Do these dates correspond with some astronomical phenomenon or something?

I was confused about the French, semi-presidential system (as an American). I was wondering how this could be a weakness of the system during time of emergency or conflict.

I'm currently reading Thucydides and I just got the the description of the Battle of Pylos. It just seems so shocking that after so many battles and seiges on both sides that after a mere day or two and only 420 Spartans at risk, the Spartans want to sue for peace.

Thucydides describes the speeches of the Spartans sent to Athens to negotiate and they talk about how this is such a huge disaster and misfortune. After so many deaths up to this point it seems a little over sensitive to want to end the whole war over 420 men.

I understand that 120 or so were Spartiate peers so maybe this is more of a question about how many Spartiates were there and what was their actual importance over these long drawn out wars. My understanding is that large battles might include around 10k hoplites on each side so it seems strange that 400 being at risk would be such a huge issue for their war effort. ( I mean Athens lost around 5000 in Sicily later!)

Did they dress a certain way? Eat a certain way? I think of all the different tribes of America or the working classes of Europe and I can imagine certain things. But when I try to read up on the culture of untouchables specifically it seems like all I can find is,"Life SUCKED"

Did they just dress in rags and work? Or did they have an identity?

• which discipline is based on the greater number of preserved documents ?
• another question is: did the US invasion/occupation of Iraq result in any advances in Assyriology ?

That would equate Caesar with Jesus which seems unbelievable.

I understand the Judicial branch's responsibility of interpreting laws and also that the bill of rights has never been changed by any newer amendments, but have any of the amendments in the bill of rights been interpreted differently than before?

Edit: grammar and clarity (hopefully)

I know that warfare was very different in these two wars, but what new technologies forced their strategies to change?

With crippling inflation and the loss of WWI how did Germany afford WWII? My parents have a conspiracy theory that the US and UK funded the third riech to undermine the USSR but that sounds incorrect...

I've heard that the French units of measurement at the time were larger compared to similarly named units of measurement. I can't confirm this but wouldn't that make Napoleon taller if a French inch was larger than say an American inch?

Spices and silk were Asian products highly valued in Europe, and I'm just wondering if there were any European goods that were viewed with such value in medieval Asia.

It seems like whenever I read about an ancient civilization, they mostly have a pantheon of gods and godesses. Today though, it seems like virtually all major religions, aren't polytheistic (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Sikhism, Bahai, Druze etc are all monotheistic, and while I don't know a lot about Hinduism or Buddhism, I've been told that they aren't polytheistic, even if they aren't quite monotheistic either). Why were the polytheists so dominant in the past, and what changed to make them almost gone now?

Was East Prussia an independent country? Or a part of Germany that was separated by the polish sea access corridor?

I've been told that Danzig was a "free city" what exactly is a free city and why was Danzig declared one?

Either medieval and modern would be appreciated. I've always loved Orff's rendition and would love to know more about his composition or the medieval inspiration.

The concept of renouncing divinity just seems bizarre to me. Also particularly interested in this incident as Japanese mythology claimed the emperor not only had the divine right to rule but was also a direct descendent from the sun goddess Amaterasu.

Imagine a crowded pub 200 years ago in England or a crowded church 200 years ago in Massachusetts.

How were humans able to stand being around each other when hygiene standards were so low? (most of human history)

Just curious. Wiki doesn't say much about the why and I've seen cases with other questions where the why is actually known, just not put on Wikipedia.