from a naval battle after engaging into one during the Age of Sail?
So, I am designing a board game which includes pirates/imperial battles during the age of sail. While I have found a lot of information on the internet as well as books, papers and of course other boardgames, I am having difficulty in determining a…
Spyros
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28
votes
4 answers
Why did some Enlightenment thinkers despise democracy?
The wikipedia page on the Enlightenment has this interesting quote:
The leaders of the Enlightenment were not especially democratic, as
they more often look to absolute monarchs as the key to imposing
reforms designed by the intellectuals. Voltaire…
Asvin
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