I'm thinking about theatre that exists to tell a story or something along those lines rather than strictly for religious or oral history purposes. Though if I'm misdefining theatre, please tell me.
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What is the first work of science fiction? I think of Jules Verne as an early science fiction writer. Are there others who predate him?
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Recently been on a WW2 airwar kick, thought of this, any information would be greatly appreciated.
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British and French Royalist propaganda presented Napoleon as an "ogre". Today, most countries which aren't France and Poland (and perhaps others) tend to present Napoleon as some sort of 19th century Hitler.
I realize Napoleonic France was responsible for atrocities, notably in Spain, or by reinstating slavery in Haiti and whatnot. But considering the time period, and with historical perspective, is it fair to consider Napoleon was a bloodthirsty tyrant-like figure? Does this outweigh positive contributions, if any, brought by his reign/influence? Did he conquer for his personal selfish glory, or was he partly compelled to war?
Sorry if it's a puerile and unscientific way to put it, but ultimately, was he really a "bad guy"?
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I'm looking more towards dark ages, Viking expeditions, roman conquests, Persian armies, etc.
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These days it's relatively easy to detect nuclear weapons blasts. This is because we know about the existence of atomic weapons, seismometers all over the world can now detect gigantic explosions of that size.
But I have to imagine that in 1945, before the age of instant news, it would have been a lot harder to figure out what had happened. Given the near-state of cold war that existed by the end of WW2, I doubt the US was too keen to divulge the existence of our new superweapon to Stalin beforehand, so I'm curious to know how does a major superpower of that era find out about it?
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Here's the link to the article: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/26/women-wisdom-papyrus-female-belief-ancient-geopolitics?commentpage=2
It strikes me as fitting facts into a narrative more often than the other way around. However, I don't know enough about the subject matter to make a conclusion.
What's your take?
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How accurate or the depictions of men and women in movies or tv?
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Hello AskHistorians. I was wondering if you can help me with something.
I am writing a story starring a character who's an archaeologist whose area of expertise is the anchient Mayans. In my story there is a fictional island called "The Island of the Entombed" only in Mayan. The internet has a lot of Mayan words but nothing on how they propperly spoke Mayan, which is why I need your help.
Also if anyone were to direct me to some reputable online material about the Mayans I would be most appreciative.
Thank you.
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The Wikipedia article on it is interesting, but I would like to learn about it in more detail. In particular, I would like to know more about how it was fought and eventually defeated.
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She may have married a Grand Prince of Novgorod, Kiev or Rostov - I am not sure. I do know more than one Chinese Princess married into the Riurikid bloodline of these Princes. I am having a HARD TIME finding an answer to this. Can anyone help? I do not speak nor can I read Chinese. I do know China has a wealth of very old documents - would the answer to that be somewhere in there perhaps? These marriages would have occurred hundreds of years ago - maybe as far back as 700-800 years of more.
Thank you for any help you can provide!
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Strategic, political, humanitarian or other reasons?
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I've heard it said, although I can't remember where, that Mecedonia was considered by ancient Greek city-states to be more barbarian than Greek, and the Phillip II (followed by Alexander) even set out to conquer Greece because of it
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What are the origins of clapping? When did it's use first become widespread? Are there any cultures that use something different that would be equivalent to clapping?
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Previously:
Today:
The "Monday Mysteries" series will be focused on, well, mysteries -- historical matters that present us with problems of some sort, and not just the usual ones that plague historiography as it is. Situations in which our whole understanding of them would turn on a (so far) unknown variable, like the sinking of the Lusitania; situations in which we only know that something did happen, but not necessarily how or why, like the deaths of Richard III's nephews in the Tower of London; situations in which something has become lost, or become found, or turned out never to have been at all -- like the art of Greek fire, or the Antikythera mechanism, or the historical Coriolanus, respectively.
This week, we'll be taking a look at unlucky individuals who WOULD have been great....if they could just catch a break!
We've all heard the "Great Man" theory. We all know about those men in history who seemed to just have everything going for them, doing fantastically well at everything they did - the Caesars and the Alexanders. But all great men cast a great shadow - and there are plenty of people caught up in that shadow. How about individuals who were talented? They should have been great themselves! But they just couldn't catch a break - nothing went their way!
Or, even better - how about individuals who should be as well-known as any, but were totally overshadowed by the sheer, dumb bad luck of being out-famoused? Those times when a person submits a ground-shattering patent only to realize....someone just did that a week before. They were an incredible general, a fantastic king, an absolute legend when it came to management....but then that ONE GUY had to come along and be better. Who are those unknowns?
Next Week on Monday Mysteries - Alcohol throughout history seems to be rather popular. So, we'll be looking at the greatest mistakes caused by that most wonderful of substances! See you then!
Remember, moderation in these threads will be light - however, please remember that politeness, as always, is mandatory.
3 Answers 2014-01-27