I took history of christianity last semester, and I read a lot of translations of latin works (the translations dated from the era of public domain so that may be part of the reason...) and I'm currently reading a translation of "meditations" by marcus aurelius from 1800 and the sentence structures are terribly, excessively complex. Do I just write like an idiot, or did people legitimately write differently back then, and if so what changed?

He was inprisoned for his writing so I imagine it was taboo to have his work and it was probably very difficult to obtain it as well. I don't understand how he became famous despite the controversy surrounding him at the time.

How did Ethiopa become the only African state (other than Liberia, which was protected by the United States)to avoid colonization during the age of imperialism?

The following quotes have really got me wondering about the way Malcolm X influenced MLK's reception nation-wide.

Malcolm X on Dr. King: "I'll say nothing against him. At one time the whites in the United States called him a racialist, and extremist, and a Communist. Then the Black Muslims came along and the whites thanked the Lord for Martin Luther King."

Dr. King on Malcolm X: "You know, right before he was killed he came down to Selma and said some pretty passionate things against me, and that surprised me because after all it was my territory there. But afterwards he took my wife aside, and said he thought he could help me more by attacking me than praising me. He thought it would make it easier for me in the long run."

Now I heard somewhere that George R. R. Martin's series is loosely based on the historical happenings during the time of the War of the Roses in England, how far does this go? It's pretty obvious that the Lannister's in the series are endicative of the House of Lancaster of that period, but who is Daneras based on, and mostly what beyond that are there specific events or general characters in the series that directly parrallel the events/people of that time?

I heard a dissertation on the old testament verses the new testament related to pornography the other day. Apparently Jesus was born of the lines of King David, Solomon, and others...all who were very sexually driven. Where did the guilt of sex start and now rendered leaves very religious people to proclaim hate against gays and the enjoyment of sex other than for procreation?

Is it ever justifiable and/or useful to ask "what if X did Z instead of Y" as a Historian? Or is it a pointless activity as many say it is.

Just to clarify: Z and Y are actions or outcomes of a factor in history, e.g. the Nazis successfully invading the UK in WW2. X is a person or delegation making said decision or a potential decision e.g. the Nazis / Hitler / German high command in the previous example.

In short: Is the "what if game" useful in history?

Opinions are allowed as answers, as long as they are logically justifiable.

Thank you.

What was life like for Non-Jewish German civilians during the war?

Eggs, yes? Humans have been eating them for thousands of years. In the West we have some standard ways: fried, scrambled, poached, boiled, hard-boiled, &c. Have these been common for a long time too? How did Europeans in the Middle Ages prepare eggs? Ancient Rome? Bronze Age cultures? I dunno if any professional or amateur historians on reddit are familiar with these minutiae of culinary history, but it would be super fantastic!

The original american founders came from Europe (American Indians aside) so how did southern twang originate?

I'm trying to make notes on what my professor labeled "European Ascendancy from 1815-1914", but I'm having a really tough time finding resources. Is "Pax Brittanica" the technical name for this? Or in other words the period from 1815-1914 where Britain was seen as the main superpower of the world, only to come to an end in 1914 when WWI started?

To start off, I'm an undergraduate Linguistics student and I'm wanting to look into different kinship terminology systems compared to pre-agricultural society types. However, I'm not certain on how to go about the historical societies part of this. Would anyone be able to lend me information or resources on this? I'm wanting to divide pre-agricultural societies into three categories: hunting & gathering, pastoral, and horticultural.

My paper will draw on historical linguistics (roots of the modern languages I'm looking at), ethnolinguistics, and anthropology and history for the society types. Are there any issues with how I'm looking at this from a historical perspective? Feedback and suggestions would be great. Do I need to do a lot of research on each individual society to find out how to group or are there databases for this type of question? Can societies even fit smoothly into these categories?

I'm also including a list of the languages I'm looking at, in case anyone can comment on origins and society types: Arabic, Armenian, Bambara, Basque, Cherokee, Chinese, Guarani, Hindi, Hungarian, Inuit/Inuktikut, Korean, Lakota, Maasai, Mongolian, Nahuatl, Persian, Quechua, Scottish Gaelic, Tamil/Telegu, Thai, Tok Pisin, Vietnamese, Yucatec Mayan

I was doing some reading, particularly about the 30 year's war, and my textbook mentioned that the Peace of Westphalia was the first time representatives of all sides convened to discuss who got what, the system we use to. How were peace conventions conducted before this?

An other information you'd be willing to share on the 30 year's war and the making of peace treaties is most certainly welcome.