Foucault’s “History of Madness” theorizes that mental illness was not a defined thing in premodern times, that a mentally ill person was not fully deemed “mentally ill” (to the extent that they are today) and was therefore less differentiated from the rest of society. So, when dealing with an ancient or medieval text, to what extent can a historian assume that someone was in fact mentally ill without veering into presentism? Reading about Caligula got me thinking about this, partially because the secondary source I'm using is evidently cautious (yet confident) when deeming Caligula a madman and saying that his debauched tendencies were, to an extent, embellished by ancient historians. So, how can this determination be made- that Caligula was in fact mentally ill (as opposed to a debauched tyrant) if “mental illness” has almost no presence in primary sources.

...am I aware that this is a war of conquest and not, as Caesar has said, a preemptive attack on ruthless barbarian hordes bent on destroying Rome? Am I aware that I am a pawn in Caesar's greater political scheme to rule the republic? Do I care?

...do we know what we are doing? Are we just going to walk into Gaul and fight everyone we meet? What is the strategy here? Do I know the strategy or is that above my pay grade?

...who are all these people following our legion who aren't roman legionnaires?

...what do I expect is my likelihood of surviving this campaign against savage barbarian tribes? If I do, how will I be rewarded/compensated?

Expansion? Reclamation of lost land? Revenge? Pure genocidal hatred?

Versus, say, the black plague ending and greatly contributing to the Renaissance.

I'm thinking specifically of Icelandic ships in the Viking age, but also as they compare to Scandinavian ones. From what I learned in school they were made of driftwood, but as far as I know Iceland was relatively wooded in the middle ages so why not from chopped trees? Also, when did traditional ship designs (knarr and longship) fall out of fashion?

After playing with ancestry.com for a couple of months I have made an amazing discovery. I am not going to post the discovery because everyone will immediately say I am making it up. Is there someone who I can send my findings to to confirm my work? I would be happy to pay someone (Who I can trust) a couple of hundred dollars. If this is the wrong sub, I am sorry. I know this sub is highly moderated (rightly so)

I seem to remember there being some sort of ritual in the Ottoman Empire that if the Sultan was being deposed that he could run to the harbour. If he made it to the harbour in a certain amount of time he'd be allowed exile instead of death. Is this correct? Or am I misremembering something?

Sorry for the vague title, I wasn't sure exactly how to word it properly without having a HUGE title. Thanks in advance for any help that anyone can provide!

whilst watching thru the Tudors (yes Im late to the party (s1 ep3)) i spied a Sai being used by you some fella dressed in black sleeping on the floor next the the English king, presumably to stop midnight attackers.

My question is, were Sai used or even known about in the Tudor times specifically earlier in Henry the 8th's rain ?

I have also seen images of German anthropologists from the era measuring the facial features of various races. Did they use these as a reference point?

Obviously they called themselves Christians, but I mean in terms of differentiating themselves from Arians, Nestorians, Copts, etc.

As a secondary question, how long after the Schism did people begin to refer to the two sides as "Catholic" and "Orthodox"?