I'm intrigued by the story of Herostratus, who burned down the Temple of Artemis in an attempt to gain eternal fame. After the deed he was sentenced to death and, importantly, condemned to be forgotten. It was forbidden for anyone to mention his name so that he would not go down in history as he wanted. Obviously, this punishment does not seem to have worked as we now still know his name.
I was wondering if we are sure that his name really was Herostratus and that this is not just a legend?
1 Answers 2017-02-24
I mean other than just generic old god stuff. Is there a specific god that is similar?
1 Answers 2017-02-24
I've read a lot on Kennedy, and many books make the claim that he had regular affairs while in office (see Thurston Clarke's 'JFK's last hundred days' or C. David Heymann's 'RFK'). however I have never seen any tangible proof offered. the most such books can provide is a claim, or supposed testimony from someone who claims to know of it, or many documentaries simply state that the press new of his affairs, but I am yet to see any convincing proof. could you enlighten me?
1 Answers 2017-02-24
How do we estimate these numbers, like Stalin's 25 million dead? I assume it's a variety of sources, but I'm not certain what they are. Thanks!
1 Answers 2017-02-24
Given how common belief in/stories about dragons were across many different cultures in Eurasia I was wondering if there was anything similar among the pre-European inhabitants of the Americas. If so what were some of the traditions and what were their unique features? Are there distinct shared archetypes - like Western vs Eastern dragons in Eurasia?
2 Answers 2017-02-24
Morning fellow /r/AskHistorians subscribers.
I'm writing today because I think that the Books and Resources list can always be improved. Specifically, I think it's lacking in the realm of early humans.
I'm a student teacher currently in 6th grade. Our curriculum starts very early on and in looking on this page for books about the history to brush up I found it lacking. Don't get me wrong I love the resources and book list but at the same time, it can always be improved.
So I'm calling on a few specific flared users who could contribute to adding books about the following topics specifically:
As far as flared users that could contribute, I'd tagged the following based on who immediately I think might be of help:
3 Answers 2017-02-24
How well did the HBO Miniseries depict actual conflicts that the 101st Airborne were involved in? Did they really miss there landing zone by that great of a distance? What was the Battle of the Bulge like for the 101st? Thank you for your responses in advance!
1 Answers 2017-02-24
[deleted]
1 Answers 2017-02-24
I understand if this gets deleted, but I value this subreddit quite a lot and constantly refer to it for the many questions I have (mostly lurking, as most questions I come up with have already been answered numerous times)
I don't really understand Marxism too well, as it's not something I've studied but only have a verrrry basic understanding of what it actually means. That being said, I've seen people on multiple sites such as Facebook as well as other subreddits accusing /r/AskHistorians of being subversive in nature. I'm guessing that this means that some facts about history or statistics are covered up or glossed over to promote some sort of agenda, apparently very left-leaning, or even promoting honing in on certain aspects of history that may or may not prove a certain agenda as valid.
Let's say this is true, I'm assuming that Marxism throughout history was most definitely a bad thing, but apparently that can change in the future. Most would say this is a dangerous line of thinking, but to me in order to understand the true nature of Marxism and it's effects on society wouldn't the best people to consult about it be historians, and if some of them happen to be Marxists wouldn't that be something to consider? I'm guessing this isn't necessarily true, but sometimes I do see things on here that would make me understand why one would believe there is evidence of Marxism here. Maybe I'm asking for a brief tl;dr on Marxism and why it's weird to accuse a subreddit of such things.
6 Answers 2017-02-24
I'd love to have an answer to any of those questions, thanks in advance guys!
1 Answers 2017-02-24
[deleted]
1 Answers 2017-02-24
Did the Admiralty take the threat of the Argentine Aircraft Carrier seriously? Could that old carrier have done any damage to the British Task Force, or even have sunk the British Fleet? I'm curious if there was any real possibility that ARA Veinticinco de Mayo would not have retreated, but instead pressed an attack on the Task Force.
