I recently returned from a trip to Italy with family, and was confused as to why the people left the cities, causing them to fall into disrepair. Do we know any reasons why they left?

I'm not an academic, but I am painfully insecure about my knowledge, or lack thereof, of the Constitution. I see the source for "America's Constitution: A Biography" but are there any others that I should be reading? I'm currently in the process of memorizing the constitution, but I want a greater depth of knowledge concerning the subject. Thanks for the help!

Probably should've added to the title. WWII.

One of the most well known stories about Archimedes is about his Eureka moment. In the story, Archimedes is asked to figure out whether or not a crown is made of pure gold or not. Initially he is stumped, because he doesn't know how to determine the volume of the irregularly shaped crown.

A few days later, while he is taking a bath, he notices the water level rise in his bathtub. Archimedes realizes that he can measure the crown by submerging it in water and seeing how much volume is displaced. He swiftly jumps out of the bathtub and shouts "EUREKA!!" ("I've got it!").

This story seems to be the source of the popularity of the phrase "Eureka," and the inspiration behind "Eureka moments." So, did this story really happen? Is this a historically documented event, or is it just a nice story?

Also, how did the soviet system tream people who had been disabled due to WWII? If someone comes back without an arm or a leg were they given any sort of reeducation or a pension?

I've heard the POV that acquiring India and other colonies lessened the tax burden on working class Brits while still allowing the UK gov to be fully funded, and provided numerous investment and trade opportunities for UK merchants and companies, significantly boosting the UK economy, as well as a guaranteed preferential market for UK goods.

I've also heard that while the Empire did boost the merchant class, it did so at the expense of the British working class majority, whose taxes funding the UK military essentially was subsidizing the elites business enterprises abroad.

What I am asking basically is "did the empire project benefit the UK national interest, or just elite class interests in Britain?"

(I understand that it can be argued that the acquisition of colonial peoples for troops could be said to benefit the Brits as a whole, but because those troops were mainly used to further the empire I'd like to ignore that as it wasn't the chief goal, just a fringe benefit)

It was only 2 months after the Civil War ended. There were huge celebrations in the north but I'm curious if the south celebrated at all

I've always been curious as to what a dragon was based off of? Do we know around what time any depictions of dragons first came up. Were they based on any particular dinosaur that they just didn't put back together correctly?

I need answers people!

Are there any good and reliable books covering the history of Judea during classical antiquity? specifically, from around the days of the biblical kings to the end of the second Jewish war.

I'm looking for something like Mommsen's "History of Rome" in scope and style, but given that Google didn't bring anything in my searches I understand that I can't be too picky and might have to mix many different books to cover such a long and eventful time period.

Thanks!

EDIT:

Might worth mentioning that I can read Hebrew, so books in Hebrew work too

History of Religions and history of Islam? Thank you

I mean guys like /u/Anastik, /u/bclelandgt, /u/Borimi, /u/CAPA-3HH, /u/Carol_White, /u/elliotravenwood, /u/FatherAzerun, /u/Irishfafnir, /u/petite-acorn, /u/Rittermeister, /u/sowser, /u/thinmountainair, and anyone else who feels they have something to contribute.

I know this is a super specific question so apologies and I understand if this is downvoted.

I was having my own version of shower thought and wondered specifically if Irish people living during the Viking Era were aware of parallels in Celtic and Greek mythology. It went on from there.

I was wondering if scholars (those lucky few with access to books) and those they educated would be aware of Greek and Roman myths and mythological figures such as Venus?

Did the invading normans learn sicilian or did they impose french?

When normans invaded England for example a massive change occurred in language (of course it didn't happen overnight, and norman rule in England lasted certainly longer than in sicily) because the ruling class started speaking french so old english and french kind of mixed up, but what happened in sicily? Was it any different?

The scuola siciliana was born only 40 years after they were replaced in rule, so I imagine their influence was minimal, if any at all. If that's the case, why is that?

British WWII era soldiers are often depicted in film as wearing berets rather than helmets. Is this accurate, or simply a hollywood decision due to the Brodie helmets looking not looking 'cool'?

I have also noticed the pattern in /r/historyporn. Pictures of US soldiers during WWII seem to invariably be wearing their M1 helmet or no helmet at all, on the other hand I regularly see pictures of British soldiers wearing berets.

If there was a difference in the frequency with which the British and Americans wore helmets, what was the cause? A difference in army policy?