It was a concept brought up in my class of Africa colonization and I’m not sure how it relates...

It's even stranger considering the ancient peoples in the Middle/Near East practiced polytheism but Islam worships the Abrahamic God. I say depicted at odds long before the 20th century.

Mesopotamia is seen as the cradle of Western Civilization but is the West's enemy when fighting the Greeks.

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They seem to be pretty close to pigs in behavior,anatomy,but they were not domesticated,like boars in Old World?

Oxford Bibliography is wonderful where experts on a subject recommend books and articles related to a topic from philosophy to International relations. There is some history scattered around but I was wondering if there is any such database for history where a curated list of bibliography is there for a particular era in history? For example if I wanted to learn everything about Mugal empire, there should be a bibliography etc.

I understand that it wasn't feasible to develop cities in the dense jungles of central Africa, but around this jungles there were many cities and kingdoms, except for South Africa, why?

So far I have seen Richard III, the Duke of Buckingham, Margaret Beaufort as possibly responsible. I have seen the theory that Edward V died from illness or that Richard Duke of York escaped. Some of these seem to be more supported than others but I’d love to know the actual position from scholars.

China's last emperor Puyi had a wet nurse that was featured in the movie The Last Emperor. In the movie, she was sent away when he was young, and then she wasn't heard from again. Was that really the last Puyi saw of her?

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In the November/December ’08 issue of Archeology magazine, paleo-pathologist Karl Grossschmidt talks about bone analyses of ancient Roman gladiator skeletons. He says they ate a mostly vegetarian diet of barley and beans.

He goes on to say:

Packing in the carbs also packed on the pounds. “Gladiators needed subcutaneous fat,” Grossschmidt explains. “A fat cushion protects you from cut wounds and shields nerves and blood vessels in a fight.” Not only would a lean gladiator have been dead meat, he would have made for a bad show. Surface wounds “look more spectacular,” says Grossschmidt. “If I get wounded but just in the fatty layer, I can fight on,” he adds. “It doesn’t hurt much, and it looks great for the spectators.”

I have trouble believing this. I've worked in Africa in communities where people do hard physical farm labor all day. These are people who are poor, but have enough to eat to the point of fullness. They survive on a diet that is 95% grains, legumes, and vegetables. They're lean (ripped, in some cases) but not hugely muscular.

So were Gladiators really fat? Do we have historical accounts describing their appearance? Are they shown as fat in artwork or statues?