I’m not sure if it counts as short or simple, but I recently noticed how much we mechanize our bodies in metaphors / instructions for healthy living etc. Food is fuel, the body is a machine, the heart is an engine and the brain is a supercomputer. What I’m interested in, were there widespread body metaphors before the invention of combustion engine and most mechanisms? What would an Ancient Greek or a medieval European learned man compare the body to? A fire, a house? A society made up of different elements working toward a common goal? An animal? Something spiritual? I’m not sure what else they could think of.

Where does the idea of "underwater basket weaving" as a stand-in for an easy college class come from?

Did Russia incorporate Muslim nobles into their system of nobility as they spread East and South, or were native nobles generally replaced with ethnic Russians?

I was just reading https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army_of_the_Potomac and I was kinda confused by the idea of there being "an army" raised for a particular war, rather than "the army" just existing. Was this normal at the time? How long did this practice continue?

Have there been other times when “involuntary celibate” subcultures arose? Is there any documentation of sections of a community majorly lamenting not being able to form sexual relationships?

George Washington showed up to the Second Continental Congress wearing his military uniform, but how did he get it? He re-signed from the British Army and never wore their uniform again but he somehow had a different military uniform?

I learned today that when Edward VIII abdicated the British throne in 1936 and his younger brother took over as George VI, there was yet another younger brother - Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester - who became the first adult in line to the throne and the planned regent if something happened to George VI before Elizabeth came of age.

Henry seems not to figure very heavily in popular culture surrounding the monarchy (I don't know if he even appeared in The Crown, I literally can't remember), but did he ever express any opinions about how close he ended up being to the throne? Seeing it pass from one brother to the next right before his eyes, do we know if he ever had any hopes that it would pass to him?

Did the Romans in England know about Stonehenge? Do we know what they thought about it?

Maybe a bad question, but what if anything do we know of the origin of the practice of naming individuals (like in antiquity)? Was it the chicken or egg in regards to spoken languages?

How did people from the Renaissance know so many languages? Most of them that i've read about atleast knew 3.

Repost from an earlier unanswered question, hoping for better luck here:

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I started reading the "Inheritance of Rome" by Chris Wickham and in the introduction he writes something that made me raise an eyebrow:

"..the late Roman empire is now often seen as the Roman high point, not an inferior and totalitarian copy of the second-century pax romana."

Can anyone please enlighten me if that is actually the case, and if so, why?

Did the ancient world actively share technology or did it just spread by accident/negligence?

How long could a lord or nobleman expect to wait if they commissioned a sword in the 13th-14th century?

I never took a history class in high school due to changing schools so I am very uninformed about ancient egypt, rome and greece. Is there a good documentary that covers those 3 civilizations?

Would a German with the rank of Obersturmführer be making arrests of civilians in towns in occupied France during WWII?

Could an iron age civilization exert power over another further downstream by somehow controlling the major rivers? And are there records of this being done in antiquity? I don't mean through basic military presence on the water but rather by diverting a river or something like that

Were clergymen exempt from conscription in UK during WWII?

Looking at the Schedule of Reserved Occupations printed in 1939 (found here: http://anguline.co.uk/Free/Reserved.pdf) I couldn't see any mention of clergymen. I was wondering were they exempt from conscription? And how, if any, it differed between the Anglican and Catholic Churches? I tried to do a little research but found most sources discussed the first world war rather.

How long did a rowing crew on a ship spend in a shift, before they were replaced with a fresh crew? I'm wondering about rowing crews comprised of anyone that wasn't a slave, to get an idea how long a person could row before becoming too fatigued to continue, without pushing them past their breaking point.

This question may seem obvious at first, but I've never heard it stated precisely where the counterculture of the Vietnam War era stood on the political spectrum. Would it be considered liberal? Progressive? Leftist? Or was it a blending of people of different ideologies, like we see in some modern political movements?

Has there been any evidence or even just hints found of pre-columbian exploration of antartica? Temporary settlements for penguins hunting?

I'e read that the Yaghan people used canoe for sea-lion hunting, could they have made it to antartica?

what kind of music would vlad the impaler like, or did he like? for my dracula moods

Weird-ass question:

Was the Tuileries Palace haunted during the 19th century? Did any of the rulers or tenants who lived there report experiencing any ghosts, specifically of slain Swiss Guards? Think about it, 600 guardsmen died in and around the palace on August 10, 1792. That is a fucking bloodbath by all measures, and generally speaking, when stuff like this happens in confined spaces, reports of paranormal activity relating to said bloodbath are not uncommon.

How was the relationship between Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany and King Carol I of Romania? (Both being Prussian Hohenzollerns, although of different branches)

What about Wilhelm's opinion on King Ferdinand (Carol's successor and also a Prussian born Hohenzollern) fighting against Germany?

In republican rome, before the marian reforms, one had to own land in order to join the army, did the same apply for participating in politics? Like for voting or holding office did one have to hold X amount of land?

