The Abbasids family established their claim on the Caliphate on the basis that they were descended from the Prophet Muhammad's uncle, Abbas. They overthrew the Ummayads with large-scale Shia support. Why did the Shias support the Abbasids if they (the Shia) believed the Caliphate rightfully belonged to the descendants of Ali? Further to this, why did generals like Abu Muslim place the Abbasid family on the throne in the first place, as opposed to the Alids?

While visiting the both the New Church and the Old Church in Delft I noticed that many of the gravestones in the floors had been partially defaced. Many having very disctinctive rough chiselmarks(compared to the rest of the gravestone) where there seem to have been coats of arms. Many graves are 17th century, so it's likely not related to the Iconoclastic Fury, but I cannot seem to figure out why this did happen. I thought reddit might have answers.

From what I know, Islam imposes no specific architectural requirements for mosques. Also, the earliest mosques seem to have been simple mudbrick constructions. How did the elaborately decorated design with domes, arches and minarets appear?

My general understanding of the Roman Pantheon is that it is copy and pasted from the Greeks. That is how it is presented in pop culture. Is this true? Did the Romans have no myths associated with them alone? Or did they have their own mythology and only took inspiration from the Greeks instead of an entire pantheon? Did the Romans take influence from other cultures or did they have mythology that were theirs alone? Thanks in advance for taking the time to provide an answer.

TL;DR Is the Roman pantheon exactly the same as the Grecian one, or did they have differences?

**** I am aware that there is a near-identical question to mine on the FAQ list. However, the only answer to that post was deleted. The rest of the replies on that post simply expand on the deleted answer and could only be helpful if I knew what they are expanding on.

I am reading the novel Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu and the first few chapters follow theoretical physicists who were punished for teaching "reactionary" sciences, with mention of Einstein being thought of as a "capitalist tool."

Is this accurate? Were professors punished for teaching things like relativity? Did professors find ways to legally teach these theories?

What was the study of astrophysics and theoretical physics like during the Cultural Revolution?

To my understanding, it was generally agreed that a Duke was better than a Baron, a King was better than a Duke, and an Emperor was better than a King.

If one title is better than another, what would prevent a sovereign ruler from just "upgrading"? Polities did change the title of their rulers sometimes, such as the Duke of Bohemia becoming the King of Bohemia at some point in the middle ages.

What would have happened if some Duke in a tiny independent region suddenly started calling himself King, or Emperor? What would the reactions have been from their neighbors, and did this ever happen historically?

Looking at a cursory search on Wikipedia, it looks like the earliest example of a coin where an emperor who is clearly wearing a crown instead of a laurel wreath is Constantine I, but some of the coins of his father, Constantius I, look a bit ambiguous. Every emperor after them is shown clearly wearing a crown. Was this part of an effort to "de-paganize" the Imperial imagery as part of Constantine's Christianization efforts? If so, why did Justin the Apostate continue this trend? Was this a Germanic tradition adopted by the Emperor that was simply more splendorous than a simple laurel wreath?

Hi! I'm working on a project and the director has given me a few leads but I can't seem to find anything concrete a part from fruit and offering a doctor when Richard was ill during the third crusade,

Are there any books that elaborate on their relationship and really go into detail on what was exchanged? I'm absolutely find with any legends also,

Thanks!

The Medes a Western Iranian people who had the first Iranian empire before Cyrus the Great all but abruptly disappeared after the Achaemenid and Seleucid period with barely any mentions in the Parthian eras. What happened to them did they just become irrelevant and get assimilated. Because Media still appears regularly for long amounts of time but barely anything on the Medes themselves.

P.S: If there are any books documentaries or podcasts that would explain or are on the medians as either the main topic or a subtopic I would appreciate it greatly.

Given its extreme and uninterrupted history of interventionalism and interfering with the affairs of other sovereign states, it seems surpring that the US and its ally Israel would allow a majority Muslim state to own nuclear weapons. Did CIA try and failed, or was America on the same page with Pakistan on this one? If yes, how come?

In a scant few days, it'll be 1 score years ago since September 11th, 2001 - a day that would live in infamy. What do we know about the history of the lead-up to the event? How did the ideation thereof emerge? What were the goals stated at different levels of privacy and publicity (such as it was), of individuals, ingroups, and outgroups, and what justifications were put forward, and why were they accepted? Who chose to support the project, be it with political capital, money, their life, etc, or just their silence, how were they in a material position to do so and in the appropriate headspace as well, knowing the certain and the likely consequences, for them and their loved ones and many, many innocent bystanders?

In short, why did this catastrophic event happen? Why then, rather than earlier or later? Why that target in that country?

I'm asking this question from a broad historical perspective and with particular interest in the politics, ideology, and economy involved.

The logistical details and minutiae of the plan's implementation (and the US Intelligence agencies' failure to prevent it) have been the focus of a lot of media on the matter, but they may be obscuring the forest for the trees. I think we'd all like to understand the context behind it. Make sense of the senselessness. Can any of you brave historians out there help us?

Hello guys!

I have an assignment about homosexuality in the Middle Ages. I have to do research about it, not just only in Western Europe but also in the Islamic world and Asia. There are enough books and articles about homosexuality in Western Europe, but I’m having a difficult time finding sources about the Islamic world and Asia. Do you guys have any recommendations? Anything is welcome. Thank you in advance!

I'm reading The Bully Pulpit by Doris Kearns Goodwin and she mentions that in 1889, William Howard Taft was in the running to replace an Ohio Supreme Court Justice who had died during his term of office. It appears in the book that the decision on who would be selected was in the hands of President Harrison. Wouldn't a state appointment be decided by the Governor or State representatives? Was this something unique to Ohio?

I've always been perplexed as to how Osama Bin Laden, Al-qaeda, and the extremist "community" in general, could have demonized the US, even after almost always being on the side of muslims? In Afghanistan, it armed the mujahideen, in the first gulf war, it liberated Kuwait, and many muslim nations were even part of the coalition.

So why? And what was Osama Bin Landen's view on Saddam Hussein? Considering that he had attacked muslim nations like Iran, Kuwait, and KSA?

I'm assuming that Osama didn't like the Iranians, as they were shia, but the Kuwaitis and the Saudis are sunnis, so?

Hopefully, someone here can help me clear this up.

Terve historians of Reddit. I sat on my balcony the other day pondering my ancestors doings and I just had to ask when the question came to mind!

How feared were the Hakkapeliitta? How effective? What were their tactics? Can anyone provide me a link to battles where they played a major role? And any tid bits regarding the Finnish soldiers in Swedish employ around that era are very much welcomed too!

I was thinking about what it would take for spaceships to go into production like the way cars are and was thinking about the parallel between seafaring ships in history.

Was there a ramp up in ship production after Columbus "discovered" America? Are there any kind of figures for historical shipbuilding?