"Ancient Greece" covers a period of about 1,500 to 1,800 years and many regions with highly varied customs, so I would find it hard to believe that the attitude toward undiluted wine was so uniform for all those years and in all those places.
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I've been looking into RJ Rummel recently, and, while I respect his project of attempting to estimate democide counts on a per government basis in the 20th century, much of his work seems sloppy. For one thing, his definition of "democide" encapsulates a number of distinct phenomena - political violence perpetrated by the state, political violence perpetrated by non-state actors with or without state backing, famine, deaths from land reform, etc.
To Rummel's credit, he generally does disaggregate between these when producing his mortality estimates, but that brings me to another point: Rummel has sought to comment on so many different periods of state violence that I doubt he has expertise on more than a few of them. He tends to accept mortality estimates from peer-reviewed papers, but it seems like he often glosses over some of the nuances and debates surrounding those mortality estimates.
In general, what do historians think of Rummel?
EDIT: I found at least one text which is critical of Rummel's methodology here: https://sci-hub.st/10.1177/0022343304040051
EDIT 2: The more research I do on Rummel, the less credible he seems. I'm not going to discredit the whole of his scholarship, but he was definitely writing from a certain slant; he accused Ted Kennedy of being responsible for Khmer Rouge killings in Cambodia from his anti-war activism, for instance: "The post-war blood of millions is on Kennedy’s hands". He proceeds to cite his own figures to prove this point, so it seems like there was probably a politically motivated nature to some of his work. If he used a more rigid and precise methodology, I would be willing to overlook this, but, as the article linked above points out, his conclusion for democide in Yugoslavia is contradicted by his own data. It's clear that the process of selecting a "probable estimate" ultimately came down to his personal whims a lot more than any sort of rigorous methodology, and, given that he's demonstrated some pretty clear political biases, I do find it hard to take this guy seriously. His figures for Soviet deaths definitely seem inflated, and, even though I'm not very familiar with Chinese history, some of his statements about Chiang Kai Shek seem exaggerated at the very least.
EDIT 3: I mentioned political bias earlier, but I've found a few more things that also detract from his credibility. Rummel has claimed that Woodrow Wilson was a fascist dictator and accused Barack Obama of attempting to establish a one party state: http://rudyrummel.blogspot.com/2009/07/authoritarianism-on-way.html. So, yeah, altogether, it seems like this guy is pretty openly biased, isn't taken seriously by most real scholars, and has explicitly correlated his academic work and political views.
FINAL EDIT: I've basically answered my own question at this point, but, in case anyone comes to this thread looking for an answer, it turns out that u/Sergey_Romanov has already given a pretty cogent one: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/cuoi3a/are_rudolph_rummels_works_about_genocides_in/exx74xp?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3
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Was it a (weak) attempt at a power grab/coup?
Did he honestly believe he was supposed to take charge?
Was it just a political faux pas or poor choice of words?
Some combination of the above?
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The American iteration of whiskey, bourbon, is unique in using a mash bill that is mostly corn, the main crop of the country. However, American beer seems to be made entirely in the European style using barley or wheat. Why didn’t a similar change based on crop availability ever make it to the ingredients of American beer? Is it simply a taste issue or is there some other reason?
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This book is on the master book list of this sub but while just reading introduction, I am getting uncomfortable with some ideas and have questions, namely,
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My question is based off of a This American Life episode I found interesting titled “Burn It Down,” which I listened to last year about the fire department in Amsterdam in the wake of the George Floyd protests. I had never thought of Dutch people as being more racist than other nationalities prior. This may be too recent because I know history tends to be at least 20 years prior, however the groundwork for the aforementioned white nationalism normally takes hold a generation before at least in my experience. Since then I have noticed Dutch people defending somewhat questionable opinions in regards to systematic racism. Is this a case of Baader-Meinhof and recency/confirmation bias or are Dutch people actually more racist than many other countries.
Here is a link to the story: https://www.thisamericanlife.org/684/burn-it-down
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Seems like there was one in France, that moved to the UK, there was another in Iran? And maybe a third one? I'm not sure. Two is already a lot of governments in exile.
