I've heard from somewhere that in the Olympian pantheon of ancient Greece, Athena was supposedly the only other divinity that Zeus allowed to wield lightning bolts - but I have no idea where this is from. Is there any ancient source that describes or even so much as mentions this? And, if not, are there any ancient sources which describe Athena being the only other god having use of Zeus' aegis shield, and being his favoured child or even heir?

When we look at the casualty figures for battles in the Pacific War such as Guadalcanal, Saipan and Okinawa, it is clear that the Japanese suffered disproportionately higher number of fatalities than the Americans did. I am aware that factors such as disparities in firepower, quality of equipment, the availability of artillery and air support (all in favour of the Americans) in addition to the Americans' numerical advantage played a major role in this. However, I would like more information and insights on Japanese infantry tactics, their flexibility in terms of decision-making in the heat of battle and the quality of leadership in the field when compared to American infantry. Can anyone with knowledge in this field provide more information?

I’ll try to keep this as to-the-point as possible. My uncle died recently and in his stuff we found a belonging of his step-great-grandfather (or something like that), I’ll call him grandpa Eddie.

It’s a stahlhelm from WWI. Grandpa Eddie was an American soldier in WWI, and found it. It’s rusty and scratched up, without any clear signs of trauma to it. In the helmet was a sort of collar-looking thing. This collar looking thing was clearly leather, now it is so old it has basically petrified. It almost seems like the leather strap was soaked with something like blood, and that dried it permanently. Sure enough, in this strap there is a hole that seems something burned through it, and a hole that looks the same directly on the opposite side of the strap. Attached to the strap is a thick fabric badge, that has large red letters stitched onto it that say “242”. Grandpa Eddie attached a note that says, “German helmet found in Belleau Woods -Grandpa Eddie.”

Can anyone tell me about this badge that says 242? Can anyone tell me anything significant about this helmet or anything I should know? It’s a long shot, but do you think I could ever find out who it once belonged to?

Did racism play a part

What were the most common reasons to join a crusade? I understand that many would be forced, others for religious reasons, but I suppose that many would go for other reasons. Debt payments, running away from death ...?

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And the TEmplars? I konw they are clerics but, do we know if they run for the glory of gold or other reason?

Im writing a book based in a world of medieval futurism and i want it to be as accurate as possible. I don’t want to create a medieval/futuristic blend with horses and spaceships, i want to get in the mind of how the people of the medieval times believed the world would of evolved and create a world that would represent what might of happened if the world kept advancing that way, similar to the retro futurism of blade runner thats used commonly as a genre now based of the way the people of the 80s envisioned the future. So if you guys can help me in any way or have any references or painting or books written in medieval times describing the future i would appreciate any information i can get.

While there are a number of meaningful differences between Hinduism and western paganism (more of a monastic/ascetic movement, a wealth of written texts, etc) what are the commonly accepted reasons for Hinduism's continued existence?

This question is especially regarding the shift from the upheaval of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period into the Song. My understanding is that Zhao Kuangin conquered the states of Southern Tang, Later Shu, Southern Han, and Jingnan, expanded the imperial examination system, and brought the military under control. How was this achieved?

I have just watched this interesting video of a black Samurai who served under Oda Nobunaga. So was thinking if an African can get to Japan, the Vikings would have a least met a couple or even brought some along whether it may be for slavery or as a crew mate.

What was the real king Alfred like? Was he actually considered great? Was his son Edward considered a good king?

Hi, r/AskHistorians,

I have recently taken an interest in world history. I started with history from my country and then my own greater region. I also learn about the history of mankind, the history of wars, economic history, political history.

I wonder as I absorb all of this historical learnings, whether there is a good framework for absorbing history in an objective and analytical way. For example, are there certain structured questions that I should ask myself whilst reading and learning? We are all equipped with a logical mind but it seems to me that the pursuit of learning history is one that requires more than just that; our minds have many cognitive biases, after all. Moreover, I tend to find myself searching through Wikipedia and Youtube. I wonder if these paint a complete picture of historical events.

With this said, do you have any history learning tips for a non-academic history layman like myself? How do you approach learning about a historic topic? Do you adopt any kind of structured or habitual approach? Are there useful tools that you use? Do you write notes in a particular way?

One of the things that I do is to create a log of important events in history and see the relativity of their dates.

Thank you for reading and sharing any tips!

I just read Oliver Sacks’ book Migraine and want to know more. Thank you very much!

I need help. I'm writing book set in 12th century Persia. I did a lot of researchs but I would like if someone could help me here just to be sure. I have some questions, I will be very thankful if someone get me answers.

1. How did Persians dress?
2. What currencies did they use?
3. What the beggars were looking for ?
4. Was Teheran called by the same like today?
5. What kind of jobs people were working?
6. What was the difference between elites and normal people?

Why was it that Greeks chose to represent the concept of war and strategy with Athena, a female deity, despite having an extremely patriarchal military culture (very little historical evidence of female warriors/shield maiden equivalents)?