Like when people say I am a military historian or an economic historian; what type of historian would a person who studies slavery be ?

Edit: Thanks for all the advice.

Also why am I getting down voted. I asked a question for historian on sub about asking questions ?

I understand that Europe actually had quite a low number of actual professional warriors, and when it came to war lords would need to round up an army of peasants. Would they be given any actual training, or did they amount to little more than a mob equipped with whatever they could bring from home?

My area of focus does not lie within the medieval period, but from what I remember from my undergrad first year, the term ‘medieval’, with reference to the dark ages, can generally be considered a slur. Could anyone elaborate on this?

Also would appreciate further reading suggestions!

I don't mean "did some people believe", I mean more like did states actually make decisions based on these things?

Like taking different sea-routes because they thought sirens would hypnotize them or took a different trade-route because they believed there was actually a dragon eating people?

Or has it just always been used as some sort of "scary stories" to make sure people do what you want?

Saw an old map with the "here be dragons" and wondered if they actually believed that or if that part was just dangerous in general.

A Japanese chemist first synthesized methamphetamine—also called meth, crank, crystal meth or speed—from another stimulant in 1893. Methamphetamine was used early on as a medical treatment for narcolepsy, asthma and as a weight-loss drug. During World War II, the Allies and Axis powers both used the drug to keep troops awake. After the war, meth use increased dramatically, even after it was outlawed by the United States in 1970.

from my experience constant use of drugs like meth cause the users to become paranoid and aggressive when used long term, especially when abused, what effect did this have on the actions of the armies that used it?

could meth have been the precursor to the savagery of certain events like the rape on nanking or other atrocities?

From scene I.ii:

BOTTOM: Let me play the lion too: I will roar, that I will do any man's heart good to hear me; I will roar, that I will make the duke say 'Let him roar again, let him roar again.'

QUINCE: An you should do it too terribly, you would fright the duchess and the ladies, that they would shriek; and that were enough to hang us all.

ALL: That would hang us, every mother's son.

Of course, these characters were intentionally written to be very silly, and Shakespeare himself was never hanged for the many frightful scenes in his plays, so it can't be an entirely justified fear.

But the play-within-a-play scenes are funny because they make fun of actual phenomena—Bottom parodies the conceited leading man, Flute parodies the teenage boy embarrassed about playing a woman, Quince parodies the frazzled director, and so on. What was the real-life basis for the joke where the actors are afraid of being hanged for being too frightening?

So, as you know there have been a lot of conspiracies. He escaped to Argentina etc. Now, I think he died by suicide, but did we find any CONFIRMED remains? I know that a couple years back we tested found teeth that apparently confirmed that Hitler commited suicide in 1945 but some people here have said that that's not true. What really happened?

For almost a century politicians have had their voices shared over the radio and later TV. How did speeches of the past compare in terms of length and substance?

How did the Soviets convince British and Americans to spy for them when anti Soviet propaganda was high and it was a known fact that quality of life in the Soviet Union was below that in the US.

Taking a look at Japanese Aircraft carrier design, I sometimes see smokestacks and bridges being moved below the flight deck or put at a offset to the deck, rather than the dominant idea of aircraft carrier design of the time, which was on the flight deck and in line with the ship. What purpose did the Japanese design serve? And why was this only done on certain carriers? Thank you for answering ahead of time.

Edit. In other words did people used to get paid for lunch breaks and then somehow we lost it?

Possibly related, did solo singers have music videos at first, or only bands? If so, why and why changed? If not, why?

There is little numerical record-keeping of casualties for combat in the middle ages, but I was wondering if there are any ideas or sources that point to the level of casualties an army would suffer after a battle.

Reading a bit of its history it seems like it was a pretty important regional power. What was this power based on? I'm also interested in any reading suggestions about the culture of Ghana in the time period, if anyone has any good ones.

I feel like this is not at all mentioned in our education system and would like to understand it better.

I've just recently found out about the history of black people in Mexico, today I also learned that Japanese people have also migrated to Mexico centuries ago and to this day there's still a state were there's mostly Japanese people living.

I'm Mexican and they never teach this things in school and I'm very curious on just how many types of people we have, but when I try to look it up I only get mexicans leaving to other countries.

Anyone has any information on this or could tell me zwhere to look it up?

So here's the thing. I like D&D. I like fantasy. My friends like both these things, and Smite. I think I like culture, and seeing the way it intersects and weaves its way from place to place through time.

So naturally, I want to start investing time into reading other mythologies and semi-historical documents, both out of personal interest, and to help my own interest in writing and media. All stories can be traced back to these older ones, so it makes sense to have a good grasp, especially if I plan on incorporating aesthetics and ideas into my own works, especially if they're from non-european cultures, so that I could portray these ideas accurately (for example, I lived in Japan for five years, where I met my friends, and we're thinking of doing an Asian-themed D&D game).

I've already read Edith Hamilton's "Mythology" (when I was in Middle School), Beowulf (Heaney translation), 90% of the Bible (not very relevant, I know), and Crossley-Holland's' "The Norse Myths" (all while I was in high school). Oh, and I was homeschooled, which means I'm probably lacking a bunch of necessary historical context. I'd like to try and focus primarily on the stories themselves, without too much outside or opinionated commentary unless it lends historical context of the era or people who later added to the text. I got two pages into Donald A. Mackenzie's "Myths of China and Japan" only to realize that it wasn't a retelling or a compilation of canon, but rather an analysis about proving that China had borrowed it's myths from other cultures and had never had an original thought.

Which finally brings us to my main point. To be honest, I'm kind of feeling a little overwhelmed by the sheer volume of historical and mythological works I'm going to have to read. I assume this is partially because most mythologies aren't as well organized or documented as Greek myths are.

Like, is it better to read a retelling of the story, like Edith Hamilton's Mythology and Crossley-Holland's the Norse Myths? Or should I read the original documents like the Edda and the Odyssey? Where do works like Journey to the West, the Vulgate, and Le Morte d'Arthur fall (because they seem to occupy this weird middle ground)?

How grounded in real history should the versions I read be? What if there aren't any good sources at all and all we have are vague scribbles accompanied researchers notes? How important is historical context? How much should I know about the culture beforehand? Where would you draw the line between coherent stories, and random bits and pieces of folklore? Should I go from oldest to newest, for accuracy's sake, or should I go from newest to oldest, because those will be more readable and entertaining? Do the majority of these documents and works veer more towards dry and boring, or surprisingly straightforward and entertaining (like Beowulf)?

TLDR; I am archive-panicking over the sheer volume of sources and works regarding mythology/ancient fantasy/ancient religions, and I could really use a starting point. Particular interests include Japanese, Chinese, Arthurian, and Mesoamerican works. Considering reading Dante's Inferno as well.

Hello all,

Hopefully I am following the community guidelines properly. I do not want to offend. However, I am building a prototype for a game and I am wanting to create a Norse based game. However, I do not know enough about the history or traditions to really claim accuracy. I have been trying to scour the internet and such and find good sources but it can be quite the undertaking trying to find accurate info, especially while trying to develop a game.

I was wondering if anyone would be okay with me sharing the overall idea and gist of the game with and ask a few questions about a couple things here and there? This game isnt going to be 100% historically accurate but I would like to be as close as possible where it counts.

Also I am a single developer doing this in my free time. I would love to learn about the Norse culture but that in its self would eat up more time than I can devote. I also do not want to publicize all the details in this subreddit as it wouldn't be appropriate imo, but what I can say is think of the game Sea of Thieves but instead Norse culture during the Viking Era and no gun powder.