Regarding the last question, I'm wondering if Byzantium guarded the tech or if it sold/distributed the silk-making process across Europe

Hi all, as I was talking to a friend a memory came up about Caesar’s time spent in Bithynia during his youth. I know for certain that there are rumors that he had sexual relations with the king. I would like to know:

how credible is this story?

I also heard that his soldiers were chanting something to mock him, but at this point I’m not sure if it’s true or not.

Thanks!

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There's a popular story in much of the English speaking world about King Alfred the Great of Wessex whereby he accidentally let a cake burn. I'm sure that you've heard some variation of the story before, but for those who haven't, after his kingdom was conquered by vikings and he was in hiding preparing to reconquer it, he was hiding in an old lady's house. While there, she asked him to watch the cake that she was baking, but he was distracted making military plans and so let it burn. Then she berated him for it and he showed his good nature by apologizing for it.

So did this actually happen (according to contemporary sources)? If it didn't happen, when did the myth first come about and how did it alter over time?

I understand that the Middle ages occurred after the fall of the Roman Empire, but I have trouble understanding what were the Medieval or Middle ages? Is the Holy Roman Empire of any significance and was it what is shown to be Medieval times? Or was it some other period?

From what I understand, Caesar caused the Roman leadership to permanently change from a Republic to an Empire. One of the bigger factors given to the cause of Rome's fall seems to be a series of astoundingly terrible emperors, and it doesn't seem like that would have ever happened had Rome remained a republic.

I don't actually know much about Rome other than what I've learned from Middle/High School and Wikipedia though, so there's a good chance that there's a stunningly obvious explanation for this that I'm unaware of. If so, I apologize.

At the time of the treaty, were the individual cultural differences already noticeable or did the creation of a west and east Frankish kingdom cause/accelerate the differences? When did the "Frankish-ness" disappear?

I'm thinking more about this during the 1967 or 1973 wars, when the Jews had been living in Israel for decades. Would they have been able to remain in Palestine, sent back to their countries of origin or massacred?

Why wasn't he executed just to be on the safe side?

Could the ancient Illyrians really be the ancestors of today's Albanians? Is there any sound proof, written evidence etc. I mean, i know there is almost nothing left from the people of ancient Illyria (outside of a few words written in their language, i think).

I know that some historians do studies on oral traditions and how accurate they are. I was wondering if there had been any consensus reached in non-devotional studies about how authentic the hadith compilations like Bukhari are and the validity of the methods used to collect and determine their authenticity?

Are historians more skeptical of traditional Muslim claims or is there something to the methods of the compilers?

Are there any good books that cover many revolutions in broad overview?

I'm sorry if there is a better way to submit a question like this to the sub. My question to mods and subscribers is this: Would there be some way to assign priority to sourced answers and verified subject matter experts, while still allowing us common folk (non historians, retail workers) to speculate and talk about anecdotes?

This sub is moderated so tightly that it seems like legitimate answers could be sent to the top and all silliness would sink to the bottom of the thread. This would allow the general public to participate in a post (without being deleted) and provide the opportunity for them to learn from an educated opinion at the top of the thread.

I am not married to this idea but is there any other type of format that could provide similar platforms to both the laymen and the experts? Is there a way to do this while keeping the integrity of this sub?