Is there a general comparison of the size of the corpuses of various early to late medieval European vernaculars? e.g. Old English, Old French, Old Church Slavonic, etc? Perhaps in number of words or even just number of works?

How much was the indemnity to be paid by Austria to France as a result of the treaty of schonbrunn? Was any of it actually paid?

There was a train chase in 1862 Georgia where one went backwards to chase down the other. Did they have a chance of catching him or was it more like tracking him? Basically could a train of the era go as fast in reverse as it could moving forward?

Bonus points if you can tell me more about the chase which happened in GA in 1862 between Kennesaw (Atl) and Chattanooga.

In Napoleonic warfare, how infantrymen behind the 2nd rank were supposed to engage the enemy? Were the guys in front of them just expected to die and clear the line of sight?

Can anyone point me towards an actual breakdown of the rooms per floor on the HMS Titanic? I keep finding information about which floors housed First, Second, or Third Class rooms, but nothing about specific counts.

What tea was thrown to the sea in the tea party?

Were the Napoleonic Wars referred to as such in their time, or did people call them something else?

A while back I heard a story about a famous historical figure who, after his death, was buried in multiple parts. Apparently as yo avoid his return. I, for the life of me, can’t remember who it was or any more details than this and it’s been killing me. Does anyone know who this story might have been about?

Could anyone recommend a book covering the 1918 Influenza pandemic, either in a global or specifically US context?

Im writing a paper about the population of my country in 40's and i really need advice in wich method is the best. Can someone point me any paper that could be helpful.

What is the origin of the ranch head gate/log arch?

Anyone know any good sources on ancient civilisations such as Babylon? I'm interested in some good secondary literature I could read. Cheers!

Hello. Using the maximum extent of currently available knowledge and fluency of ancient languages, when and where is the farthest back in time one could understand a language?

I've ordered a second hand copy of The Age of Reconnaissance by J H Parry, listed in the book list as a resource on general European exploration and settlement of the Americas. It's quite old so is it still worth reading? If the historiography has moved on since then, does anyone know of a similar book that is more up to date? Thanks

In this ballad the activities "the rolling of the stones" and "the dancing of the ball" are mentioned. I assume these are old party games or something. Can someone explain what these activities were?

How far did Viking swords come from? I know many were made in the Frankish kingdom but could some have come from the Middle East or Iberia who both had excellent sword-makers?

When was the earliest cavalry charge? I was reading a manga called Kingdom which seems to depict cavalry charges being used in the Warring States period (475 - 221 BC). While I am aware the manga is fiction, is there any historical accuracy to cavalry charges being used that far back in history?

Can these photographs be from famous civil war photographer Alexander Gardener? The note included with this auction seems to allude to Gardener, but the uniforms and settings does not look right to me. Hopefully this is an non-rule-breaking question :)

How can I know what the historian consensus on a topic is? How do historians know?

We live in 2020 counting "after christ" (or "after common era, if you prefer) but, what would the actual year would be if we counted straight from where we have furthest actual proof of the human presence?

I know some culture keep their own count, but what would be a more correct number?

I’m looking to find information on the significance of feathers specifically to the Lakota, from types of feathers to their designs of them.

I watched “Greyhound” on AppleTV last night. I’ve always had an interest in WWII, but I realized I have zero knowledge of WWII naval warfare tactics, Battle of the Atlantic, etc. Anyone able to suggest a good read to increase my knowledge base? I left this question broad because I think any suggestions would be helpful!

Is there any record of what happened to blondi (hitter’s german shepard) puppies?

Is King Philip 2 of France the same person as King Philip 2 of Spain?

I ask because I just found out that the current king of Spain (King Philip 6) is related to King Philip 2 of France in the family tree

What was the width of a Regiment of Line Infantry?

To elaborate, I'm not asking the head count for a regiment of line infantry, but rather how much of a space it would occupy in meters, yards, etc. when shoulder-to-shoulder in line formation at its widest without compromising the File as per the military standard/maxim of the day.

To narrow my question down further, as head counts surely varied by era and thus their width did as well, I'm mainly curious as to the width of a standard infantry regiment in: -American Civil War (1861-65) -WW1 (1914-1918) -as well as any potentially outstanding examples in-between

To elaborate on the point of WW1, I'm primarily thinking of the advancing German forces in the summer and fall of 1914 who were said fo advance in tight formations though from the examples I've read they were in Column not Line. But I'm no master so perhaps they did assault in line at times.

Lastly, I don't want anyone to think I'm just wanting others to do research for me. I've read many a book on line infantry and spent hours perusing the web but have yet to find an answer. The closest I've come was a question regarding the space occupied by WW2 units but as I understand it WW2 tactics didn't feature shoulder-to-shoulder formations not regularly anyways thus the spacing was different.

Anyways I appreciate any and all input! Thanks! -D