So I know they were based around aquifers or springs so there was constantly freshwater coming in but how clean can public pools with no chlorine or disinfectants actually be? When I visited the Roman Baths at Bath, England, the waters were murky and green and the lead pipes had poisoned the water. Were they actually doing a public health service or making things worse?

I know that in Western Europe, the title of Emperor was essentially reserved for the Holy Roman Emperor but realistically, what was really stopping, say, the King of Spain, to change his title to Emperor of Spain?

I saw a conversation on fb discussing the recently release Dunkirk film. The implication was that the film has white washed history by ignoring the role black french troop had. They were supposed to have been refused transport on the smaller ships and eventually were captured and sent to death camps such as Auschwitz.

Is there any truth to this claim? Thank you!

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Patrick V. Kirch, one of the most esteemed historian of precolonial Oceania, argues that the Hawaiians believed that Captain Cook was the god Lono because of some of the following reasons:

• Cook's crew mentioned how the Captain was called "Rono"
• Cook arrived during the Makahiki festival, when the god Lono was believed to circumnavigate the islands to collect sacrifices and offerings, and even moved around the islands in the clockwise direction that Lono was thought to follow
• Cook's ship had great white sails, and Lono was associated with floating white banners.
• Cook received the honor of the prostrating taboo (kapu moe), traditionally restricted to only high kings and gods. Kirch associates other ceremonies the Hawaiians made Cook undergo as being key rituals in the worship of Lono (e.g. the ritual feeding of Cook at a temple complex).
• Cook's bones were deified after the Captain was killed.
• Some 19th-century Hawaiian writers state outright that Cook was considered Lono.

I believe Marshall Sahlins, another important anthropologist, argues much the same thing.

On the other hand, I've heard it said that Captain Cook was simply titled "Lono" because he arrived during Lono's season (Hawaiians often naming people after major ceremonies of their birth) and that Hawaiians did not think Cook was a god any more than they thought kings or priests named Lono were gods.

Which has more support today?

I am reading the "Transformation of War" by Martin van Creveld and I have encountered quite a strange statement which is not explained further:

Thus, in modern countries that have the death penalty, the identity of those who administer the electric shock or open the valves of the gas-chamber is always carefully concealed. Since previous societies were more intimate and carried out their executions in public they were unable to preserve anonymity, though masks were often used. The solution was to entrust the job to the members of certain families. They were considered unclean and lived in seclusion; in London, for example, their house was located on the south bank, away from “good” society and downriver from everybody else. In some cases they required a special license to enter the towns where they worked, risking assault if they showed themselves on other occasions. The hangmen themselves before proceeding to their gruesome business used to beg for the victim’s forgiveness. Often they found it hard to get married, with the result that in sixteenth-century England, for example, they received permission to cohabit with the dead.

Was this a common practice? Would this cohabitation be sexual in nature?

I was reading a history book written by Howard Zinn. There was a passage from Colomb's logbook describing the first encounter with the natives(Arwaks). Is the whole logbook out there? Can't seem to find it on google.

Obviously there was nobody qualified to translate, so I'm guessing the entire continent was just miming to one another for a few years until people started learning the European languages? Would the Europeans learn the native languages? Did the Conquistadors ever know that the Aztecs thought they were gods? Did Columbus have a couple translators on board for when he reached Asia?

So many questions! I think that's enough.

I'm asking because I hear that the Dunkirk film includes just one black soldier on the French side. (Haven't seen it yet).

Did she ever speak about Anne Boleyn as an adult? A google search turned up nothing!

The Manchus ruled over China for almost 300 years (1644-1912) while the Mongols ruled China for less than 100 years (1271-1368).

I did a quick search, and found nothing, so sorry if this is a repeated question. I am primarily of Scandinavian ancestry. How likely is it that my ancestors were Viking raiders?

A bit of a silly meta question, but I am rereading Massie's Peter the Great, and I have a great deal of trouble trying to pronounce some of these Russian names. How do historians deal with hard to pronounce names, especially if they are names that come from outside of their primary language? This question is especially pertinent if their primary means of coming across these names is through the written word.

How common were muggings or violent crimes between citizens on Roman streets? Was graffiti/vandalism a problem? How much worse was it than New York during the 80s, for example? On the one hand there would be much worse policing, but on the other Roma was much smaller and legal punishments much more severe. How comparable were levels of urban poverty, discounting abnormal, sporadic levels of upheaval or war?

Today, people tend to view militias as crazy secluded groups of people with a fascination with guns and anti-government viewpoints. Was this at all the same in the early parts of US history?

I barely know the specifics, sorry!