Apparently this is too simple of a question to merit its own thread. But I'm curious to know what is the difference between a Concubine, a Consort, a Lady-in-Waiting, and a Handmaid is, specifically in the context of feudal Japan?

Emperor Go-Yozei's Wiki page lists the latter three for a dozen different women who had children by the Emperor. I'm not sure what reference work to look up regarding these terms or the difference (in fact, I had assumed that despite the famous Margaret Atwood work, that Handmaids were mostly assistants to royalty, not legal partners.)

Traditionally before leaving office, When do exiting presidents start moving out of the White House?

Can anyone tell me when sugar glass was invented? I'm trying to find the information for a project but Google was no help.

I have a question about Japanese toilets. In his essay In Praise of Shadows, Junichiro Tanizaki describes his love for traditional toilets and describes a "wooden 'morning glory' urinal filled with boughs of cedar" (p6 of Harper and Seidensticker's translation, Leete's Island Books). Can anyone provide a picture/illustration of what this looked like?

Thanks in advance! I know this is such a silly question but I genuinely want to understand what this toilet looks like.

When and how did the story of Frankenstein get associated with Transylvania?

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I was watching the best Frankenstein movie.. Young Frankenstein.. and they set the story in the German settled part of Transylvania Romania in the 1930s.

And I remembered that Van Helsing also had Frankenstein set there.

I haven't read the book but have heard the synopsis and I can't recall the story going anywhere near Transylvania.

I've read that the price of a toga in Roman times was equivalent to 1oz of Gold, the same as a handmade suit now. And that under King Nebuchadnezzar (605 - 562BC), 1oz of gold would buy you 360 large loafs of bread - again, roughly the same as now. How true are these statements?

For reference, the 1oz gold price is $1939 as I write this. Works out as $5.4 per loaf, possible for an artisan bread

Where can I go if I want to learn more about the Munsee Lenape, the Lenape, and the Susquehanna/Conestoga tribes? Or any tribe? I want to learn about the people who used to live where I do hundreds of years ago.

What are good books/resources to further inform myself on Animal sacrifice in various cultures?

Primarily interested in the form of Aqiqah (sacrifice on occasion of a child's birth) in Morocco, but I'm interested in seeing the variety of reasons/beliefs between cultures.

Could anyone recommend a place to find some interesting lecture video series? Are there any series that you’d suggest (any subject is fine)?

Anyone know of any books or articles that cover the similarity between native american and traditional Japanese and Chinese music? Whether it concentrates solely on the music or the migratory history of tribes involved; I appreciate a nudge in any direction.

Why did the 13 original states continue using some of their names after breaking free of Great Britain? I know Georgia is named after George II, Virginia after Elizabeth I (virgin queen), etc. Pretty much all of the original colonies have names relating to the British monarchy. Why did they keep these names? Didn't they find it odd they continued to live in places with names originally made to honor what was now their enemies?

Has party switching by an individual congressman ever flipped control of of the US senate?

Thinking through possible scenarios following the Georgia run-off in January. Assuming Dems win both seats, they will effectively hold majority control of the Senate with VP Kamala Harris breaking ties. If they win only 1 seat, Republicans will maintain control with a 51-49 majority.

My question is this: has there ever been an instance where party switching by an individual has handed control of Congress to the opposition party? And if Susan Collins were to have a crisis of conscience and formally switch parties, would the Democrats gain control of the chamber?

Did Hitler ever personally kill anyone?

We can surely all agree he's responsible for millions of deaths, but I wonder if he ever killed someone with his own hands. I couldn't find any sources on that.

From what I know about his personality, I feel that he would think himself above such ugly business, that he'd be fine ordering someone to murder on his behalf, but not doing it himself. But maybe I'm wrong.

I'm mostly interested in his Third Reich days (did he murder anyone to gain power?), but if you happen to know about him killing someone in WW1, I'd like to hear that, too.

Hi, I've started reading "The History of the Peloponnesian War" by Thucydides and he keeps referring to Barbarians. I know that barbarians were the ones who were not considered Greek, mostly though language.
But my question is who, or which regions, does he actually claim to be barbarians?

What are some towns/villages from the Kofun period in japan? The only ones I've managed to find on my own are Nara and Kobe.

How much would the average greek doric column weigh?

Attempts to find the weight didn't really give me anything close to what would have been realistic and I'm unsure of how to calculate this for myself.

What are some good books about culture, folklore, religion and rituals of ancient Mesopotamia countries?

Why are the US Public Health Service Commissioned Corps (PHSCC) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Corps (NOAA) uniformed services of the US?

Or rather, why do non-armed uniformed services exist at all? Why not just have normal federally-employed civilian professionals conduct these health and meteorological services, or actual military medical and meteorological officers?

And why are they modeled after the naval service? And why is the head of the PHSCC called Surgeon General, why not Surgeon Admiral?

I've been reading a bit on Ancient Egypt lately, which comes with lots of information about tombs and monuments. Predictably, there's a note about nearly every royal tomb having been victimized by tomb robbery at some point in antiquity.

What I'm not clear on is exactly how quickly would these tombs be stripped of their valuables? Were there opportunists ready to pounce as soon as a burial to was completed? Would a royal tomb sit for decades (or longer) and only be stripped of valuables once a king was forgotten and no longer revered?

Each time I tomb is introduced in the text I'm reading, there's a note similar to "such and such was missing having been taken by tomb robbers in antiquity". I'm unclear on what 'antiquity' might mean here, especially since Ancient Egypt itself lasted for a couple thousand years itself.

Spoiler for Netflix’s the queen’s gambit to follow

Beth is accompanied to the Soviet Union in 1968 by someone from the “state department” for her chess tournament in Moscow (which I believe was the world championship) Would this actually have happened? Did the United States really send security guards with their public figures every time they went to the USSR, for babysitting? She’s not even allowed to leave her hotel room without him there. Did this happen with American boxers and tennis players as well?

Please help me figure out who was this African American man that almost ran for US President in 92 or 96. My first political memory is also what taught me that racism was still a thing and not a past issue. I just remember being very young and my mother was talking to another adult about how she would have voted for some guy that either almost ran or dropped out of the race early. I remember the body language and tone my mom and other adult used which leads me to believe it was a mainstream statement and therefore a mainstream candidate. I asked her later why he wasnt running and she said he wasnt interested and was probably worried about people hurting his family since he was black. Can anyone help me figure out who this was?

Why do japanese matchlock or arquebuses ( Tanegashima) don't have buttstocks? or are they very short and i'm looking at it from a modern perspective?

according to the great courses series on plato's republic, plato got the four cardinal virtues (prudence, courage, temperance, and justice) from greek culture. according to wikipedia (i know), they derive from him. where did the cardinal virtues come from?

I was directed here, meh, but I don't believe it is a simple question. Still: do you know any dictators from the 20th century who would fall into the LGBT spectrum, even if closeted etc.?

(Disclaimer: I'm in the LGBT spectrum myself, and this question came to be when I was talking to my friends about that awful sentence Lukashenko said about being a dictator and being gay).

What year did the "modern" Olympics start?

How do I go about deciphering these Military records? https://imgur.com/a/E0nom6K

How did explorers get theie letters delivered home when travelling through uncharted territory?

Which year did Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII start (secretly) courting?

How do you pronounce the name "Mandoag", the Native American tribe often accused of wiping out the lost Roanoke Colony? I've read several articles and attempted listening to some podcasts and YouTube videos but cannot find anything more than this online. I'm not certain this is correct:

https://www.howtopronounce.com/mandoag

Any of you happen to know or could possibly link me to an audiobook or streaming video where it's spoken?

This maaaaay be more literature than history per se, but any recommendations for a good reference guide to Arthurian legend? I'm more interested in like the development of the legend and story (e.g. where it originated, how it evolved over the years, how real people received it, etc) than a literary analysis.

I found 2 and was wondering if either were any good or if there were better ones to look at: The Oxford Guide to Arthurian Literature and Legend (sadly no digital edition and my libraries don't have it) and The Arthurian Handbook: Second Edition (which at least is on Kindle)

Who invented the first coins?

It's very messy reading it on the internet. Many places, it reads that Lydians were the first to invent coins around 600 BC.

Here: https://www.ancient.eu/coinage/, it reads that the first coins minted was on the Island of Aegina, c. 700 BC

Here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_coins, it reads that Ephesus' great temple of Artemis dates back to 8th c. BC, which provides evidence for the earliest coins.

Hopefully people can help here.

Hi, I am looking for a source regarding M4 Sherman registration numbers. I am aware of the Sherman Minutia page, but I am wondering if there is another source out there. thanks

Are there any records of both participants in a duel shooting each other at the same time?