Hi. So you know how the story goes but it feels more like propaganda that real. So first of it is already pretty suprising that no one had thought of this before including many intellectuals. Alexander the great clearly had a pretty big ego. He named loads of cities after him and stuff like that. Since he was a ruler he had lots of powers amd maybe he made the story up to make himself look smarter ect. Though this is just speculation and I'm not a historian. What concrete evidence, if there is any, proves that Alexander the great actually solved the gordian knot. Did the gordian knot actually exist in the first place? Thanks

Italy's is a melting pot with a lot of different cultural differences from region to region. How were the people united with such stark differences? Clearly today, there's still a Northern/Southern difference.

The beginnings of rock music clearly lie within black communities. It was mostly African Americans that pioneered rock n roll.

However, at some point this seemed to change. I'd guess that around the late 70s or early 80s, most rock artists and audiences had become overwhelmingly white.

Today, rock is generally seen as a "white" thing, for both artists and fans. If we include genres that came out of rock, such as metal, we rarely ever see any black bands or audiences.

How did that happen? And when exactly?

Thank you very much in advance!

This just came up in a conversation with my (41, American) partner (40, Canadian)— when we were maybe 10-13, it seemed like everyone had decided they wanted to be a marine biologist when they grew up.

This is oddly specific. Cool job, but how did we all get that in our heads at the same time? Was there some film or show that highlighted someone being a marine biologist that we all latched onto? We have no memory of such a thing but it seems like the most plausible answer.

EDIT: Thanks to everyone who suggested Free Willy, may your comments rest in peace as they are mown down by the mods. I never saw Free Willy (and mostly thought of it as a possible title for the Bill Clinton biopic) Based on its Wikipedia summary, I don't see a specific reference to "marine biologist" in there— while I remember a groundswell of interest in environmental issues around that time, I don't see a line from that to the specific job of Marine Biologist. (We didn't have other kids wanting to be, say, ecologists or cell biologists or anything else like that. It was all marine, all the way.)

EDIT 2: It was not Seinfeld. 10 year olds do not want to be George Costanza. The ‘Marine Biologist’ episode was a response to this phenomenon, not its cause. Thank you for your suggestions.

Hey there. I'm doing some research on the history of classical music, and I'm wondering, what did people in Europe listen to that wasn't classical music back in the olden days? As I understand it, western music has its roots in the church, and, eventually, the courts. A bit later in history after a couple of revolutions, the composers were no longer employees of the church/court but became famous artists in their own right, then music publishing became common, and music became a bit more of a thing people could consume en-masse, outside of churches, at least if they could play an instrument, or had friends who did.

But, let's say we are in Vienna during the time of Mozart/Haydn/Beethoven/etc. Are composers like that all that people listened to, or did they also have folk music, songwriters, other stuff that was available? I'm not finding much of an answer to this on the internet.

Basically, the question is, has classical music always been unpopular? Was it more or less always for a certain elite? Or was it simply the only music available at the time?

Thanks and love!

The longitude I've seen, 113° 52', is just east of the village. In fact, you can still find a boundary-marking obelisk where the line of longitude hits the coast.

I was reading the published letters of John Francis Gemelli Careri in which he describes Amsterdam to an Italian friend. Writing on June 22, 1686 he says that in Amsterdam "... the streets are long, spacious, well-paved, and straight...and along their sides long rows of spreading trees. Between these trees, at convenient distances, there are lights at night, at the charge of the inhabitants, for the conveniency and safety of the people passing to and fro, but at some distance from the houses for fear of fire."

So, question one is: how common were lighted streets in early modern Europe? Were these likely oil lanterns?

Then my confusion grows:

"The excessive care of the streets degenerates into extravagancy, for to preserve them, they allow no coaches upon wheels, but drawn on sledges."

Was it actually true that there were no wheeled carriages on the streets of Amsterdam? I looked through the National Gallery of Art's exhibition catalogue on Dutch genre painting but couldn't find evidence one way or the other.

So please tell me, what was it like on an early modern street?

I've heard this quote tons of times and I'm sure you have too. What did FDR exactly mean when he said this?

Why exactly did British Elites support the position of the confederacy more so then the position of the Union? Was the food supply chain the only reason Britain chose to not support the confederacy with direct military action? What equipment did the British provide the confederacy with?

I’ve been studying the first and second world wars for a very long time mostly out of pure amateur interest. But one thing that I’ve never been able to figure out is why Germany seemingly got the whole blame for the first world war. As we all know the first world war was started when a Serbian nationalist shot and killed Archduke Frans Ferdinand of the Austro Hungarian royal family which resulted in a snowball effect of various intricate political marriages and other treaties coming to result in the conflict that we would call the great war and then later on the first world war. Yet for some reason at the end of the conflict Germany was saddled with the entire blame as well as monetary reparations.

This is something I’ve never understood. Sure Germany was on the side of the Central Powers but so were the Ottomans and the Austro Hungarian‘s among others. But for some reason like I’ve said already Germany seems to of been given the majority of the blame. No obviously the Austro Hungarian and ottoman empire‘s crumbled following the end of the war as did of course the German empire but still was it truly a good idea to blame Germany for starting the war when it wasn’t even True?

What is the treaty of Versailles purposefully worded to be as harsh as it was taken in Germany?

Fire, air, and void/aether or its equivalent in different systems don't seem like particularly obvious choices when it comes to describing the materials that make up the world (what would life be made up of?). My first thought was that it started with the Greeks or Mesopotamians, but that would not explain its use in India or Japan. I also know China had a different five element system featuring wood and metal, which to me seems a little more obvious, but was curious if unique elemental systems were ever developed in Africa or the Americas as well.

I don't know why, but recently I have been wanting to explore the history of beverages. Their making, spread through the world over time, trends, etc. Both alcoholic and non-alchemic.

Is there a name for this specific sub-field of history? Can anyone suggest some authors, books, or papers to start with? Purely an armchair historian level asking here.

Most of what I've seen on Enochian has been from dodgy occultism-paranormal sources, but I'm curious what real scholars have to say.

Also, is Enochian really a "language" or just a "code", and what's the difference between the two?

Hello,

I am writing a screenplay for a mini-series about the Diadochi wars. The pilot episode takes place in India, from the Battle of Hydaspes to Alexander's decision to attempt to cross the Gedrosian.

I'm trying to depict the very special relationship that Alexander had with his bodyguards, partly by the way they address him. In Oliver Stone's movie Alexander, they varied between calling him "Alexander" and "Sire", neither of which sound very good to me. In the novel The Persian Boy (which formed the basis of a lot of Stone's movie) Alexander states clearly that "any trooper" should address him as "Alexander". This also strikes me as unlikely.

Currently, I have everyone close to Alexander address him as "Chief". I got the idea from Soviet history; this is how Stalin's inner circle addressed him. I have everyone outside Alexander's inner circle address him as "my king".

Does this smell right to you? Or am I just wrong, and "Alexander" is the way to go? Any different suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

I’m interested in learning more about the Italian city-states, more specifically the history of their currency. Any broad histories on all the states that talk about coins, histories of individual city-states and their currency, or books about one currency are fine. I’m also open to shows/movies/documentaries that accurately portray this topic.