In the twilight years of the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire was Byzantium (Constantinople) still a major center of commerce drawing people from across the known world?

So I've been watching the new David Simon fiction series "The Deuce" set in 70's New York and centering on sex work, and fair number of characters in the series are pimps of some variety.

What interests me is that the show sort of tacitly depicts two different sorts of pimps; white massage parlor guys with "connections" and the classic stereotype of outlandishly dressed African American man, complete with fancy hat, patterned suit and a studded cane.

Characters in the show are depicted decrying the death of the pimp lifestyle as pornography producers begin to poach "talent" and obviate the pimp. So I've inferred that by the 70's, this stereotype was already well entrenched.

A couple things, then:

1. Is the image of the foppish pimp an accurate portrayal of a subculture?
2. When do we start getting this depiction of the pimp in mass media, and how much did it create in the street the thing it depicted on the screen?

I find it rather strange that people call two Kingdoms that were a dual crown Spain when Spain didn't technically exist till the 1700s. It is weird, it's like calling Prussia, Germany. It doesn't make any sense, why do people make this mistake still?

The details of the Washington Naval Treaty seem to require a large amount of very detailed inspection in order to ensure that all of the signatories were abiding by the agreement. Notably loading each ship in a combat load, minus fuel, and then calculating displacement seems like it would be very difficult to track across multiple nations navies.

Was there a responsible third party who was ensuring that the treaty was being followed? Who was actually calculating the tonnage of each respective warship in the signatories navies?

Were any of the parties intentionally under representing the displacement of ships that were in fact larger?

is there something more practical about a straight katana rather than a curved one?

What are your go to books for the history of Rome?

Bonus points if you suggest reading material I can access for free on the interwebz (preferably in PDF).

This is a quote traditionally attributed to the prophet Mohammed: "the worst things are those that are novelties, every novelty is an innovation, every innovation is an error and every error leads to the Hell-fire".

This quote was presented alongside the following claim in an academic article:

"This dictum and the doctrine behind it enabled the Muslim religious conservatives of the Ottoman Empire to hinder or delay the introduction of innovations such as Arabic letter printing, observatory and clock-making."

As someone who loves history, I am particularly enamored with women's fashion over the years. Lately I have been watching videos on how women dressed (and the process behind it) in the 18th and 19th centuries. It seems that wealthier women wore endless layers of shifts, stays, petticoats, pocket hoops, etc. It would take forever to get dressed and, obviously, undressed as well. It also seems that most women who would wear this fashion would likely have a hired girl to help her get into and out of it.

If a woman wanted to have sex with her husband, what was that process like? Would he undress her (or she undress in front of him) like is commonly done today, or was there a more elaborate process? Did couples even sleep together at this time? Was there ever any sporadic sex or was it all ceremonial and formal? Did women have attire that could be worn around the house in front of her husband that did not involve a laborious process to put on?

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I'll take any information you have. I find it fascinating.

In 'Conquerors: how Portugal forged the first global empire', Roger Crowley leaves the impression that the Portuguese, despite their small numbers, were quickly able to use force to impose a measure of control over trade on the west coast of India. Had Asian powers not sought to build up naval power before this to control the wealth of trade? Also, is he right to say that taking control of this trade was not the goal of Zheng-He before the Chinese treasure fleets were cancelled?

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Hello there!

I just recently moved to Düsseldorf and would like to better understand the history of Germany starting around 500CE onwards. I know it's expansive and I'm asking a very broad question, but I have an audible subscription and would like to understand more of my new (hopefully permanent) home. As my new home is Düsseldorf, any novels that even briefly cover the Battle of Worringen would be huge bonuses.

I'm not too particularly eager to learn about WW2 - I think it's a dick move to move here and then study the Nazis. That being said, I would be interested in understanding the liberation of Düsseldorf better, as it looks to have been seized and surrendered by the resistance on the eve of a large bombing run with a lot of twists along the way. Besides that, more Feudal era upto the transition into the industrial era is what I'm looking for.

Please feel free to suggest books that only cover a brief timeline of that if you find it to be particularly engaging, important to the forming of Germany as we know today, or a story stranger than fiction. Maybe something on Otto von Bismarck? Overarching book on the impact of the Reformation across the country? Podcasts also welcome (so long as it's in English).

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I've come across the fact that Aragonese rulers had several vassals in the Balkans including Skenderbey of Albania and Duke of Herzegovina. Why? What did they hope to gain there? It seems so far away from their base in Iberia.

If you were to ask anyone to give a description of Jesus, it would be very easy: long, straight brown hair, a thick beard, and always wearing flowing white robes. He is instantly recognizable. My question is, when, where and why did this set of physical traits become so commonplace? The Bible never describes his appearance at all, so it must be conjecture by an artist’s creative license, but it must have been a very influential artist indeed.