I’ve read a few books that talk about some people refusing offers to become higher nobility. Were there personal reasons for this or more economic reasons.

Was the force of his personality and leadership and rhetoric a crucial factor in the civil rights movement, or would it have happened anyway and MLK was just a figurehead?

(While we're here, did Malcolm X accomplish anything?)

I'm talking about kings or top generals.

I'm wondering how accurately it conveys the Tang Dynasty of China and if there are any anachronisms in the movie as there are in many period films.

I ask this because in the following quote by Marcus Tullius Cicero it seems that he's implying that ambition is harmful.

"A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within.

-Marcus Tullius Cicero

Is it just a translation quirk, or is he saying that ambitious people are detriments to society? If the later is true, why would he say that? We usually think of ambition as a positive trait

I am currently enjoying The Count of Monte Cristo and numerous references are made to various duels characters in the book were involved in. I am curious how common these were in this time period. Were they widely reported in the news? Are there any interesting statistics on occurrences, fatalities, etc? Thanks!

I am a bit confused. A former Protestant High School History teacher explained the existence of Jesus as, "We believe that Jesus Christ existed during the reign of Octavian."

My atheist History college professor today explained, "Jesus Christ did exist in Palestine during the reign of Octavian."

The word believe could be interpreted as trust in good faith. With the word did, there would be no doubt in the existence of Jesus Christ.

I would appreciate anyone to not cite Wikipedia and/or biblical scriptures on this. Please don't hold back. I won't take offence from any response since I'm an atheist.

The Ottoman Empire was around until the early twenties, which coincides with a lot of famous, early archaeology. However, when I hear about this period I mostly hear about the French in Egypt, or later, the English in Egypt or Greece.

When the Ottomans controlled this territory, did they do any significant or large archaeological work?