I heard somewhere that European conquerers desecrated the noses of Egyptian statues - for example - the Sphinx, the statue of Cleopatra, in order to remove any trace of African features. And that's why Roman/Greek statues have their noses intact but Egyptian ones don't. I'd always been taught in school that the noses just fell off, so I'm not sure.

I've been reading about the history of Ukraine and it seems that territorial Ukraine has historically been controlled by a constant succession of various states and empires. When did the idea of a united Ukraine emerge and what was its historical or ethnic basis?

Prompted by today's interesting question about elf mythology.

I'm currently reading Jonathan Strange & Mr Norell, and in the book English folklore is described as inhabited by faeries that are dangerous, wild, and uncontrollably magic -- one "footnote" in the book says mankind is less magical, more rational, and Faeries are the reverse, inhabiting a kind of magical madness. Rothfuss's Kingkiller Chronicle also describes Faerie ("Fae") as mystical, dangerous, and otherworldly.

These seem to invert the Disney paradigm, where fairies are benign creatures that lead you to see the magic all around you (Tinkerbell, etc.).

And that, in turn, seems a partial inversion of Tolkien, where faeries are otherworldy but generally positive (On Faerie Stories), but elves, which are generally classed with faerie-stories, are ancient, fierce, and draw from some primitive reserve of magical power (Elrond, the Noldor generally...)

My question is, taking it back further...

• How have faerie stories developed, as a trope, over the years?

• Have they changed as critical cultural assumptions changed (medieval childhood vs. modern childhood)?

I can understand D.C. or Moscow attacks as an attempt to destroy your opponent's entire leadership structure in one fell swoop. But to take an example from Fallout 3, why would Pittsburgh get hit? In the Metro series, it's implied that St. Petersburg was also destroyed. Why would that be? Would Chicago or Manhattan be in danger? As far as I know, there isn't a major military base within miles of Chicago or Manhattan. Was there some advantage to these attacks that would seem to kill primarily civilians, or is that just an unrealistic narrative device used to create an apocalyptic scenario?

From my understanding, Persia had suffered major defeats at the hands of the Russians and Ottomans. Persia also suffered from dynastic instability.

How did Nadir Shah reverse this situation? Was he just that brilliant of a general? Was he just lucky that the Ottomans & Russians were busy with their own problems? Was he diplomatically gifted?

I'm especially thinking of times when there was little work to do for days on end, such as farming peasants who can't farm because seasons / weather / etc. I'm just having a hard time imagining what kind of leisure activities they would have. Maybe I'm making the wrong assumptions. Make me less ignorant, /r/AskHistorians, please?

Just wondering, I love it, but wasn't sure if it's a good idea to pursue it

Hello /r/AskHistorians

I was wondering if the same reasons guided the U.S. to only have 1 Catholic President before it voted in an "African American" President, as were the reasons for all the wars related to Catholic English Royalty?

From my understand the general support was fear that the Pope would rule the country (and there for the church would have a great influence) however a much more plausible reason for the nobles to continue to fight against a Catholic Royalty was either to maintain the status quo or protect their own holdings against either preceived threats of the royalty or church.

I come from an extremely devout catholic family and tattoos and to an extent piercings (for men and only on the ears for women) have always been very big Nos (to the point where my mom nearly had a heart attack when i came back with an earring one day).

However I've noticed that in Japan having tattoos is seen as something that the Yakuza have and you are barred from public bathhouses if you have them on your body as well as recently Singapore making moves to ban people with visible tattoos from entering nightclubs. There are several facebook groups advocating a tattoo equal society etc.

So the question is, how far back does this stigma with tattoos go and why did it come about at all?

Also: Henna is something different entirely, if someone could explain that it would be much appreciated.

Does anyone know if the hand gestures seen in Maya vases and murals have been studied for their meaning (if any!)?

I know that at the time, Redcoats were involved in worse matters, but how was the American Revolution presented? Did it take more of a Proxy status or was it popular?

I know Oxford and Cambridge have existed since at least the Middle Ages, as university students pop up in The Canterbury Tales and there seems to have existed a stereotype of students being licentious and generally immoral. But what was college life on a medieval campus like? What classes did students take? What did they do during the weekends? Was attending college in the Medieval period expensive?

Thanks!

Edit: Typo.

How did Peter the Great enforce such things as shaving and dressing when he "Europeanized" his empire. I learned that he was known for tearing beards off with his bare hands.

The Americans and Commonwealth allies seemed really intent on invading western Europe, even at high cost. Did they ever seriously consider spending that manpower to reinforce the Soviets in the east? If not, was it a problem with strategy, logistics, training, or what? Did invading the west do more to help the struggle in the east?

It is thought that the earliest mention of the people of Israel is in an Egyptian inscription of Pharaoh Merneptah (c.1200BCE), so some 200 years before the first king of the united monarchy, Saul. The text only makes passing reference to Israel as a group of people and probably located somewhere in the Palestinian region.

I believe the next known outside reference to Israel is in an Assyrian text telling of the coalition made by the local rulers at the battle of Qarqar in c.850BCE. One local leader being 'Ahab the Israelite'. This text was written after the death of King David & Solomon, and by this stage Israel and Judah were two divided kingdoms.

My question is: Was Israel so insignificant, that even during the civilization's 'golden era', during the reigns of David & Solomon and all the great building works they constructed, that they have no mention? Even the two passing references that only acknowledge the existence of the Israelites are written before and immediately after the prosperous period of their history.

I understand that more is written about the Israelites during the Babylonian and Assyrian invasion, from the record of their capture. But it seems strange that nobody thought to write about any relations with Israel, be it trade or any other communication.

Did they have to have reasonable money to make the voyage? Or were they generally poor and trying to escape that?

Hi,

Ive heard already about graffiti in acient greek, but are there examples also from other timeperiods?