I know that there were four Panhellenic games that would cycle through Greece each year. Did the participating athletes dedicate all of their time to training or was it mostly a hobby? Did they work normal jobs like everyone else? Were they wealthier than the normal person? If so, by how much?

Does this hold any merit, or am I being had?

I'm looking for a fairly detailed description, as I'm trying to make a historically accurate one. All of the videos and descriptions I can find are people making them from plywood for reenactments and the like.

Could anyone reccomend me a book that would be able to inform me about the situation bearing in mind I know nothing about the situation. Thanks

The Christianisation of the Roman Empire occurred despite persecution of Christian individuals, suggesting persecution is ineffective in halting conversion to Christianity. However in Japan and China Christianity was persecuted - as far as I can tell in virtually the same ways as the Romans persecuted Christianity - and in these examples it worked very well. Were there differences in the persecution/context I am not aware of?

I don't read too much anymore, but love listening to audiobooks. The selection is fairly minimal. I was wondering if there are any good recommendations for a series of books focusing primarily on non-european/american history (preferably African/East Asian). My area of study during college was the Middle East and North Africa from mid 6th century - present day. I was mostly focused on reactionary thought dating from 18th century(its been a few years and hopefully this will give you an idea of my basic interests)? Unfortunately trying to evaluate some of these audiobooks is difficult. Is "The Great Courses" series any good or is audible pretty much devoid of good history books?

I was watching Mad Men and there was a scene where a family packs up their picnic by shaking out the blanket (and all it's trash) on a field while the man chucks a beer can like a football. Did people actually do this back then? Did they not even bother considering the environmental impact or were there civic services employed to clean up that don't exist anymore?

Before the European immigration, in the 1400/1500's. All I know is Native Americans lived there, but I don't know how they arrived there. Did they immigrate from somewhere else?

Hey! I came across the "Muʿtazila" term while reading some theological articles, and thus became really interested in this!

However, I don't seem to really understand the theological term much. I hoping for /r/AskHistorians for any background information, or additional information on the Muʿtazila.

Much appreciated!

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Just thinking about our theme this week, can anyone elaborate on the history of using tracks to ease transportation before the invention of the locomotive train? The only thing that comes to mind is mine carts, but surely this was a simple technology with lots of possible benefits even before steam-powered engines. Any care to educate and entertain?

Since Shirer was a correspondent for CBS Radio in Berlin during Hitler's rise and the book was published in 1960, would it be fair to call his book a primary source?

I keep hearing they were more like early bronze age. Is there any validity to this?

So I just finished reading Zealot by Reza Aslan and I'm now reading it again. Based on what the book says, Christianity seemed to be formed by a Zealot movement in Palestine. It was many centuries later where the Roman Empire adopted the religion to rid of paganism.

It seems like, based on the book, that the New Testament of the bible is Roman Empire propaganda, rewritten for Roman citizens.

Which makes me wonder, is Christianity, technically Roman mythology or Greek mythology?

PS. I'm a layman to Christian and Roman history.

Researching for my boss and I can't find any sources to confirm this as fact. Only other information: the person this was granted to was openly a lesbian and lived in either England or Scotland.

I know everybody was scrambling for Africa

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I am looking for the appropriate name(s) for people living in the Roman province of Judea during the first century CE who were ethnically, culturally, and religiously Jewish.

What name(s) did they use for themselves? What name(s) did the Romans have for them? What other names were associated with them? (preferably in Latin/Aramaic/Hebrew or other regional languages at that time)