The title says it all. I did a search and came up with nothing, so I thought I'd ask here. This will be a good topic for my office's weekly Thursday political discussion/debate.

Thank in advance!

Some modern banks are formed as subsidiaries of one bank, or is the result of the merge of others. Is there any modern bank which origins are the Medici Bank? Are there even older banks that we can link to the present time?

The wikipedia page is very general and is more about when than how:

Around 1200, the rules of shatranj started to be modified in southern Europe, and around 1475, several major changes made the game essentially as it is known today. Pawns gained the option of advancing two squares on their first move, while bishops and queens acquired their modern abilities.

What I'm confused about is how people came up with new ideas for chess, and why they were added to the game. So maybe you guys can help?

Hi guys, apologies if this isnt the right forum for this question but does anyone have a good rec for a book to explain to me the breakdown of the Ottoman empire and the subsequent issues in Middle East?

I am brand new to History. I have just started "Persian Fire" by Tom Holland and love it so far. If anyone has some books that they think could be a good intro to this topic I would be most appreciative!

Thanks guys

Say a millionaire decides to invest in Britain early in the war by purchasing a vast amount of war bonds, couldn't they expect quite a profit after a while?

I've grown to understand the grand story of Israel and the redemption of G_d throughout my time at seminary. Now more than ever, the story captivates me. In that story is the wonderful, compelling account of the re-dedication of the second-temple during the Maccabean revolt. The story captures, at its heart, a commitment and devotion to the Jewish G_d amidst persecution and chaos and His - represented by the light - constant presence amidst his people. Even more significant is the place the Maccabean revolt had to "set the stage" for the Jewish Messiah who, we believe, arrived roughly two centuries later.

Don't get me wrong - Christmas is also extremely profound in the Christian belief (without going into a tyraid of what Christmas is vs. what it has become). I'm not suggesting Hanukkah instead of Christmas...I'm just perplexed that Christians reject Hanukkah altogether in favor of Christmas at some point in history. The "either or" relationship between the two holidays just doesn't make sense to me.

I'm young and single right now, but am seriously considering raising my future possible children in a Christian home that celebrates Hanukkah alongside Christmas. Thoughts, comments, explanations, experiences? Also would love opinions from Messianic Jews/Jews/Christians, if any are here.

tl;dr - What happened so that Christians stopped celebrate the profound story of Hannukah and "exchanged" it for Christmas?

Hey all,

Did a search and couldn't find a lot on this topic, so I thought I'd try asking in this thread.

As far as I know, psychology in the West really started to be born as a science after Sigmund Freud began to analyze patients, diagnose symptoms, and prescribe methods of working through issues.

Obviously since then psychology has grown away from psychoanalysis into a more developed science involving cognitive science and neuro-chemistry. But what was it like before that? In the Middle Ages people believed in an imbalance of humors affecting a person. The Romans identified melancholia as a distinct disease with physical side-effects. Chinese medicine focuses on a restoration of balance of yin and yang, which I imagine extends to mental function and feeling as well.

Can someone describe what some cultures did in order to remedy issues like depression, mania, or schizophrenia and how they were viewed? I think it'd be interesting reading.

Thanks!

I'm a nonbeliever, but I don't have much love for the New Atheism crowd. However, a number of my friends have bought into them big time and they all too often make claims like the one above. What counter arguments are there to such claims?

From my recent trip to Germany and staying with a family, the elderly man who we stayed with doesn't speak Hochdeutsch, but instead Plattdeutsch.

He told us how only Hochdeutsch is used in schools and it's what all the young people in the area speak now, instead of dialects from the area, and that when he was at school decades ago, it was entirely different with only Platt used for where he was.

As a side note, this is in the region of Niedersachsen, south-eastern Niedersachsen.

So with the Nazis having their view on people, what was their approach towards non-standard dialects spoken by them? Did they want/try to remove them in favour of Hochdeutsch, or were they seen as equal to Hoch as it was still Germanic? Was a sidelined view taken where Hoch was preferable but it wouldn't matter if non-standard dialects were used?

The answer doesn't have to be limited only to Northern Germany, as Southern Germany and Austria are just as relevant.

What books would you recommend concerning Genghis Khan, his descendants and the Mongolian Empire they created? I have read a number of historical fiction novels about them but want to learn more.

I recently heard an off handed comment that Alexander wasn't Greek, but part of a separate culture. To what extent and in what ways did Macedon differ from Greece, and how did the Greeks of the city states feel about Alexander? Did this view have any influence on the ban of the word Macedon until 1990 in Greece?

I mean more specifically socialist, communist, suffrage, workers rights, and so on during the 1800s.

Is it a long process or just as simple as me tearing up the paper that says I own him?

EDIT: Thanks for all the amazing answers!