Short Answers to Simple Questions | April 15, 2020

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65 Answers 2020-04-15

Are there any books out there at all about the history of the Latin Empire of Constantinople?

I've been binge-reading a ton of Byzantine Empire history books (I just got done reading The Last Centuries of Byzantium by Donald Nicol which was fantastic) and I'm really interested now in learning more in-depth about the Latin Empire. I can't seem to find any books online about it though, I only really have it's Wikipedia page to turn to which is disappointing :(

1 Answers 2020-04-15

Non religious or 'neutral' sources for the existence of people who claimed to be Prophets among abrahmic Faith ? Is there any works documenting them? What are the approaches taken?

1 Answers 2020-04-15

When the RMS Titanic sank, the SS California was only 5 miles away, visible from deck, and even after witness to its distress rockets. Why was the captain not reprimanded for ignoring the titanic, or even waking it's wireless operator to respond?

According to this first hand recording of an officers experience that night The California was very close, even enough to pull alongside, but failed to correctly respond to distress rockets, or even communicate via wireless, as their operator had gone to bed. Her crew members also testified that the ship was could see the rockets, and they woke the captain more than once because of them, yet he took no decisive action. He also gave varying such as that he didn't see any rockets, or that he didn't know when the ship sank, contrary to the crew testimonies which state he was informed on both accounts.

1 Answers 2020-04-15

Was the Galileo Affair really a conflict between the Church and science?

I've always believed that the whole Galileo Affair was always about how the Church tried to repress Heliocentrism because it didn't align with Church doctrine at the time and punished Galileo for trying to prove it but a Quora answer (https://qr.ae/pNr2Ps) that I read sometime ago made be doubt my interpretation of the events. I know it's unwise to expect a accurate historical knowledge from a Quora answer but it made me doubt myself and "looks" reasonably accurate. The gist of it is that Galileo was punished not for trying to prove Heliocentrism but because he marketed the idea as a fact when it wasn't proven by the science of the time. Is there any truth to it?

1 Answers 2020-04-15

How common was genital shaving before modern times in Europe? Can we see any West-East difference regarding this?

Reading 16th-century travelogue written by the ex-Ottoman slave (13 years of captivity), that allegedly traveled through almost all of the Ottoman Empire, I came across this passage:

... When going to wash themselves, women grease themselves with a kind of unguent which makes their hair fall off after half an hour. Men shave their penises too, and do not let their hairs to grow at all, but both men and women do that for two or three times each month... (Bartol Đurđević, De Turcarum moribus epitome, Cap. I., De iustitia apud cives).

So my question is how common was genital shaving? Since Đurđević is describing this as some kind of "extreme hygienic habits" , does that mean it was uncommon/weird in Europe? How common was it for Ottomans? And lastly, he is talking about some kind of "unguent" that makes hair fall of - I was under impression that "self-removing hair creams" were relatively recent inventions - what do we know of this early waxing creams?

Đurđević was from present-day Croatia, then region on the border of Ottoman and Habsburg empire, but as far as I know he was well-educated on-par with other learned men of that period. He learned Turkish and Arabic, translated Christian works to those languages, and his Latin books were soon translated to French, German, Italian, Dutch, Polish, Czech, and English, totaling to around 77 editions (a bit of digression, but just to give some "legitimacy" to his report).

1 Answers 2020-04-15

In the middle ages did Jewish people ever fight in medieval armies? Were there Jewish knights?

3 Answers 2020-04-15

The Japanese Edo period is considered a peaceful and stable era. Was the Tokugawa shogunate really able to maintain peace for 250 years, or were there also uprisings and civil unrest?

1 Answers 2020-04-15

Why Latin America isn't as developed as the Anglo-Saxon America?

1 Answers 2020-04-15

When I visited the Colosseum in Rome I noticed Roman numerals above each archway entrance, would these have been used in the same way as gates in a modern sports stadium?

1 Answers 2020-04-15

Youtube Channels or TV Shows About History

But no animation or no world history in 5 minutes crap. Do you have any recommendations? Also don't limit yourself, it could be about history of economics, engineering or anything.

1 Answers 2020-04-15

It's 1848 in northern California, and the local sheriff in our growing boomtown has died; how do we go about replacing him?

1 Answers 2020-04-15

In a norwegian museum I've seen a strangely shaped axe that was bent upwards. What was the benefit of doing that?

Picture of the exhibit

2 Answers 2020-04-15

Book about religions and how they're similar to each other

I want an advice on a book that talks about the history and origin of religion and how each book affected the other and how it stole from other historical books, something unbias.

I'd greatly appreciate it!

1 Answers 2020-04-15

How did ancient Greek philosophers make a living?

you always read about philosophers like Socrates, Aristotle, and Plato and their great contributions to philosophy. but how did they make money to survive? did people pay them to just think and yell their thoughts in town? did they have day jobs? did the ancient Greek government have some kind of socialist system where people were free to pursue the arts and the government provided for them? someone with Greek philosopher knowledge please help.

2 Answers 2020-04-15

Why was there no other attempt by the Romans to conquer germania

After the catastrophic batlle in the teutoburg forest,the Romans defeated the united(under arminius) german tribes but abandoned almost all areas beyond the rhine. In the later years of the Julio claudians or in the golden age of the antonines why were there no major campaigns with the goal to reconquer the lost provinces of germania inferior and superior and or even expand the roman frontier ?

1 Answers 2020-04-15

Why did ancient people make soap?

They didn't understand germ theory so what was the point? The Gauls made soap in Europe however they used animal fat which I would think would be quite valuable otherwise so why were materials used to make soap when they didn't know the implications of this invention?

1 Answers 2020-04-15

I’ve read that the Titanic was one of the first ocean liners to offer a dining room and prepared meals for Third Class passengers. Prior to this, what did steerage passengers EAT on a long transatlantic voyage?

1 Answers 2020-04-15

Why isn’t the historicity of Socrates debated by academics to the same extent as the historicity of Jesus?

I know some historians dismiss the gospels entirely as evidence, but Socrates could very well have just been a Platonic character couldn’t he?

1 Answers 2020-04-15

When slavery was legal in the US, if someone sexually assaulted another person's slave, would their be a criminal charge? What would it be?

Would the crime be something like sexual assault, like as a person, or would it be something like destruction of property/vandalism?

1 Answers 2020-04-15

I've heard of a "card carrying communist". Did they actually have cards?

What info was on those cards? Why would the communist party have cards? Were commie cards common throughout the world, or just in certain regions?

1 Answers 2020-04-15

How did restaurants work before the introduction of menus?

1 Answers 2020-04-15

In 19th Century New York City, How Were Impoverished Non-Christians Buried?

I had read that paupers who died in the city received a "Christian burial", but what if the poverty-stricken person was Jewish or some other religion? Were they still entitled to a burial? Were efforts made to respect their religion?

1 Answers 2020-04-15

sources about the Inca

I've been trying to research the Inca and all i can find is stuff about the spanish conquest and secondary/tertiary sources. I'm specifically looking for governmental structure and what the lower class's daily life was like, but anything generally good is nice too.

1 Answers 2020-04-15

what did Mussolini write about in the Il Popolo d'Italia

I am writing and Article on Fascism for school and I really want to find out what Mussolini wrote about in his Newspaper it would help me greatly. Obviously there are many editions and all that but if anyone has any General or re occurring topics that they know of that would be amazing. Thanks

1 Answers 2020-04-15

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