It seems that every wants proof of something: a slick looking map, or statistics and bar graphs to prove certain things, like climate change. It seems like we've turned away from cultures that wouldn't have let industrial society happen in the first place. Does philosophy have any role to play today, or are people only able to be convinced if you show them the pie chart to back up what you're saying?

I saw the photo on the homepage today of the Super Moon lined up right behind the Temple of Poseidon, and thought what a shame it was to not be able to see what that view would've been like when the temple was more than a few decrepit pillars. Obviously there is plenty in the way of sketched drawings, but I was wondering if anyone has ever run across super realistic digital recreations of historical structures that have since been damaged or destroyed?

I've recently become interested in older forms of music, mostly due to a course I talk about the origins of Brazilian samba and making several friends who are into old-time music. I want to get more deeply immersed in music written before recording technology came about. I'm specifically interested in British dance music written before 1800, rennasiance era folk music, and sea shanties. I have a couple albums from each of these genres, several of them from Folkways, but I'd appreciate suggestions of other labels/artists I can look for who release older music.

In the recent heating up of Israel/ Palestine conflict, I saw a user on reddit mention that there was a referendum that went in favor of Israel in the 1917. I find this odd because the Ottoman empire still controlled the region at this time. What is this user talking about?

I know English isn't the most widely spoken language, but it is ubiquitous. How did it manage to become the language of international communication?

I was just wondering because I've been told on this sub that it was Paul but Matthew 5:17; Luke 24:44; John 15:24-25 make it looks as if it were Jesus.

Would a khatun command any respect? How would the wife of a Pecheneg or Cuman khan, ca 850, be viewed by the men and women who followed her husband?

I was wondering why wars like the Seven Years War (9 years) and the Hundred Years War (116 years) were named after a shorter length of time than they actually were. I know sometimes these wars can be referred to with alternate names (i.e., French and Indian War), but why do these names stick (at least in the US)?

Perhaps I am off base, but I've gotten the impression from Celtic lore that fairies were human sized, such as with the story of Tam Lin, where the Fairy Queen kidnaps a human to be her lover/sacrifice to the Devil, or changelings, where fairy babies are apparently more or less interchangeable for human babies. These stories just don't work when fairies are all the size of Tinkerbell!

So when did fairies go from human-sized to pocket-sized?

Christian influence over popular morality and law continues to be a dividing issue in America today. Did the ancients' religion dictate their morality, and if so in what ways did this translate into law?

Where can I find Byzantine and ancient poems by Greek poets in Sicily ? (In Italian, English or French)

Is this found only in western cultural?

Did they have toothbrushes? What did they use for toothpaste? Mouthwash? Did they floss? What did they do if they had a cavity? Were there dentists? Help me, I'm insatiably curious about everyday life in the Roman empire.

I have always had an interest in world history, although I have had to rely on the somewhat limited experience that my US public school education provided to me. That being said, there's a lot I have either forgotten or was never taught in the first place about the Ottoman Empire. What I do know is that it was the primary force responsible for the fall of Constantinople in 1453. The other thing I know is that the Ottoman Turks were allied with the Germans and the Austro-Hungarians during World War I, and it sounds like a TL;DR takeaway of that event was that the Ottoman Empire was divided up between the British and the French (Sykes-Picot treaty?) along lines that have essentially led to the Middle East crisis as we know it.

That's quite a long time span for an empire to be relevant without my knowing a great deal about it. I have a number of questions to try and gain some sort of understanding of it:

1. How and when did the Ottoman Empire come to exist? How did the name "Ottoman" come about?
2. What was life like in the Ottoman Empire? Or, if you wish, how would you describe the empire's "character"?
3. What events led the Ottoman Empire to attack Constantinople? Was the fall of the city mostly due to the failures of the Byzantines, the military superiority of Ottomans, or a fairly even mixture of both?
4. As far as I know, the Ottoman Empire did nothing between the years of 1453 and 1914. What were the major accomplishments or failures of the Ottoman Empire during this time period?
5. Why did the Ottoman Empire decide to ally with Germany and Austria-Hungary during the First World War? I seem to get the sense that many consider it to be a poor move—what were the Ottomans hoping to gain out of the alliance?

I'm getting more interested in the history of the Middle East, since most of the history I know is biased towards Europe, with some small knowledge of East Asia. Ideally, I'll eventually walk away knowing what happened in the region dating as far back as the Roman Empire. I have a copy of Steven Runciman's three-volume history of the Crusades, so I'm looking forward to reading those once I can wrap my head around the basics of the region's history.

People tend to blame religion (mostly Christianity) of interfearing on advancement of science (The bigest example people tend to give is Galileo Galilei) Is there any more examples like this. Also What I have read religion has also been a big influence on teaching people, when there was no schools. Has religion actualy done more harm to advancement of science?

I was just reading about him and saw that the last known location of his body was in a tomb in Alexandria around 215AD. After that however there are no definite accounts.

What factors had to be taken into account and which were most important? Why was Santo Domingo (for example) chosen by the Spanish, or Jamestown by the British? Was their placement somewhat random?

I was reading a bit about the various Allied Coalitions arrayed against the French Republic in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and it felt like you had all these European monarchies who wanted to destroy France because they felt existentially threatened by this radical new form of government. It seemed pretty easy to draw a parallel between that and the Western world's reaction to Soviet Communism in the 20th century.

Does this intuition hold water at all? How does it fall apart?

For example, European monarchies were still pretty interested in destroying France after Napoleon became Emperor, so it clearly wasn't just an issue of Republicanism. Did they transmute their fear of Republicanism to a hatred of the Napoleonic dynasty?

Also, if Republicanism did play a factor, why did European monarchies seem to care way less about America's experiment in governance? Was it an issue of, "Those guys are a bunch of hick farmers on the other side of the globe," or was another reason predominant?

I guess a more direct question would be this: What role did Republican ideology play in France's foreign relations from this time period? How and why was it similar or different to other ideology-based diplomatic problems?

Thanks for your time!