Auxiliary troops weren't always equipped like normal legionnaires right? Would they use tactics from the conquered people's auxiliary forces while using them?

Like the title says, I know the Romans were pretty advanced for their time as far as having running water and "bathrooms" (communal spots were they would "relieve" themselves) and even had baths but I have never heard anything about how they would wipe themselves.. I know that the Chinese started using paper around 1391 A.D. and a lot of other more primitive cultures would use such things as corn cob "leaves" (or whatever you want to call it) but I have never heard anything about what the Romans would use.

Anyhow I guess my question(s) would be what would the Romans use to clean themselves after using the bathroom, and if they didn't just go to the baths or something would their be someone who brought whatever they used and stockpiled it at the bathrooms or would each individual be responsible for bringing something themselves?

Bonus question: Was their any culture that stood out as being particularly advanced for their time in bathroom technology besides the Romans?

Sorry if this is a dumb question or has been asked before (I did a search and didn't find anything) Thanks in advance for any response you might give me!

If so, how would both parties determine when it was an hour before sunrise, since the sun rises at different times throughout the year - or was it more of a hit-or-miss kind of thing?

Am I wrong in thinking that his death was one of the biggest factors in their eventual defeat? Also in Rebel Yell by S. C. Gwynne it is said of Ewell that "he declined to press his advantage, which meant the Union forces ended up holding the key high-ground positions south of town, which eventually included Cemetery Ridge, Little Round Top, and Big Round Top. Jackson, in a similar situation, likely would have taken that ground". Is there any truth to this? I feel like Ewell was forced to fill shoes few could fill.

Did people look upon the roman flag (which I'm aware did't function as one in the traditional sense) with pride? Did they see themselves as of the mighty roman empire, or simply under it? Also, was there any music that was seen as expressing the roman identity. Patriotic music, like the British might see Jerusalem or I vow to thee my country, or the Americans the star spangled banner.

I was once told by a friend in his 80's, who passed away several years ago, that in the 1950's or 1960's, there was a plan scrap the Titanic. Apparently, the plan was to find it and raise it for scrap because the metal hadn't been contaminated with the radioactive fallout from all the atomic bomb tests around the world for the previous couple of decades. The plan was to use this metal in X-Ray tubes and/or related equipment. Is there any truth and/or logic in this?

I recently found this quote, unattributed and unattached, among notes from a class on warfare and terrorism. My professor's specialty was Kosovo war, I was writing on Chechen war and sources were broadly WW2/Cold War era asymmetrical warfare (if that helps).

I have no idea what it is referring to or who is being quoted, but I'm transfixed by it. This is a long shot. Can somebody place this? Web searches and Google Scholar haven't helped and I'm struggling now...

"We chose men who were most ready to go to their death. We were looking among the brave and the desperate. There were some who had barely held an automatic rifle in their hands before. We were not looking for experience, but for someone who had strong nerves, who had not known fear, and also who had faith in God, who did not fear death. The tactics were suicide."

I've been trying to write stuff lately, and I keep finding the setting keeps inching towards how Vikings are depicted in the fiction and vague memories of history classes at school.

Mainly, the main character of the story I'm writing is basically a warrior lady type: not a badass, more of a 'well this needs to be done so I better do it but I'm basically terrified throughout' sort.

So, while trying to get into her head, it just occured to me...

would she even be literate?

How far did the Vikings get to in influence? On checking Wikipedia, there's some evidence that some of their people got as far as the Middle East?

Why did they not seem to do much in Wales? (As I live in Wales, this is kind of a personal curiosity. We've got a few Roman camps scattered about, but it seems we didn't get much of the whole 'rarr we are viking invader sorts' thing the rest of Britain got. I'm guessing we have a bit of the Afganistan guierilla defence fortification thing going on with our mountains making us hard to conquer?)

How did their worship of their gods work? This is something I've never been sure on with ancient peoples and old religions: From what I've understood, it usually ends up being the same basic ideas as modern religions: you pray, you do good, you get favoured by the gods. But... I'm assuming there isn't a temple/mosque type dealie for the whole pantheon in one go? Or would each have been worshipped individually, and it's via the specific tales they're tied together... So basically it's like superhero comics and they have team-up episodes? Or like some of the Greek team-up story episodes like the Illiad and all that?

How did they compare, technologically, to other societies of that time? While I see online that their shipbuilding was unparalleled for their time, does that mean that they were the best or that in the conflicts they faced, they were generally winners till the end? Just thinking as since I'm writing a fantasy story, I could easily have them face, say, Chinese ships, or whatever. So trying to get a sense of what would be comparable.

What do they do for fun? I guess around that time there was a whole bunch more storytelling and music than one would expect, but any more details?

Alternatively, any online/book resources you can link me to/suggest I find, would be great.

always been curious about them, since it's a chunk of history, and relatively local history at that that was skipped in compulsory education. Well, beyond Harald Hadrada's invasion from the North during the 1066 Normandy dealie, weakening the forces of Godwinson's lot. But that was in the tail end of it all, I believe?

I realize Wikipedia is not particularly reliable, but I'm going to presume that it gets basic facts correct like:

• He became a Republican
• Led an African American militia against a mob of white supremacists

While I realize the dude is probably far from being considered progressive by modern standards, this seems pretty extreme for an ex-Confederate General. What caused this relatively drastic shift in beliefs?

My mother says that tensions between Irish and Italian Americans were actually quite tense in 1970s Philadelphia. She insists that an Irish person marrying an Italian person was actually somewhat scandalous in some more ethnic neighborhoods, and that Irish Americans generally got along much better with WASPs and Jewish Americans.

However, Irish and Italian Americans are both obviously Catholic. Irish immigrants arrived several decades earlier, though. Did this 20th century animosity have a 19th century basis, or did Irish immigrants welcome more Catholics to America?

How did Catholic Germans, Hungarians, and Poles fit into all of this?

By non-religious I mean to exclude mythologies, I am mainly asking because I am curious as to when people started to think about creating a fictional universe and keeping internally consistent for amusement purposes, as opposed to having to keep everything somewhat constant to base their religious beliefs on.

A good example would be H.P. Lovecraft's Mythos, that's the oldest one I know of but I want to know if there are any older, or is a shared universe a relatively recent concept?

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On the internet and in history class it is often mentioned what political structures nations had, but not how they formed. How did the medieval feudal system transition into larger governments? How was this in other places of the world? Thanks in advance.

It's seems most of what is now the Western world would have regarded the Founders as far to the left of their monarchies. On the other hand the French Revolution had just happened...

So, I just finished watching the HBO series Rome (I know, very late to this party). Great show, but it reminded me just how little I know about ancient Rome.

Can anyone recommend an accessible book that would reliably cover the history of the republic and the first few emperors?

I've been listening to Dan Carlin's podcasts on WW1 and I'm continually surprised to hear about how every battle seems to be 2-3 nations at a time against solely Germany. Perhaps my (lack of) contextual understanding of the world of the time makes it hard for me to see the big picture but what were the conditions which allowed Germany to stand up so well to what seems like SO many opponents on multiple fronts? Was it just that they had so people / resources it was doable? From Carlins explanations (or my understanding of them) it seems like Germany's allies were more of an obstacle than an assistance. Is there something I'm missing?

Not a lot is been said about this topic here in the US.

Originally tipping was frowned upon in the US. It was seen as anti-democratic, creating an aristocratic class. How did it turn into the norm?