Various sources indicate Cleopatra was a very skilled polyglot, attested to speak Koine Greek, Egyptian, Latin, Hebrew or Aramaic, Arabic, Syriac, Parthian, Median and "Troglodyte".

The other groups are comparatively easy to place, but who did Plutarch (likely) mean when he wrote that she spoke Troglodyte?

I've been looking around for an answer to this question but I just can't find it. I can't even find information stating that they actually went both ways: with current and up current.

This question came into my head, while I was at the banks of the Danube in Austria near Durnstein, watching the current and watching mechanical engine powered vessels struggling with going up the current; I was thinking how did they pull this off 500 years ago?

I assume traffic went both ways, since all the cities along the river prospered on the trade.

I'm looking for books on pre-columbian civilizations. I find it very difficult, because most books seem to focus on the integrations with European colonizers. I'm more interested in books that focus on the everyday life, science, culture, philosophy etc of lets say Incas. Before European interference.

As a reasonably well read non-historian, I (an American in my early 30s) have the impression that our most extensive knowledge of ancient history (Bronze Age and earlier) comes from the Eastern Mediterranean and Western Asian regions. From where we have identified our oldest permanent cities to the most powerful empires, it all seems to be happening here.

Is this a bias in what I've been likely to learn and there's actually a comparable amount of information on other regions? Because these were major centers of the Greek and Roman civilization modern western culture venerates? Because Abrahamic religions originated or spread quickly in this area?

Or have people just been here longer than most places considering prehistoric migration patterns (except, you know, Africa)? Do the dry conditions just preserve things better?

Or is it some of all of the above? Or none of it?

Edit - I tried searching answers to this on this sub, but was turning up tons of stuff not very related to the questions with terms like "Middle East", "Levant", and "Eastern Mediterranean", for obvious reasons. Maybe someone else will have better luck.

Let's say I'm a lawyer in the USSR on December 31 1991, or in a similar situation in Yugoslavia a few years later. Better yet, I'm a lawyer in Tsarist Russia and then the Revolution hits. What happens to my law license? What cases can I cite for precedent?

I know Christian slave owners generally actively discouraged African traditions, but what about Jewish owners of slaves? Did they allow African religions to be practiced? Or Islam?

So after the 5th century A.D. what happened to the tribal society of Europe?

How did the Anglo-Saxons advance into a more developed civilization, how did Europe progress pass being barbarians is what I'm saying. Was it Christianity? Some other thing? Sorry if I sound stupid I know there's probably some huge thing I forgot about that did this. I just looked this up but Google can't give me answers.

If they didn’t, then why did this idea hold for millennia? Surely people could’ve seen the negative effects of blood letting in most cases and seen the nonsense of the whole system

Long-time lurker & history lover who’s not looking to comment on anything but just lurk. I saw this awesome question about people living in French America around the time Jefferson made the Louisiana Purchase from Napoleon. It has ~ 2,000 likes & 8 comments. When I go to it however I can only see the ‘Welcome to r/AskHistorians’ message which refers me to the commenting rules - which again I’m not going to do. Is this a glitch?

I have read that carrots went from yellow to orange during the 16th century during the Dutch Wars of Independence, dutch carrot farmers breeding orange carrots to show the favor for William of Orange. This seems a bit far fetched, but I want to believe, because it is a weird fun fact. But how true is it? What is the evidence?

Hi there ! I am so sorry if this is the wrong place to post but I have NO IDEA where to ask this and I would really love to discuss this. This is a bit more about genealogy than history but hey, genealogy can be our history too so I figured some of you who studied ethnicities etc might be able to help.

I am doing genealogical researches about my family and these two names showed up circa 1850. I was pretty thrilled to have found weird names like this (forgot to mention I am French) and so excited to discover maybe other roots to my family. These were "middle" names with very very French first and last name which makes me think the parents were not from France (and would explain why I can not find any infos on that branch too)

My great great great (and so on) grand mother's name was Antoinette Saphranie Lefebvre, her daughter (my great great (and less on) grand mother) was named Antoinette Ismerie Louise Feuillie. She was born in 1848. These are the only info I could get with the location : they lived in High Normandy, France.

So, besides any infos I could get regarding the origin of those not so French names Saphranie and Ismérie, I would love any infos of historical population exchanges at that time that could have caused a mix like this ? (I'm obvs not a native EN speaker and have no idea how to properly phrase this I am sorry haha) I would love to know a bit more about all of this, but I'm not sure how much this is clear. Feel free to ask questions if there's something you don't understand ! Thank you for the help and understanding !

I mean all of it(200-300k soldiers), and by leaving France i mean after the French surrendered

I’ve always been fascinated by the brief history of the turbulent Latin Empire. More so honestly than much of the history of the Byzantines/Otttomans. So it’s always frustrates me to no end that details of the empire’s history are seemingly so sparse. Does anyone know what their general culture was like? Was it completely separate from Byzantine culture, was it identical, was it a hybrid of Greek and Latin culture?

I have watched many documentaries and movies about ancient battles, and in almost all of them, the invading army made it their primary objective to capture the enemy's fort. From my little understanding, a fort can only house so many soldiers or combatants, or if the fort is really huge (and housed thousands of combatants), even then, why couldn't the attacking army just go around the fort? What obvious point am I missing here?

I’m re-learning America’s history with the realization that I never quite learned it in school.I’m trying to fill in some gaps with your help.

Here’s what I’ve learned so far. I understand the reason and the multiple voyages made by Colombus, but it turns out, he never actually touched down on any modern day American land. He mostly sailed the Caribbean and destroyed Hispaniola.

After that I’m struggling to find good historical information.

What happened between the death of Colombus and the Pilgrims arriving to New England?

Who decided to travel west again to reach today’s mainland?

I would also love some resources where I can sharpen up on this early history.

How, when, and why was the honor created, and who got the first one?

Hoping this isn't too general of a question. Does anyone have a good recommendation for an overview of the Ottoman Empire? I had a look in the subreddit booklist, but they seem limited to the Armenian Genocide (which I would be interested in perhaps after something more general). Jason Goodwin's 'Lords of the Horizons' has stood out to me but it seems like quite a whirlwind tour, I'm interested in maybe something more narrative. I'm a degree-level history student so not too put off by anything academic-leaning.