Could anybody tell me about or direct me to a source about the pre-Islamic religion of the Tatars? I assume it was similar to other Turkic shamanistic traditions and Tengrism, but none of the sources I've found on those traditions really mention Tatars.

To clarify, I'm talking about the Kazan/Volga Tatars and also the Lipka Tatars descended from them, who fled to Lithuania to preserve shamanism but eventually converted to Islam from what I understand.

Would it just be archers shooting at each other until one ship surrenders?

I’m currently reading James Clavells Shogun and in his depiction of feudal Japan people are offing themselves all the time. While I’m sure his book is not an accurate portrayal I’m curious to know how frequently samurai were ordered to perform sepuko.

So, a lot of colleges will post their history PhD student's dissertations over the years. Would reading these be a good way to learn more about history? Are they not meant really for public reading? Are they too hyperspecific to be worth my time? Are they too technical to read?

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Thanks!

I hope this is the right sub to post this in but I want to become a professor of American history and want to start research semi-early (I’m 15 right now) so i went out to my book store and bought 1776 by David McCullough because I’ve seen it on multiple lists of good books on the revolution. Recently I have come across the “Founders Chic” which David (among others) is often included with. seeing as i am almost done with the book and now am learning of his (maybe) biases. and if this is a serious problem, could i get some good recommendations for books on early American history?

Did the West believe that only the East (China, Japan, Korea) could challenge them as a civilization? Because I've never heard of a brown or black peril before.

What do we know about the traditions and clothing of the first inhabitants' of Greece?

I know in the past horses were too small to ride only one (hence chariots were a thing until they could breed larger horses.) I'd say a healthy noble in full armor with a weapon and whatever other gear would be near or over this limit, anyone care to explain how they worked around this? Was it simply breeding larger horses, or did knights maintain a diet or try to avoid becoming too large?

I was reading about guild formations and what guilds there were around during the late medieval era. I was curious how come I'm not finding any guilds that didn't have names with some kind of flair the way they named various free companies during the 100 year war. I mean if warriors would take on a cool name for their group, why not people who crafted things?

Atheist here, someone told me that the Quran has a vast number of references to Moses and Jesus. I was wondering, how/when/where did Muhammad get this information, if he was illiterate? If he somehow knew the stories without being taught, I think Islam would be more convincing as a religion - this man just suddenly knows everything? I know that along the way of his preaching, he must have come across Christians and Jews, but in the beginning - when he first started preaching - did he mention a lot of stories about Moses/Jesus, and how did he get this information?

Thank you!

I understand that cinnabar was valuable as a pigment, but I don't know why metallic mercury would be produced in substantial quantities. Its current uses seem modern and specialized.

In particular, why did China have so much mercury that it could be made into rivers for Qín Shǐ Huáng Dì's tomb?

Athenian city-states all had their patron diety. According to wikipedia, the Spartans worshipped Apollo and Artemis. This seems counter-intuitive: why did the Spartans, of all peoples, choose the god of arts and sciences rather than the god of war?

This was prompted by a short story I read where the characters were all American Jews who were in basic training during the second World War, either undergoing it or supervising it. They were told by a rabbi that they had a dispensation to eat non-kosher food. Was this typical? Did the US Army, or other armies in the first or second world wars, make any kind of special provision for them?

Hello.

I did a 23andme test. It got me thinking about my ancestry which is just English and Polish. I was wondering what are the chances that I had an ancestir who picked up arms and fought? And by ancestors I mean before guns.

I seen a post recently (like five minutes ago) and I was curious. It was a video of Hitler and he was rocking back and forth very intensely as if he were speeding. So I came here to see if this was true or not! If so, does anyone know what kind of drugs and why he was partaking in them?