1 Answers 2017-02-24
I was reading up on the ancient wonders of the world, and of them I found the hanging gardens the most intriguing. From what a cursory Google search reveals, there's only been mere speculation about its location. So, how do we know and have been able to get a representation of what it looks like? And it was one of the seven wonders of the world, but why was it included in the list when its existence in itself is somewhat doubtful?
2 Answers 2017-02-24
1 Answers 2017-02-24
I'm in the middle of research for a project and found myself stumped. In Revolutionary France, Kingdom of Ireland, Kingdom of Great Britain, (secularised, or enlightened) Holy Roman Empire/Austrian Empire, Italian city states, how would the Roman Republic have been viewed by any of these various people?
I'm mostly interested in the 1780s-1790s Irish upper middle class/upper class republicans, but a general idea of the time would help. I want to know would the scholars and upper class have referred to it as the "Roman Republic/Roman Empire", and what was their view on the transition from republic to empire under Caesar and Octavian (Augustus)?
Any book on the topic would be really helpful?
1 Answers 2017-02-24
People in certain professions may have traveled much more than others, and they would likely have a different point of view, but there are times (such as wars) when large groups of people were given cause to travel considerable distances. Do we have much information on what someone would consider to be "far away"? If you told someone they would have to travel to a neighboring region, would they consider it a great distance? What about across France? What about from Italy to the Holy Land to crusade?
You hear a lot in history about armies and what have you traveling these distances, but never any mention of the fact that these armies are often traveling kind of a long way, especially for the time!
I am equally interested in other places and times, but I thought it better to define the question more specifically.
2 Answers 2017-02-24
Was this widely supported by the general populace, or simply accepted as a necessity of war? Did any major figures give accusations of tyranny? What was the comparative reaction to the 1940 election in the UK?
1 Answers 2017-02-24
I tried posting this in ELI5, but it was removed because politics aren't allowed. I read something about how he passed some kind of legislation that essentially preserved slavery in the South, but, admittedly, I didn't quite understand it. Basically, what laws/statutes did he violate that made filing for impeachment legitimate?
1 Answers 2017-02-24
1 Answers 2017-02-24
I am a Greek-American and know that a good portion of Greeks loath Turks. I also know Greece was occupied by the Ottomans for 400+ years, which lead to the Greek war of Independence in 1821. But what specifically did the Ottomans/Turks do to the Greeks that would cause so much animosity to this day?
(I do know about the takeover of Northern Cyprus in the 70s that added fuel to the fire.)
1 Answers 2017-02-24
Recently I read that in 16-17 century (pre 30 years war), the Habsburgs dynasty accumulated enormous debts due to its war with the Ottoman Empire and the constant cost of south-eastern border defense. So I wonder what the Sultan's budget balance looked like at the time, did they get the same problem?
I would also hope that someone can explain how the Ottoman Empire's public finance works. For example: What did the income of the states consist of other than tax? Could the state borrow money to fund its military campaigns or construction projects? If yes, who did they borrow from (I have zero knowledge about contemporary Islamic finance, much less its early modern version)? Beside military, construction and paying salary, did the Ottoman Empire has other issues they need to spend regularly on like social benefit, charity...
1 Answers 2017-02-24
This is an odd question, but when I was thinking about pants (and how the Germanic tribes wearing pants influenced future fashion) I thought of how the dress was commonly worn by women, which seem to be derived from the toga, which Germans did not wear. What explains this odd development?
1 Answers 2017-02-24
Im writing a article for uni about ancient roman politics and after doing some reading im still confused over certain details.
I read that the tribune of the plebs was a position reserved for those of the plebian class, so how come several nobleman came into that position? The gracchi, ceasar etc.
Was there a law or was it simply tradition/convention that a consul couldnt serve several terms, especially in succession. Did the same thing apply to the tribune of the plebs?
This is related to questions 1 and 2, but were there written laws that set limits or the extent of political power?
1 Answers 2017-02-24