That is to say, does Mary get a bad rep because the country never went back to being Catholic and the winners write history? Or was she really a lot worse with respect to persecuting the other side?

I have always been told that Native Americans were thought to be Indians by Columbus, and that’s why the term is still used. Why did this stick for 500 years?

For thousands of years people who lived near the Eurasian steppes like in Russia or China suffered immensely from raids and invasions by steppe tribes. Those tribes had powerful composite bows made from commonly available materials (wood, sinew and animal horns) and could use them from horseback making them very powerful and mobile fighters.

Did the people who got raided adopt the bows and horse archery themselves? The bows alone would have been more affordable than the horses.

context: I am reading the operational history of the Canadian navy 1939-43 and ever time an escort spot a surfaced sub, the first thing they try is to ram into the ship. Considering that damage taken by the ramming ship it, and the difficulty of actually pulling it off, I can see how this made it into and then stayed standard practice for so long

Edit: Cut it out with the "well what about that sign that said welcome to Troy" jokes. They're not funny, they'll be deleted and I've already gotten fifty notifications for them.

I understand that Roman men in the first couple centuries usually wore tunics, and medieval people in the area often wore pants. So when did that transition happen, and what were the main causes? Mixing with the barbarian pant-wearers of Gaul? An emperor setting a fashion? Or just sartorial experimentation?

I have read the Wikipedia page but am still confused... Was this like a paid job? What were they meant to be doing?

I remember seeing awhile ago on reddit that there were a few samurai of African ancestors. Iv also seen this played out in several TV series. I was wondering if there was any credible evidence available to support this or is it all hearsay. Thanks in advance for your time

A famous story of Solon, as mentioned in Francis Bacon's Apophthegms:

"Solon when he wept for his son's death, and one said to him, 'Weeping will not help;' answered, 'Alas, therefore I weep, because weeping will not help'."

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And which source, in Greek or Latin, did Bacon draw this story from?

I’ve never fully understood what life was like for the average citizen of the Soviet Union. What I mean was: could people decide what jobs they wanted to work? Could people decide where to live? If you wanted to be a baker (or whatever) and bake bread and sell it would that be allowed? I guess people were paid wages. Could they spent these on anything they wanted? Or was it more like rations and you get a set amount of food and books etc. Could you pass down possessions to your children as inheritance or would they all become property of the state?

What are the mains ways the organisation of the economy controlled people’s lives in ways different from the USA?

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