I recently went to Rome and took a tour of the coliseum. Our tour guide mentioned that hunts of exotic beasts (lions, bears, ostriches, leopard etc.) were extremely popular events. Obviously prisoners being executed by being forced to fight lions is a pretty popular image of Rome, but how were these animals obtained? Was there an industry of hunters who would go to the edges of the empire and capture bears and lions? Did the industry exist all the time or were hunters only dispatched in preparation for large events? Based on the popularity of these events many animals were surely killed, did it have an effect on the population of these animals? Also a lot has been written about the lives of gladiators and charioteers but what were the lives of hunters like who had to fight animals in the coliseum for a living?

During films such as the recent Dunkirk, civilians as well as military know what each of the enemy planes are, something which is also present in a lot of media set during this period. Is this knowledge added into their speech by scriptwriters based on our modern understanding, or is it accurate?

There were also a number of identification posters issued, but how wide spread would this have been amongst the public? Furthermore, how was this information about manufacturers known during the war. Was it espionage, or simply based on recovery of downed aircraft.

Is there any significant evidence for the idea that Pacific Islanders were the first to reach and populate South America (other than Easter Island)?

I'm a soldier in the medieval ages that have seen horrible things. How do I cope with it and did PTSD exist under another term?

I recently finished listening to The Greatest Knight: The Remarkable Life of William Marshal, Power Behind Five English Thrones by Thomas Asbrigde, on audible. He mentions a number of times that William Marshall was part of the Young King's retinue and refers to this group by a word I can't spell, and can't find anywhere, as a result - the meni(sp). I've been trying to do more research on this aspect of chivalric life, but not knowing how to even spell it, I don't know where to begin. Can anyone tell me more about this circle of knights, or at least tell me where to look?

EDIT - should say "knightly retinue - thanks swype typing!"

So around 1700 if I recall when Anne died she had no kids. George I was chosen because he was the closest non-Catholic heir. Who was the closest living Catholic and if they has succeeded would their decedents still be king/queen?

Did their republican system of government have a lot to deal with their growth into a regional power, or were they just the lucky ones that happened to conqueror their neighbors and not be conquered by someone else (say, the Samnites)

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I know that the atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki at 11:02am local time on August 9, 1945. I also know that August 9, 11:02am local Nagasaki time in 2017 is equivalent to August 8, 10:02pm EST. What I'm wondering is whether or not that would also be the case during WW2. I know that some countries have changed time zone borders in the past. Has Japan done so between 1945 and today? And how would the existence of "Eastern War Time" during the war effect the conversion?

I'm planning to assemble a set of armor/apparel of an average 15th c. European man-at-arms. Since most of it would be custom-made anyway, and since this is a long-term hobby project, I want to make sure it's as historically accurate as I can manage.

Ignoring the specifics of the garments for the moment (though I might ask for recommendations here later), I want to make sure I'm sticking with colors that would have been economically feasible and preferably common.

What dyes would have been most available in continental Europe in the Middle Ages? Are there any colors to avoid? I'm personally fond of gray, dark blue, brown, and dark green, but most of what I see in Medieval artwork is pretty bright colored.

Austria, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, New Guinea, Palestine, Poland, Romania, Russia, Sudan, Syria, Thailand, the UAE, USA, and probably some others, all have variations on the theme of "bird with its wings up and a shield on its chest" as their national crests/coats of arms.

Why is this design so common across such different countries?

Google images portray her differently (different skin color, body shape, and hair length, etc). Is anything about it known for certain?

Assuming Japan refuses to surrender unconditionally August 15, what was the plan?

How many bombs US was ready to drop? Were there enough military targets left and what were they?

I'm watching Manhattan on AmazonPrime and I've noticed that a number of scientists and intelligence personnel are German, Hungarian, other unspecified Eastern European, having arrived in the US in the inter-war period. How common was this? Why were they trusted to work for the US and not for their home nations?

I wondered this, because I often see it applied to other countries that don't quite fit. For example "In Britain, executive power is wielded by the head of the legislative on behalf of the monarch" or something like that... which seems like it's trying to explain Britain using a foreign system that doesn't quite work. And I see it used to describe the politics of other countries too, when it seems to best describe the USA (which has clearly delineated judicial, legislative and executive branches). So I wondered how describing governments as comprising these three parts started.

I also heard they were by far more industrialized than other pre-unitarian states but they were "abbandoned" after the unification and that's why they are nowaday poor, how much of this is true ?

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