Also, as a follow up, how did Europeans during the medieval and early modern eras view Islam and how aware were they of the ties between the Abrahamic faiths?

We all have seconds, minutes, hours, weeks, and months that to me seem relatively arbitrary but they are used universally. How old is this standardization and were there other time standards that this replaced?

I'm writing a research paper for my radiation biology class about the radium girls and I was wondering what are some good books or online sources that talks about them,specifically the radiation effects they experienced.

I am fairly ignorant about the early history of printing in the Hebrew alphabet, only that it appeared after Gutenberg brought movable type technology into vogue in Europe. Did early Hebrew type and printing affect the spelling, grammar, or form of written Hebrew?

According to some internet sources, a disappointment room is a room where somebody with a mental or physical handicap including mental illness is kept out of sight and fed. Apparently is an American term. These are usually describe as alternatives to the asylum and usually by the higher class.

I have found very little evidence of them other than a few case studies such as the woman in France who was shut away for wanting to marry a lawyer, the Kennedy lobotomy victim and a case with no evidence from HGTV. Most google results are about a really bad movie with the same title or they are forum discussions.

I have been very interested in the career and achievements of Julius Caesar, and I have always wandered what he was actually like as a person. From reading 'Commentarii de Bello Gallico' I have mixed feelings, as on the one hand, he seems like an incredibly talented leader, who looks after the interests and safety of his soldiers, and Rome. But on the other hand, it seems to me that he makes a few far fetched excuses for mass murders. (E.g. the Veneti) I would be very interested to hear the thoughts and opinions on the matter from actual historians.

Two main questions. Firstly did they ever try to colonise their territories, settling Venetians in the islands beyond administrators and military personal that ran their ports, fortresses and naval bases? Secondly what was their relationship like with native Greeks, particular Orthodox ones? Did Greeks merely prefer them to the Ottomans or was there more of an active good relationship? Did the Venetians ever attempt to convert orthodox believers to Catholicism or anything similar?

It is my understanding that even though the majority of the Saxon landed lords were deposed and replaced with Norman nobility, some did continue to hold lands and titles after William had consolidated his power. For how long did the distinction between a Saxon and a Norman last? During the House of Anjou period there was still a distinction between Saxon lords and Norman lords. Was the distinction felt until the Lancasters, or Tudors, or later?

An additional related question is: since the vast majority of the common folk residing within England were Saxon while the nobility was Norman and no nobility-changing invasions or major populations deplacements have taken place since the conquest, is it wrong to assume statistical significance in such traces even today.

The Nazi government helped the nationalists win the Spanish Civil War. It seems like after this it would make sense for Spain to join the Axis during the Second World War so why didn't they?

I read about this interesting piece of document called Piri Reis map. It's basically a world map from 1513, made by Ottoman carthographer Piri Reis. What's interesting is that it supposedly shows coast of Antarctica, centuries before it was discovered. Is this a fact, and if it is, what could be the explanation? Were the Ottomans really that far out, or perhaps Ancient Aliens? (sarcasm, obviously). Thank for any explanation!

Hi everyone!

Last week our schedule was a little busy, so we moved this back a bit.

This week, we are encouraging you all to ask questions about the Age of Empires game series.
On top of that, our experts are encouraged to proudly declare themselves as such and participate in an Ask Me Anything.

If you have a question, fire away! Remember however, rather than nitpicking the game or its design, we made this series hoping to take a broader look at how history is portrayed in media, emphasising that which is usually left out, such as those who don't do the fighting, or disease, or complex trade networks, and so on.

Any culture or aspect of history covered in any Age of Empires game or DLC is welcome, including Age of Mythology for our folklore experts. In simple terms, this means ancient cultures, medieval cultures and nations of the European 'Age of Discovery' and its ensuing colonial and imperial consequences.

Next week we will have a look at the classic film Zulu, so now is a good time to go give it a watch.

I have heard that those that those running extermination camps in Nazi Germany often suffered from dehumanization and mental breakdowns from the endless slaughter.

It got me wondering, is there any evidence of similar symptoms amongst say, those present at witch burnings or Parisians who saw the Guillotine at work regularly? Not the executioners or juries, but just regular people who came to watch the executions. Is it possible that it led to increased aggression or bloodthirst in the populace?

Often when reading about languages, languages families and the evolution of languages, you encounter the idea of a proto-language. For instance proto-germanic. But what I don't seem to find is if linguists actually believe people spoke this proto language, or if this would be more like a theoretical common denominator of a whole range of languages spoken. It feels like it would be likely that people spoke dialects with very limited range, the the idea of an actual used proto language seems very outlandish.

How did things like power and economical structures, culture and landscape change with these sudden mass exoduses? Do we have sources about it? If not, what does archaeology tell us?

I'm mainly interested in the peoples that had a major impact on the Roman world, whose migrations get a large amount of interest in academia and popular history. But if you have a related answer about other migration events, do answer; this question has been asked before by others, but afaik they never got an answer.

I love History and am considering get a degree, but are there any interesting jobs out there? (With or without a degree). I’m not interested in teaching.

(Also sorry if this isn’t the right place to post. Let me know and I will delete)

I am a college student going into my sophomore year and am about to study history abroad in Berlin. I have a few books on WWII, as well as some smaller ones on general German history, but I'm looking to find more in depth books on specific events in German history I may have not ever heard of.

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I'm not a historian but I've recently started wondering how we "know" things about the past, and wanted to challenge my skepticism. For example, I would like to know who wrote the Iliad.

Wikipedia tells me it was Homer but I'm not satisfied. Wikipedia can tell me because someone "knew" and wrote it but they had to learn it from somewhere else and so forth.

The oldest copy of the iliad is from 1000 AD so that's just an old secondary source, but yet could the author who scribed it possibly be the source for our "common knowledge". Wiki mentions that Herodotus thought of Homer.. but how do we know that..

I'm worried that history could be filled with ancient lies and mistakes that we mistake for truth, and that we don't have the means to know better.

Bread of Faces, Bread of Presence, Shewbread, Showbread. Presence Bread. What is the significance of the table of Shewbread to the Jewish people in the tabernacle?