As the second lamp flickered and sputtered, threatening to go out at any moment, Agesilaus motioned to a manservant standing nearby at the ready. "Light another, boy, and refill this one!" he barked, then turned back to his cup, a modest thing of undecorated terracotta. Glancing swiftly about the room he noticed a touch of boredom in some of his guests' faces, and could not help but agree--the flute girl was a disappointment, and he made a mental note to rebuke her owner in private. He dismissed her with a wave of his hand, then turned towards Xenophon's couch, on which the old Athenian was reclining, looking off into the distance apparently profoundly bored.

"My dear Xenophon, you seem rather melancholy tonight. Look, you've hardly touched your wine--what sort of symposiast are you?" he laughed, bellowing loudly and awakening his guests from their stupor.

The Athenian looked up, startled. "Why no, dear Agesilaus, nothing of the sort. Rather, I was contemplating what magnificent company I find myself in, and how best I might put what shall talent I have with a stylus to use penning their lives and deeds."

The king raised his eyebrow. "Oh? You intend some manner of treatise?" He motioned to a slave boy stationed at the wings to refill Xenophon's cup, and gazed at his attentively. He fancied he saw him blush, but perhaps Xenophon was only turning red with the wine, inadvertently tricking Agesilaus' eyes in the dim light.

"A treatise? No, but perhaps a biography of sorts."

"Biography?" The king was unfamiliar with the word. "What manner of work is that?"

"Nothing more than a catalog of a man's works and deeds. I feel no shame to admit that I have been working on your own for some time now, in the interests of providing a moral example to future students of philosophy and good living."

Agesilaus' expression betrayed his surprise. "I'm flattered. And what do you intend to say in this treatise...err, biography? Not just idle praise, I hope, but all the truth of myself as a man."

Xenophon raise his cup, examining it's workmanship as he spoke. "Perhaps, my friend, you might tell me yourself what you think ought to be included?"

Agesilaus grinned, then nodded heartily. "It was well that I sent away the flute girl: such talk is not for the minds of slave women. Let us talk, then, my friend--and may all the rest listen, and contribute something if they wish."

NB: The views on women and slavery presented herein are not my own, but the historical Xenophon was...not very well known for his views on the equality of women.

If the b-29 had so much more range, max height and payload than the b-17, why wasn't the b-29 used over Germany? I've only ever heard of the Super being used to bomb Japan

Is there any context to how native Hawaiians felt about the U.S annexing Hawaii? It was a made a territory before hand in the late 1800s, and granted statehood after the attack on Pearl Harbor and the end of WWII. I have to imagine there was some resentment as towards the U.S. as they would have otherwise would not have been involved in the war.

I'm certain that at least some of this is true. For instance, I imagine that somewhere at some point in the Middle Ages some book warned about not trusting redheads. Just as I imagine that somewhere at some point in the Middle Ages some book warned about people with raven black hair. How true is it, though, that redheads in this period were considered generally evil and immoral, and how widespread was that belief?

Thanks!

Either direction really: Were Roman Patricians overly conscious of the danger of the mob, and the fate of Tiberius Gracchus, in how did their politiking? Or conversely, how 'directed' was the 'mob'? Was there core organization which saw itself as the political opposition leading things, or were incidents like Gracchus' death more spontaneous?

I recently watched a PBS 'American Experience' documentary on prohibition, and it noted at some point that some prohibiton advocates hoped that outlawing the consumption of alcoholic beverages (e.g. beer) would encourage German immigrants to leaves the states. I had never heard of this argument befire, and I'd be curious to know how wide spread this feeling was held among prohibition advocates in the early 20th century.

Spain was a close ally of France and was helping in Napoleon's invasion of Portugal, so why would he invade them? I'm sure it's one of those moments in history like Hitler's invasion of the USSR that seem stupid at first, but when you look closer, there was actually a reason. So what was Napoleon's reason to invade Spain?

Not currently, but in works of history I feel like I've usually seen Native Americans clean shaven; were there any prominent Native Americans that had beards? Was it a culture thing?

Yes, the title is a bit jokey (but attention grabbing, no?), but seriously...

For most of Western history men wore pants and women wore much looser clothing in the form of robes, gowns, dresses, and skirts. The idea of pants as male gendered clothing was heavily baked into the culture all throughout Europe and other parts of the world. It's only begining in the 19th Century that we first start seeing women wearing pants, to the point it's notable as distinctly desgined for women and not used as a disguise.

From what I can tell, pants first became acceptable for women to wear under their skirts so they didn't show any of the naughty bits like their kneecaps when riding horses, and it seems to have grown from there, and even have been a major part of 19th Century Feminist activism. In fact, 'bloomers' are named after Amelia Bloomer, a suffragette who designed them herself.

So, how did we get from dresses to denim?

Hi! I'm a filmmaker in Florida. I haven't made any major films yet, however I want to make a short film involving a forest in my neighborhood. I was wondering if any historians knew a significant event in WWII that happened in a forest. I would prefer it to be a spy mission or one where the person has to be stealthy. However if there are no events along those lines, I'm fine with it being a big battle, even though that would be harder to make. If this isn't the right subreddit to ask this on, I'd appreciate it if you could direct me to the correct one. Thanks!

100 years ago today, Denmark transferred control of the Virgin Islands to the US in exchange for $25 million in gold. How was all this experienced by average people living there?

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I watched a video on the Lombard people, and I became curious if any group of Germanic people (even any 'white' tribe) have attempted to maintain their identity in modern times.