Reason I'm asking: I'm upgrading my sukkah this year to include some AV components including sounds of the desert and music from the time.

I recently watched Roots and it seemed like both guys just kind of stood there waiting to get shot when it wasn't their turn. In a proper duel with pistols, can I attempt to dodge if it's their turn to shoot?

When the Greeks fought the Romans, were they still fighting with the older 6’ long(ish) Hoplite spears, or were the Greeks then using the Macedonian-”Alexander the Great” style of 22’ long spears (sarissa)?

I've been looking all over but struggling to find one.

I've been going (really far) back into my genealogical history, to find that my ancestors were Albanians who fled to Sicily after the rise of the Ottoman Empire. While I think muslim oppression is a bit of a given, might there have been other factors that would have led to this? What would have been or would have changed in the daily life of a Byzantine Christian from Albania?

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I've heard that the Greeks had colonies on the coasts of Italy and Black Sea, even some venturing to the coast of Africa. What do we know about some of these explorations? Where did they go, what were their reactions to those places, if any records exist?

I know the original layout for Mount Rushmore was supposed to contain much more detail, like the bodies of the presidents, but had to be halted due to lack of funding. Why haven't we tried to finish the project since?

The rules say asking for book recommendations is ok. I hope asking for a documentary is ok too!

I'm looking for a video or audio documentary covering the causes and effects of the Second Great Awakening. I'm interested in all denominations formed during that time, who the leaders were and what motivated them, the main theology taught, cross-pollination of ideas between sects, and so on.

So far all documentaries I can find are focused on one facet such as "Mormonism and the Second Great Awakening", or have obvious biases and agendas.

All suggestions are much appreciated.

This includes everyone including lower levels, including those whom inforced the boycott on Jewish goods, to guards in the ghetto all the way up to more gruesome crimes. These include german or non german.

Second question, what happened to all of them after the war?

Hey AskHistorians, I'm a fiction writer who's working on a story meant for compilation in a collection focused on events from '65 to '70.

I was wondering if anyone familiar with police or military history would be able to tell me what types of firearms police or National Guardsman would have used in faceoffs with student/political activists, especially in the Midwest around '69? I know the Illinois Nat Guard was involved in the riots of '68, so including whatever military grade weapons they might have used is perfect too! I ask because I'm not sure when local police adopted semi automatic long rifles or would have used anything other than sidearms; as for the Guard, I'm not a weapons expert and can't make out the model of weapons from pictures of the time.

Thanks for any help!

Was slavery the main factor?* If there were other contributing issues, what were they? For that matter, did beliefs among residents regarding the contributing factor(s) split pretty evenly along what ended up being the border?

(*Edited to add that to be clear, I'm not trying to insinuate that I'm one of those...people who thinks the war was about states' rights, not slavery. I just didn't want to prematurely rule out other causes regarding this specific situation.)

For example, we can't go back much further than 500 years in English and still be able to fully communicate in modern English. Are there languages whose modern speakers can fully communicate with speakers much longer ago, like thousands of years back?

Much as the middle east is currently today. However, even after the protestant reformation, religion and state were very intertwined. What changed?

Why did they spent so much resources building aqueducts instead of simply digging for ground water ?

And if the town comes under siege, isn't aqueduct liable to be destroyed or water be poisoned ?

I've heard that before the annexation of the Byzantine Empire by the Ottomans, that the last Byzantine Emperor sold the title to Ferdinand II of Aragon. So the current Spanish king could theoretically claim the lands of the Byzantine Empire, right? Is this true or just some misconceptions?

Hi, all.

Over the next four years, I'm going to try to get a solid undergraduate-level understanding of Biblical studies on my own.

I've mostly focused on the Oxford/Cambridge/Routledge/Blackwell literature review surveys, since they give multiple scholars' perspectives, and give some indication of the debates within the field. I was a history and anthropology major (not focused on ancient history, however), and I have a professional degree, so I don't mind reading academic literature.

So far, the list I've assembled so far is:

----THE BIBLE AND NON-CANONICAL TEXTS----

1. The Oxford Handbook of Biblical Studies

2. The Cambridge Companion to the Bible

3. The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Apocrypha

4. Oxford Handbook to the Dead Sea Scrolls

----JUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY IN ANTIQUITY----

5. Cambridge Companion to St. Paul

6. Blackwell Companion to Paul

7. Routledge Companion to Early Christian Thought

8. A Companion to Biblical Interpretation in Early Judaism (Eerdmans)

9. Cambridge Companion to the Talmud

10. Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Studies

11. Oxford Handbook of Jewish Daily Life in Roman Palestine

----THE HISTORICAL JESUS----

12. The Wiley-Blacwkwell Companion to Jesus

13. The Cambridge Companion to Jesus

----ANCIENT ISRAEL----

14. The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of the Levant, c. 8000-322 B.C.E.

15. The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Ancient Israel

16. Cambridge Companion to the Ancient Near East

17. The Oxford Handbook of Cuneiform Culture

18. The Oxford Handbook of Archaeology of the Ancient Near East

Does this seem like a good start for a list to get a well-rounded understanding of the major areas of Biblical studies? Is there anything that I should add or subtract?

(Or am I going about it all wrong?)

Thank you.

From what I've read, it seems that the two leaders of a Roman Legion, the Legate and the Tribune, were not promoted soldiers but were instead appointed members of the aristocracy. This seems very counter-intuitive from a modern perspective. What qualifications would these men have aside from being from the right families?

From all that I've read, the sieging of cities can be over rather quickly, even if they are huge, important cities like Baghdad - the siege took 5 days before the garrison surrendered to Hulagu, despite Hulagu's force barely outnumbered the defenders two-to-one - whereas the sieging of castles is long and costly. What usually made the sieging of cities so easy for the attackers? I understand that for one, the defenders have to cover a great area of walls, as cities can get rather large, but shouldn't this be solved by just having a larger garrison size?