So i get that Salem means peace in some Semitic languages, Shalom from herbrew, and As-salamu alaykum from arabic, are two things i hear a lot.

The Witch Trials happened in a place called Salem, Abraham Lincoln spent much of his early years in another place called Salem. It seems to be one of the worlds most common place names.

I also get that its some biblical township, but what was it?? why is it so significant?? What is its accepted history if any? is it entirely Biblical?

haha, i just want the lowdown on Salem i guess

The book list has quite a few things that deal with certain topics from those time periods, but I was hoping for something a little broader.

As I have started reading many religious text like the Bible, Gilgamesh and Ziusudra, I noticed all of them have stories of massive floods. Is this just a coincidence?

For example, how accurate is it that, to quote wikipedia, "peaceful, benevolent matriarchal society and Goddess-reverent traditions (including Ancient Egypt) were attacked, undermined and ultimately destroyed almost completely, by the ancient tribes including Hebrews and later the early Christians"?

Are Stone and Gerda Lerner (who wrote The Creation of Patriarchy) considered academic or pop historians?

Thanks!

I've heard that as Castille, Portugal and Aragon pushed south they had loyal Christians move in to give local loyal Christian strongholds. How did they encourage people to settle in newly conquered regions as they pushed south? Did they give incentives? Why did people move down south?

Thank you and I hope I can have my question answered.

I want to learn everything we know about him an his life

Im asking this question because I was seriously pondering converting to Eastern Orthodox Christianity. The Orthodox tell me the history of their church according to their tradition and so do Roman Catholics. I am mostly interested in the history of these two sects of Christianity because I witnessed that these are the ones that like to argue about which church is the true form of Christianity. I am aware of the schism of 1054. I know that the other denominations of Protestant Christianity also argue that they are the true church of Jesus but Im mainly concerned about Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism. I know Im leaving out other churches like Oriental Orthodox, etc. Please include them if you must. I barely know anything outside what each of the respective churches tell me.

They both tell me of their divine origins and whatnot. However, Im tired of hearing it from their point of view and want to know what actually happened. Here are some of my conclusions that I reached upon research:

Please know that when I say Christian church, I'm talking about the Orthodox and Roman Catholic church BEFORE the schism.

• The Christian church before the split of 1054 sought political power in the Roman Empire during the reign of Constantine. What other way to do this than to establish Christianity as the only valid religion of the empire? I am also aware that at one point in time, Christianity and the pagan religions were tolerated. After the split, they continued to do so in their respective regions while demonizing each other till no end. Perhaps the Nicean Council wanted to establish a defined and legitimate form of Christianity due to the other sects that existed at the time? I've read about all kinds of dogmas, doctrines, etc. that would be considered outdated by just about everyone else.

• They triumphed over the other Christian sects (Arianism, Gnosticism, etc.) existing at the time, claimed themselves to be the true church of Christ, thus discrediting the other sects and deemed them heretical. History as it is said, is written by the winners. I am aware that there are books that were taken out of the now known Bible that were considered heretical by the Christian church.

• Christianity as a nationalistic movement. In some places like Eastern Europe, converting to any other religion outside Orthodox Christianity is seen as a political movement rather than a spiritual one. I've seen countless of youtube videos on Eastern Orthodox, Eastern Catholic, and Latin liturgies and the followers of each argue for MONTHS about who is right and who is wrong. I've seen videos of Russian, Serbian, or Greeks converting to Islam and immediately denationalized by the commentators who happen to be Orthodox Christians.

• Religions often split over minuscule matters. For instance, there is a church called the Genuine Orthodox Church that split from the Eastern Orthodox church because they consider the Eastern Orthodox church to be in schism because they do not use the Julian calendar exclusively.

To be honest, I am NOT thoroughly convinced of the history that the Orthodox (or even Roman Catholic) church gives me. It just seems to me like what I stated in the above: seeking political power, establishing control as the head organization in the empire and then, former regions of the Roman empire. Orthodox and Catholics both tell me that their respective churches, according to tradition, began at the Pentecost. I'm just not convinced.

• What are the historical origins of this institution outside the scope of tradition?

• Christianity and Eastern Orthodox: are they Nicean Christianity that originated when Constantine was in power? When I ask this question to the Orthodox, they tell me the Orthodox church originated in Christ and legalized by Constantine. My research tells me otherwise, that the church(es) had their origin in Constantine's reign. This is why I have a tough time accepting the claims of the church.

• Do these traditions of Christianity have any influences from the pagan religions that existed at the time?

• Any scholarly articles I can read concerning this topic?

Was running water charged for as a utility? Were there general sales taxes? Were there property taxes?

Joesph Stalin and Ivan the Terrible are two important examples.

Why is it that the basic style of warfare at this time was just a bayonet charge into a hail fire of bullets from the opposite trench? Is this because the formation line battles off the past two hundred years were made obsolete due to the invention of the Machine gun, more accurate artillery, and chemical warfare? When these tactics were finally seen as being totally ineffective and the losses seen as being totally unacceptable... what tactics and strategies were used in their place? How effective were these new tactics?

Hello, I was hoping to know what was the initial response of the bombs, specifically on Nagasaki. What were the headlines? Can anyone send me a few links about the response they had?

All forms: written, spoken, informal, formal - whatever!

France uses the same colors in their flag but refer to it as the "blue, white, red"

In Nazi Germany Hitler was The Fuhrer and he didn't pretend that he wasn't a dictator, but Stalin used sly tactics and fear to pretend he was democratically elected by the CPSU. At the end of the day, these two authoritarian governments were both despotic, stemming down from these two guys, but then did the mechanisms of chain of command differ between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union? Was there any actual democracy and voting at any level of government in either state? Local or regional? For different departments of government? Or were they identical top down totalitarianism governments starting with Stalin and Hitler with no meaningful differences, except for Ideology?

I was informed today that Fantasy Football started in the 80s. So I'm curious about how people would play it before the internet. Would people meet to have matches set up or just do it among friends?

I've tried searching for this one, and I don't understand it. For me, it looks like the only difference is that Union of the Crowns involved Scotland, England and Ireland and it meant to unite those three kingdoms under one king - James VI while Union of England and Scotland was unsuccesful and its purpose was to go beyond the Union of the Crowns in some respects. Can someone please clarify that for me?

As in, how would one prosecute the country of Serbia for being the causation or catalyst of World War One?

Would people ever be casually compared to the gods in conversation?