It seems dictators are always ruthless and filling individuals who always seem to lead to their own demise due to power struggles and having to remove opponents. I’m curious to know if history has ever had what would be considered a “good” dictator?

Seems like modern militaries have a ratio of about 1 officer to 5-8 enlisted. What would be the ratios in say Classical Greece, Republican/Imperial Rome, or maybe in the Hellenistic Kingdoms? I feel like modern militaries are very officer-heavy compared to the ancient world but I can’t seem to find much to validate that belief.

I know Canada as we know it today came into existence in 1867 and by that point slavery in British North America had long since been abolished in the 1830s. But even so I know there were some black slaves in what is now adays modern Canada.

So that begs the question, Were there ever slave plantations in Canada like there were in the Southern US and are those buildings still around today?

I read that shears were invented in the first century AD by Romans but am curious how long this technology took to spread to the Eurasian steppe and what steppe pastoralists used to gather wool from their sheep?

And if so, do we have surviving works? For example, do we have evidence of artwork from the middle ages that demonstrates pagan groups adapting their polytheistic mythology to fit into their new Christian religion, such as: Jesus with a hammer or other weaponry; the Christian God depicted as Odin hanging from a tree or holding a staff, etc?

For context, I have been reading Gregory of Tours' account of the conversion of Clovis and his people. It seems strange that upon baptism these peoples would immediately stop reflecting their former belief system in their artwork. Rather, it seems more plausible that there would instead be a period where Christianity was seen as an addition to their polytheistic spirituality, rather than a replacement, and over generations we would gradually see the full replacement of pagan beliefs by Christianity (and this would be reflected in the surviving artwork). Is this the case?

I understand this post is essentially two questions wrapped up into one, and I would love to hear any thoughts on this, whether it relates to iconography, or more generally whether there was a synthesis of the two religious practices. Thank you for reading!

I'm a capable and intelligent Roman with command over a legion.

I've noticed when a metal plate is dropped, it can roll a fair distance in a straight line. I've read enough maths & engineering texts to understand the functionality of gears, and I have blacksmiths and leatherworkers who'll devote time to making me the frames & chairs.

Would the resources I can muster be able to generate steel frame bikes with leather seats & inflatable tyres? Could I use them to run rings around the tribes causing ruckus in Germania?

Born to a slave*

This question could also be applied to Chechnya, Ethiopia, Vietnam, etc.

I don't know how old this school of thought is, and I'm curious about the extent to which it existed in Great Britain at the time. Was there a political party opposed to empire? If not, was it a fringe belief or one that didn't really exist at all?

Hey Everyone,

Tl:dr - Need opinions on which to start reading about Ancient History? And what era/civilization/empire excites you personally in the Ancient History?

In the past up until a few months ago, i was not interested in history at all because it's not taught well here, it never makes u curious, it makes one run away from it because they make it an essay to memorize.

Recently i was on some site, i saw an article about 'The Battle of Stalingrad'.

Now this bugged me because 10+ years of history and all i remember is this name but i don't remember why and what happened.

This led me to read about it and i ended up loving history because now I've read about both world wars, many wars, revolutions, watch movies, watch documentaries.

Now I wanna get into Ancient History, so what's the best event to start reading it or what particular Ancient History excites you.

Actual history noob here so I hope this question makes sense.

Thanks in advance to all you!

P.S: You can also suggest me some underrated books/documentaries/movies on World War.

I would love to see/read many other point of views.

I recognize that this may be specific by society, but I was curious if there’s a certain type of record, be it weather or written history that help us understand it.

In ww2 the USSR was at war with the axis and only shared a land border on Sakhalin, Korea (and I think Manchuria was a puppet of Japan at the time. How come there was absolutely no invasion from the USSR or Japan? Thanks.

Were Anahita and Mithra already popular (including among the royalty) when Artaxerxes II started the practice? What did worship of these three look like in terms of practice?

How did the very first "rich people" emerge?

Also, were there vast differences in wealth before the creation of currency?

Both my questions apply to any part of the world.

Thank you.