(paging /u/cafarelli)

Specifically asking about SCOTUS, but would be interested if there are judges in other countries who fit this description.

I've read about several instances where Nazi officers knew that if they lost the war, they would be tried and executed for what they did. Sometimes trying to cover up their crimes or help someone out to get an alibi.

So how did they know they would be in trouble? Was there a precedent that had been set before the war that they would be tried and punished for what they did?

Note: I'm not asking about monarchical personal unions. I seem to recall this happening a bit in Italy, but can't recall any specifics.

Where did he live? What did he wear? What privileges did he enjoy? What obligations was he expected to perform? Was he guarded or otherwise prevented from escaping (was that even a concern)?

Just as the title says, was the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire really as bad as it's made out to be, or has it been romanticized a bit? Were they actually hunted down and fed to lions in the Coliseum and things like that? Trying to solve a debate with someone, and I realize I don't really know the answer to this.

It certainly wasn't linguistics, and I'm suspecting that it was religion. The Austrians and Hungarians were Catholic, and so were the Croats who were part of the Empire. Bits of Italy and other Catholic nations were as well.

Essentially, is a nation better off specializing in war material production and trading for with allies for its deficit materials? Are there any historical examples showing failures and successes?

Has there always been strong inter-ethnic/tribal violence of the level seen for the last century or so?

Hello!

I am an undergrad History student currently on leave and I have some familiarity with the ancient world however I am a terrible ignoramus when it comes to manuscript transmission. One thing that fascinates me is the assortment of 'lost works' from the ancient and medieval periods which we know of via references or fragments but which are not preserved extant or in any significant form. All the lost works of Suetonius and Porphyry are eye-watering to consider in terms of source material if they could be re-discovered or reconstructed. I'd like to find out about how these works became 'lost' and what the odds are of recovering any of them? Any authors or periods will do for examples - I know getting hold of classical Greek texts is highly unlikely but are there chances of some later works being found buried out in the wilderness like Nag Hammadi or the Dead Sea Scrolls?

To what extent is the medieval Church to be held responsible for the present situation? It's often claimed that Christianity kept civilisation alive during the Dark Ages and that manuscript transmission by monks preserved ancient learning. However, I'm aware of the preservation of much Greek wisdom by Arabic and Persian libraries and I've read accusations of deliberate destruction or neglect of manuscripts containing heretical teachings, 'pagan learning' deemed unworthy of preservation or anything that put the Church in a bad light. And of course Eusebius forever ruining our understanding of Josephus, among other things. Did the Church destroy many ancient texts deliberately? How much was lost as a result of the prioritization of Scripture transmission and the discarding of pagan texts?

Thank you for any help!

I understand that an essay would not only accept newspaper articles as sources.

Sorry if there is an obvious misunderstanding in the title but I was just curious as to the religious make-up of the Middle East before Islam. For example: What would the people of e.g. modern-day Yemen have been in the years before Islam? Jewish? Pagan?

Edit: Very informative, thankyou for your detailed responses.

I'm just beginning to look into the Ancient Greek civilization and the like in preparation for the start of my BA in Ancient and Medieval History which I should (hopefully) be starting in September. I was watching Andrew Marr's History of the World documentary for the BBC to ease myself in a little and from it I have the understanding that part of the reason for the persecution of Socrates was due to him not honouring the Gods? Could anyone go into a little more detail such as what he did that led to this conviction and also how typical was this of other famous Greek philosophers? Did they disbelieve completely and actively try to convince/convert people to their way of thinking or was it more of a passive disbelief?

I may be thinking of 2 completely different time periods here or have gotten things muddled but now that the idea of atheist people living in Ancient Greece has entered my head it has made me quite curious. So thanks for any answers.

And what happened to their land holdings? Are there any castles or palaces left abandoned without the family to maintain them?

Just wondering if there are any lost kingdoms out there.

So in Croatian traditional literature and fairy tales devil is always black. But in all the modern western cartoons devil is red. Why is this so? Do other European tend to portray it in red?

Wouldn't a hail of arrows be better than a horizontal firing of the muskets? Wouldn't the better accuracy and MUCH faster nocking speed of the bow be better than the less accurate long-reload time of a musket? Even crossbows would be better than muskets wouldn't they?

I'm from England so it would be cool to hear an English broadcast but an American or German one would be just as cool!

I am talking in context of when Japan closed their borders and U.S. ships came and forced Japan to open their borders again.

My assumptions are that no one in the U.S. expedition knew Japanese and the Japanese knew little to no English before this event.