In movies and media, there are often court wizards that have high towers and whatnot. Is there any truth in those, or is it just more movie pseudohistory?

Hello AskHistorians,

There's a popular story that after Benjamin Franklin (and possibly others independently) invented the lightning rod, many Christians opposed their use. The story goes that installing a lightning rod was considered blasphemous or heretical, because lightning was said to strike according to the will of God. This opposition was harmful and also ironic, because churches are tall buildings with pointy crosses on top, and so would be struck often.

How much truth is there to this story? Most of the internet articles discussing it appear to be copypasta.

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As of now, I don't know a whole lot so I'm looking for something introductory and simple to follow.

Also, I read some were saved nearly 40 years later. Is this true? What did they say?

(Has anybody seen Varus? I want my legions back)

I just started translating Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic Wars for my Latin class and I was wondering what would be proper demonyms for the peoples described in the book. For example, there is a tribe called the Helvetii in Latin. I assume it would be correct to call the Britanni Britons instead of British or using the Latin name, but it begs the question, what do we call a people who were around before the English language existed and how do we come up with this name? Should I call something like a river by its French or Latin name? Sorry if my question is confusing, but I'd be interested to learn more about demonyms and geographical names in historical context.

I was told that many of the ideas he used in order to build the concentration camps were from his time studying Native American genocide. I can't, however, find a proper source. Is there truth to this?

Thanks for the help.

Historians are academics that source their findings and tell it as it was, right? Well, but to some extent you have to speculate, don't you? To what extent is that done and are there ever historical events that are debated in their very essence, or is it more a discussion of nuances amongst historians?

As the population was scattered over such a vast area and communication was slow how was the population kept informed on developments regarding a candidate's campaign? Additionally how did a candidate go about attempting to persuade people to vote for them?

Since the Roman Empire and Republic were so large did they develop any sort of advanced bureaucracy like in China? Were there examinations for civil servants or ministries?

I'm currently reading The Sword in The Age of Chivalry by Ewart Oakeshott where he says on the type XVI that the "point is acute enough to even penetrate plate armour" and in a footnote describes an incident in 1356 after the battle of Poitiers where a squire had thrust a blade "which passed through both (his opponent's) thighs". I would quite like a source for further reading.

I submitted this question a few times before but never received an answer.

I'm particularly wondering how many pirates could fit into one boat because I'm writing a historical fiction novel, where in one scene a large number of pirates capture a larger ship via pirogues, but I would like to use a realistic amount of pirates to outnumber the ship's crew when they're in their pirogues, but I just don't know how big one would be or how many people could fit in one.

If anyone has an answer for this, I greatly appreciate it.

The Antonine Wall seems militarily more defensible than Hadrian's Wall, being of shorter length, so more men could be concentrated in a shorter stretch, or less men for the same concentration. So why was Hadrian's Wall the one that lasted?

Let's say links in a mail shirt are broken, or a war-hammer impales a hole through a helmet; could this kind of thing be repaired? Was it worth the effort?

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I am reading Toby Wilkinson's Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt and he is talking about archaeologists finding very early Egyptian artifacts and being able to read what is on them.

So, obviously all languages change over time and Egypt's monarchy lasted for 3,000 years. Did hieroglyphics change less than a normal written language because of them being symbols rather than letters or did they evolve similar to any other language? How do we figure out what really old Egyptian inscriptions say since I'm assuming most of or knowledge of the language comes from the very end.

I'm looking for a comprehensive account of his life, from childhood through Ford's Theatre, that's relatively easy to read.

Does such a book exist?

I can't get a straight answer from google and I don't think this has been addressed in the sidebar.

Apparently there are archeological samples of rust-resistant chromium-plated swords from ancient China. Does this have any basis in fact, and would chromium plating have been a significant advantage over, say, steel weapons?

Were most of them able to return home? If so, did they face social ostrachization in their communities? Were they able to start life anew and get married etc? (I'm also looking for primary sources on the subject if anyone has any recommendations)

Hi all, I´m currently writing an essay with some other guys for my A- levels about mass migration events in the past and today. I have to cover the Migration Period at the end of the roman age and am mostly done, but just started to wonder how big such a tribe actually is. After all its stupid to write 10 pages about the topic without ever mentioning how many people were actually on the move. I expected something like up to 40.000 in one moving tribe but couldnt find a source anywhere that confirms or dismisses my guess. Does anyone of you know something about this? And where can I find a legitimate source to verify it? I bet my teacher wouldnt be happy if I quote some reddit comment Thanks in advance :)