Sorry if they're dumb questions.

Hi /r/AskHistorians, I have a few questions about the use of Latin in the Eastern Roman Empire.

1. I know that Justinian's first language was Latin and he used Latin for administration, whereas Heraclius was responsible for introducing Greek as the official language. Clearly the use of Latin declined. Were there significant Latin speaking population in the east before the 'fall' of the west? Were there people who still spoke Latin after Heraclius? At what point we know for sure that there weren't discernible Latin speaking community?

2. Greek culture was greatly admired in the west since the Republic. Was Latin literature ever appreciated by the people living in the east?

Thank you for your answer!

EDIT: I realized that Latin was used in Roman Africa and it was a part of the Eastern Roman Empire until the 7th century.

What and why made the Persians enemy's of the Greek nation states and such? Any knowledge in this area is welcomed!

Thanks!

August Dupin and Sherlock Holmes are generally considered the first instances of the archetypal Detective in fiction. Are there any major examples of individuals who were employed (by public or private entities) to investigate crimes before forensic science really came into it's own?

I know theres plenty of Holocaust questions asked here but I've never heard anything about Soviet public and official reactions to the discovery of the Nazi death camps.

In Season 2, episode 4 the vikings travel to Wessex. This is in late 700 AD. The main character Ragnar sees a bunch of excavated Greek/Roman statues and is told that nobody knows where they came from, and that the hypothesis is a former race of gaints once lived on the island.

Would the greeks really have built these monuments on the Island and if so would the "Saxons" really have no idea what these relics were at all? Why not?

In general I'm also interested in any inaccuracies put forward by the series and its reliability as a depiction of Viking life.

If this question dovetails into one of the FAQ's I apologize, I couldn't find it.

Sorry if this does not fit here.

I have become really interested in the medival period, with the knights and chivalry and such. I am wondering if there is a book with shows armor and weapons from the medival (or the full history of weapons and armor until today) age, with information and pictures. I know i can read on wikipedia, but i am asking for a book.

Thanks in advance.

In A. E. Stallings translation of Lucretius' The Nature of Things, she translations the following passage as such:

Back then the fate of an untimely death was no more rife

Than now, why men with moaning leave the sweet light of this life.

To be sure, each was more likely to be caught by some wild beast,

Gulped down in toothy jaws, supplying it a living feast,

Filling the groves, the hills and woods with groans, because he was

Buried alive, he saw, inside a live sarcophagus.

And those who managed to escape, but with their bodies mauled,

Later placed shaking hands on suppurating sores and called

On Orcus with hair-raising cries, until the pains that racked

Their flesh released them from their lives, and all because they lacked

Aid and the know-how to dress a wound. But no one day would yield

At that time myriads of men reaped on the battlefield;

Neither in those days did tossing surges of the main

Shiver ships and sailors on the rocks. Blindly, in vain,

To no purpose, often the sea would rage with rising tide,

Then fickle as you please, would toss her empty threats aside.

Nor then could the bewitching laughter of the sparkling waves

And peaceful-seeming sea beguile men to watery graves;

The perverse science of navigation still lay hid in gloom.*

Back then a dearth of food sent swooning bodies to the tomb;

Now men are sunk beneath excess and eat more than their fill.

Then, men unwittingly ingested poison that would kill;

But now men poison others, being expert in that skill.

—Lucretius, The Nature of Things 5.988-1010

*perverse science of navigation . . . gloom: Romans were suspicious of sailing and navigation, as comes across again and again in this book.

The commentary above is her own.

Is this true? If so, why were Romans suspicious of sailing and navigation?

As you know, the majority of Irish people are proud, albeit a little annoyed about Irish history. I've always been enthusiastically told by family that while the rest of Europe was in the 'Dark Ages' (I know you hate that term, I just don't know any other word to describe it), Irish monks were copying books to save the information in them, and when Europe was safe, they'd send it back.

I get that this probably did happen to some extent, but how much, and did they really make a difference.

Again, sorry about using 'Dark Ages', and thanks in advance.

To explain what "life" I mean:

Availability of food to native Europeans and Africans

Availability of Medicince Europeans and Africans

Were the natives treated differently?

Did the natives fight alongside Germans?

How were interactions between the two groups?