From what I read of the bible and of ancient times, it is as if leprosy was a highly infectious disease, not like how leprosy is now today (from what I understand; I could be wrong). Is the leprosy in the bible and in ancient times the same disease by the same name today? Was leprosy historically more infectious than it is now?

For the record, I am well aware that this state of affairs is relatively recent, given that the PRI's de facto status as Mexico's only viable political party only began to unravel in the 1980s. However, by 2000, when Mexico had its first truly competitive presidential elections, a multi-party political ecosystem had developed that is very similar to what exists today, even if the specific parties filling the respective niches have changed in some cases.

The stories of the Greek Gods paint them in a pretty unflattering light. They’re very morally corrupt and just plain assholes. Why did the Greeks feel that these beings deserved their worship?

It struck me odd that we use the governing party for those two countries, but not the Japanese or the Italians. Nor can I think of any other recent examples of that (though I’m sure there are). Like WW1 or the Napoleonic wars. Why is it different for those two countries?

Hey everyone. So I'm a fan of horror and the other night I was listening to one of those allegedly true horror stories and it was about a story the writer's great grandmother told him about an encounter with witches in Chile. Normally, I would have assumed it was purely fiction, but I remembered an episode of the Lore podcast about the history of witches in Chile and it got me interested in the actual history of witchcraft in the region.

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My main areas of interest are:

1. Is there any evidence of a secret society of witches that pulled the strings of society? The Lore podcast made it sound almost like a Freemason type conspiracy theory. I've also read a bit of speculation that the witches operated like an organized crime ring and used fear of their powers along with more mundane methods of maintaining control.
2. The horror story implied a bit of interaction with Christianity saying that the newly initialized witch had to wash off his Catholic baptism in water during the middle of the night and mentioned some rhyme to ward off witches if you hear their call. I can't remember the full quote but it was something like "fly on devil bird. You're too late because Jesus Christ has already won the race." That got me thinking about the history of what the Chilean beliefs about witchcraft would have been before the introduction of Christianity and how the new religion influenced local folk lore.

I know this is a bit of an odd question and this might not be the best forum for it, but if there are anyone could shed some light on the history surrounding these myths and recommend some reading, that would much appreciated.

In the WW II movies the theme is the subs sneak up on the convoy, launch a few torpedoes at the transports, and dive when the escorts attack.

If they survive the depth charges, they do it again.

Why wasn't the first attack against the escorts? Especially once the wolf packs started operating I would think they could launch concerted attacks against the escorts. Then, if they were successful, the transports would be unprotected and could be attacked at will until they came within range of air cover.

(I'm Canadian so taking this opportunity for a tip of the hat to the Canadian navy - the 3rd largest in the world by the end of the war.)

For example, I've always found it strange that no Spanish pirates are household names in the Anglosphere, even though Spain seems like it should have been a guaranteed source of abundant piracy as a massive overseas colonial power. Did Spaniards really feel no attraction to going a'plundering on the high seas, or did their British adversaries just not bother to memorialize them?

The reverse situation seems not to have been the case. For instance, in the Spanish-speaking world, although admittedly from some time before the Golden Age, Francis Drake ("El Draque") remains notorious and infamous to this day.

Just curious to if raiding by land or boat was only done by vikings or did others do that as well ?

I'm applying to university (Archaeology & the Classics) in the fall and I've been reading up on my (to this point) favourite ancient civilization, the Etruscans. I've been going through university class syllabi and making note of what's on the recommended reading lists and reading those books, but I haven't seen Pallottino mentioned, and his book (the translated version of) The Etruscans is the only physical book about the Etruscans I own. Is it worth reading? As far as I'm aware his work is still of note but I don't want to spend time reading anything that's been disproven or updated (at least not while I'm working in a limited time frame). Thanks!

Let me explain. This may not be the experience of everyone, however after talking to multiple non-Europeans (including half of myself) I’ve heard them all say that they’ve noticed this as well.

Why is it that in history classes (from elementary school to University), history teachers tend to use the word “we” within regards to Europeans even when not all of the class is European, or even if the teacher is not of that specific European nationality.

Let me explain the one that most stands out to me. When I was in 6th grade, my history teacher was talking about Ancient Greece. (Personally, I am half Middle Eastern btw) She talked about 2 specific events in one class period, The Battle of Troy, and The Battle of Thermopylae. Both times she used the specific word “we” when referring to the Greeks. This baffled my mind as I identified myself more closely with the citizens of Troy and the Persians more than the Greeks. As I thought about it more, I realized it didn’t make sense at all, as more than half of my class was African-American, and my teacher wasn’t Greek herself; she’s German!

This is just 1 example, I have multiple others as well. Everyone I talk to that is not of European decent has similar experiences as well, so I’m wondering why this has become so prevalent? Is it a flaw in the way History is taught to the educators in College? Or is it an unconscious bias that hasn’t been widely addressed in the historian community? Or is it being addressed and perhaps these teachers simply aren’t listening?

The first commandment says "Thou shalt not have other gods before me", but I have wondered for a long time how Judaism and the faiths developed from it came to be monotheist rather than a polytheist system but with extra deference to a first god. Is the phrase more clear in ancient Hebrew?

We use the BC and AD systems and the basis of the first year was supposedly the birth of Jesus. Did ancient cultures like the Greeks, the Persians, Egyptians, etc number theirs or how did they keep track of them?

How can something with that much historical significance just suddenly die without huge attention from historians and journalists? The manuscript supposedly predates Muhammad and mentions him by name!! It also aligns with Islamic theology. Did the Vatican suppress it again like the church suppressed it back in the day?

How many times did British pilots go up in the air every day?

How long were the British pilots up in the air before they had to refuel?

How many days in a row did British pilots work? Did they ever get days off?

Sorry, I am not well-read on the subject matter. I tried a simple Google search about it, but nothing came up (on the first page at least). I just recently discovered that the Greeks had a totalitarian regime in the time leading up to World War 2. This regime even stood up against Fascist Italy, forcing the Italians to seek military help from Nazi Germany. If they are similar in ideology, why did the Greeks not join the Italians and the Germans?