It is often said that ancient civilizations believed that the earth was flat. But at the same time it is sometime mentioned that Greeks were able to estimate earth's diameter or that Middle age sailors knew that earth was round because of the way ships disappear in the horizon. What is the truth behind "our ancestors beloved earth was flat" ? Who and until when believed that ?

To start off, I'm an atheist.

My knowledge of islam is relegated to one college introduction history class about the middle east from about 500bc to the 1950's. When I consider the credibility of christianity, I think about how small of a scale jesus lived and worked in (living in 2 cities and only working with individuals known by name) and how it probably isn't true.

But muhammed, who lived, what 600 years later? managed to destroy a number of nomadic polytheist groups along the coast of saudi arabia, along with other groups. And in turn creating some kind of loosely binded empire until his death. To me, entire battles and conquests seem more verifiable and documented than a lowly individual being cured of blindness in a big city.

To me, jesus probably didn't exist because there is no reason to think he did. But muhammed may have had a large enough influence at the time to really be noticed and documented. Again, my knowledge of islam is extremely limited.

Were there peacekeeping forces he could rely on? If so, would they be from the capital or the province he's administrating? Were there documents he could show to someone upon arrival at his district to prove that he's operating on the authority of the emperor? Whom would he show them to?

To clarify, let's say Tang era, in a provence that's far from the capital, but not quite a frontier. Please tell me if I'm making any incorrect assumptions here, my knowledge of the time is more cultural than political.

Assuming the British had not intercepted the Telegraph, what was the plan and reasoning for sending it?

I remember from Latin class that several emperors were killed by the Praetorian Guard for just being too bad to let live. I'm curious if these executions were carried out secretly or publically, if the assassins were acting through the will of another entity, and what sources we have available to study these assassinations.

I've often read that the south was less industrialized than the North; they were much more reliant on farming and less on factories, which led to it being a poker region. How much of this was true and if so, why?

In popular culture medieval European executioners are portrayed as wearing a hood or mask of some sort. If this actually has some merit to it, why did they wear it?

I know Germany was short on resources and material before Operation Barbarossa because the world was against them by then and cut exports to them, but who enabled the Nazi war machine to be built in the first place and why?

Or did he attain the position by default due to a change in leadership?

At the very least, you'd think the authorities would have considered how confusing it is to have two different ensembles call itself THE Red Army Choir...

I have always been into history but I have no idea what jobs there are for historians?

I'm curious as to whether or not the depiction of battle scenes are accurate, in terms of strategies, tactics, attire, weapons etc. even women in these battles or whether or not the battles were based off real events

What the title says. Why is the classic color for bubblegum pink?