We know that Judaism influenced Christianity, which in turn influenced Islam. But the Yazidi religion is a contradiction - it's generally considered older than Islam, but also has been influenced by it along with the other Abrahamic religions. So I was wondering if we know for sure which religion came up with the origin story first.

I know that Robert Graves isn't a historical source, but in his book "Count Belisarius" he claims that he sticks as close to history as he can, not making up any events or characters other than his narrator. He also cites Procopius as his primary source for the book's material so I assume that the figures he uses for the populations of cities has some basis in the historical record.

In the books he mentions that 300 000 people were massacred in Milan when the Goths reclaimed it from the Romans, he also states that 400 000 civilians left the city of Rome, leaving only 100 000 people behind.

These are much larger than the figures that I am used to seeing for 6th century population.

I was wondering why Graves would use these numbers, would they have been the numbers reported by Procopius? Perhaps they are his own invention and count the amount of people from the countryside and have taken refuge? Or even would these numbers have been accepted by historians at some point?

Thank you for any information.

The majority of what I'd consider "Native American cities" that I'm aware of were located in Central/South America, like Cusco or Tenochtitlan.

I guess what I'm asking is if there were any major permanent settlements that existed before the arrival of Europeans in the area that we now consider the United States. And if so, why aren't there ruins/remains of their existence on the scale of what we see in other areas?

I'm sorry for the badly worded question, couldn't quite express what I was trying to ask. Mainly I'm just wondering, does three show up a lot in history? Or is it just a coincidence? And why is it significant?

For example, a lot of folk stories about brothers or sisters or anything have groups of threes. Three princes each set forth, one finds happiness. The Trinity. The Hindu triumvirate. The Greek Gods split the realms into three, sky, sea and the underworld.

I'm not trying to connect things that shouldn't be connected, but I was just wondering why three seems to be so popular in stories and myths and beliefs. Why is it not seven, like in Westeros of ASoIaF? Or two, for symmetry? I guess my main question is, why three?

Can anyone recommend any books (or even essays or articles on JSTOR and other sources) written in the past 1-10 years on the ongoing results of white flight from the early 1990s to the present, the rise of suburbia, but more importantly the current white return since the early 90s (I am interested in NYC in this context, but any city or examination of national trends is welcome) to urban centers throughout the United States? I want to read more about the return of American cities and their white populations. The reasons and why. Completely open to wild or even obvious hypotheses. Anything is open season here, from college debt, to the break down of national social safety nets, to various elections, to general disenchantment with suburban life and the skepticism to home ownership from the New Deal being a fraud. (just throwing all of that out there). Thanks in advance for your help on this.

I understand after Julius Caesar's assassination, there was a power struggle which eventually led to his nephew taking power and claiming himself the first Emperor of Rome.

What I don't understand is what changes occurred within the political system of Rome itself between the two government types. [Edit:] Did the Senate never reconvene after Caesar's death? Did the Roman Empire retain any elements of a Republic afterwards or was it literally a large dictatorship at that point?

[Edit2:] If Julius Caesar is credited with claiming himself Emperor... and he died shortly after making that claim. Why didn't Rome just continue as usual?

There are so many movies and books that deal with ninjas and hashshashins, but there doesn't seem to be any reference to a western european equivalent.

For example, was the general public in the area of today's Germany in the year 1000 CE aware that they were part of the biggest empire in history a few hundred years earlier.

Was the general public aware of changes in technology and culture and were they anticipating change in the future or was everything seen as more static?

And if there was a example, how well did they implement their vision and how did they function? It can also consist of older examples that were retrospectively acknowledged as anarchist or that failed to fully implement it.

Considering they stayed there for about a hundred years or more and installed a government that lasted 89 years, there should be some large number here but it doesn't seem like it was very common.

If a general pattern is hard to describe, are there any examples we can trace with confidence to use as case studies?

Like, I don't know, when and how did a bunch of people living along the Nile start calling and thinking of themselves as the same group of "Egyptian" (pardon me if this example is not accurate)

"we're here because, we're here because, we're here because we're here."