Edit: with further reading, it seems that there was only one government in exile, but I still have a few questions regarding how and why they coordinated with the Soviets (after Katyn especially).
1 Answers 2021-02-12
Hey guys, i am trying to write a research paper regarding the connection between Lilith and Innana/Ishtar and how representation of women's sexuality changed from Gilgamesh to Biblical writings. I'd really appreciate some sources (academic) that talk about the connection of Lilith with Innana/Ishtar, specifically where Lilith is mentioned in relation to these godesses, until she was changed into a biblical demon/succubs. Extra helpful if there are mentions of her in a specific part of Gilgamesh besides the Huluppu tree song
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I'm assuming that the servant was sacrificed and did not die from other means.
My professor was specifically talking about the Oseberg cart finding, for context.
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I posted this yesterday in r/askanthropology and it was suggested I post this question here. My friend asked me this question yesterday and I couldn’t find any good sources online, any answers or further reading material would be greatly appreciated :)
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Today:
You know the drill: this is the thread for all your history-related outpourings that are not necessarily questions. Minor questions that you feel don't need or merit their own threads are welcome too. Discovered a great new book, documentary, article or blog? Has your Ph.D. application been successful? Have you made an archaeological discovery in your back yard? Did you find an anecdote about the Doge of Venice telling a joke to Michel Foucault? Tell us all about it.
As usual, moderation in this thread will be relatively non-existent -- jokes, anecdotes and light-hearted banter are welcome.
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I can't find any information about them, what were they called and what was their usage.
Below its a link to a photo with them.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/63/Countermand_concession.jpg
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Were the colonists generally aware of the war? Did they take sides, or even fight each other in it? Did they recognise the authority of Cromwell as a leader?
Moreover, how did they react to the Restoration years later?
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The concept of the Untied States or Australia expanding into terra nullius is commonplace, but ignores the people who lived in those areas. How far back would one have to go to actually just be able to have a civilization spread into land without displacing or annexing people already there? Was there a lot of difference between regions? Were the Harappa or Mesopotamians, for instance, able to do it?
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Hi all,
For uni I have to write a piece on administrative English history in the 10th to 18th century. I am currently looking into the beginning of the English Banking system in 1694 and one of its co-founders Wiliam Paterson.
The methodology for this paper is the idea that new ideas travel, and that people implement certain ideas from abroad into new areas where that idea hasn't been used yet. In this case I'm looking at Paterson his time in Amsterdam studying the Dutch banking system and trying to implement that same banking system in England in 1691, a few years after the Glorious Revolution.
Some contemporary sources tell me that Paterson wrote a piece with a colleague Michael Godfrey in 1691 trying to explain why a banking system is usefull. However, I really can't find this piece. The contemporary sources did not provide with me with footnotes unfortunately.
This era and place is not my expertise. I'm experienced in Dutch political history. I have never done anything with English administrative history. So to be frankly honest, I don't know which (digital) archives to check.
My question to you is, does anyone know something of this piece written by Paterson and Godfrey, and can tell me the location of it.
I really hope I did not brake the rules with this question. Thank you so much in advance.
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Where can I find a good history of vaccination, both in its origins with smallpox and worldwide to the modern era? I am particularly interested in vaccination in relation to political economy, colonialism and national relations - for contemporary reasons that should be clear. Comprehensive monographs and articles on overlooked aspects of this history are much appreciated.
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Hello! I checked out the reading list for this sub, but sadly there weren't any books specifically on Sierra Leone. I'd prefer the context to be focused on the recent civil war but any book on Sierra Leonean History would be much appreciated.
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My argument for is; This article made me think that women were underutilized or underestimated in their combat capabilities in the past. If they could achieve great arm strength then surely it's not out of the realm of possibility that they could develop sufficient muscle to draw warbows. I believe there is much to be argued for and against but it would be insightful to see perspectives from different expertise'
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A famous legend about it is the city of carthage, a Roman historian says that the city was destroyed an sowed in salt. My simple question is, did this occur? On small scales or large? Thank you!!
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I saw another post here talk about this in quite certain terms that the Greeks did not and that the belief of the Greeks having such a concept is a radical belief. It went on to claim there’s no word for homosexuality between men in Ancient Greek. Is any of this true?
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