[Meta] Are there any topics that tend to attract more low-effort [removed] answers than most?

I'm a casual lurker here and I always find the amount of moderation impressive. I don't know if it's appropriate to ask, but insight into the madness would be interesting.

I've read that before more reliable methods to keep time (like you know, clocks) were common place, some would use prayer to keep time for things like cooking or applying medicine.

For example, keeping a pan on the fire for half the time it takes to recite Ave Maria.

Can somebody confirm this for me or provide sources? It would be vastly appreciated :)

From who knows where I have this memory of hearing about how the Roman senators looked down at Julius Caesar and friends in a "kids these days" manner because these fancy-pantses were wearing belts on their togas, or something like that. Maybe it was from Suetonius? Anyway, does this ring a bell to anyone, and if yes what might be the original source?

I need to get some history books for christmas, and I need recommendations. I want to learn more about Arabic, Indian, Chinese, and African History, and I don't know what to look for. What do you suggest?

Before the printing press became popular and allowed mass-production of books to be a thing in Europe happened, how did libraries or any similar places that stores books handled books being borrowed if said books were valuable without any other copies?

Other than Caesar, whose name has been turned into a title? I can't think of any others. The only similar example would be "Washington" becoming the term that refers to the United States Government as a whole. