From what I've read it seems that in the middle ages in western Europe if you were lower then you drank beer and likely wouldn't drink wine unless you lived in a wine making region. Fast forward to today and wine is something that can be inexpensive and almost anyone can afford it. When did wine become accessible to all classes?

Also, white wine is commonly viewed as something that women drink, was there always this connotation? Or is this a more modern cultural norm/stereotype?

Thank you for your answers in advance.

• What dio we know about Mongolian art influences in Iran? How did they spread following the creation of the Ilkhanate?

• What are some of the traditions and customs that the Mongols brought to Iran?

*Did any of Iran's culture make its way back to Mongolia following the invasion?

I wonder if there was any political, strategical or historical reason for USSR to annex a chunk of Germany/Poland after the war. Or it was only territorial "imperialism". Thank

This was inspired by yesterday's excellent question about elves and the discussion of American Indian beliefs. When I lived in Albuquerque I encountered a lot of Anglos and Hispanos who would tell me in no uncertain terms that there were spooky things out on the rez. Though the Euro-American skinwalker is pretty different from a yee naaldlooshii who gained shapeshifting powers through breaking taboos, it's clearly borrowed from Navajo witch beliefs.

So basically: Why have some of these beliefs crossed the cultural boundaries? When did they cross over, and what was the context? I'm interested specifically in the Southwest because my impression is that that's where there was more borrowing, but if similar cases have happened elsewhere in North America I'm interested in hearing about that too.

By that I mean, a peoples who spent the majority of their lives off of land, on boats, trading and transporting and the like. The idea just struck me and I am now wondering if there was ever a culture that existed primarily on the water. Thanks!

Beyond obvious raw materials like gasoline, rubber, metal and food items like flour, butter, and coffee, what were some other items that would have been rationed during the war? Why did they need to be rationed for the war effort? Did rationing these items have a significant impact on day-to-day life for civilians?

This might be a hard question to know the answer to, but are there any notable cultures in the world that do NOT have a flood myth? What stories does that culture have instead?

It seems to me that the ancestors of pretty much every known civilization on earth must have experienced some kind of catastrophic flooding.

But maybe there is a culture whose ancestors only have stories of volcanoes destroying civilization, or meteors or sickness or famine. Or maybe cultures who have no catastrophic stories?

I am reading Steven Kinzer's Overthrow and came across the following passages. I was hoping I could get feedback as to heather anyone agree's/disagrees with the sentiment expressed.

“HISTORIC SHIFTS IN WORLD POLITICS OFTEN HAPPEN SLOWLY AND ARE HARDLY even noticeable until years later. That was not the case with the emergence of the United States as a world power. It happened quite suddenly in the spring and summer of 1898...In 1898 the United States definitively embraced what Senator Henry Cabot Lodge called “the large policy.” Historians have given it various names: expansionism, imperialism, neocolonialism. Whatever it is called, it represents the will of Americans to extend their global reach..."Here, then, is the new realpolitik,” proclaimed the eminent historian Charles Beard. “A free opportunity for expansion in foreign markets is indispensable to the prosperity of American business. Modern diplomacy is commercial. Its chief concern is with the promotion of economic interests abroad."

Is it really a noticeable shift in 1898 that American power became truly global? And is it identifiable as a necessity for expanding markets?

Thanks all! Sorry for the quotation bonanza. I'm on mobile.

I remember visiting the Tower of London an seeing the Monarchs "mace" used for ceremonies and such. This make me think, why did Knights bother using the sword anymore by the time Plate entered the field? Other than ceremonial use, what would it so in a battle against a fully armored knight? It might kill peasant levies with ease, but so can a Hammer or mace.

So, I recently learned that the Cathedral Church of the Pope isn't, as I would have thought, St. Peter's Basilica, but rather is the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran in Rome. This even though most/all of the Pope's official services take place at St. Peter's. So how/when/why did this happen, and why has the Pope's seat remained at St. John Lateran instead of moving? Have a Pope ever tried to "officially" move to St. Peter's?

And what is the earliest usage of the words? Did cavemen have a left and right?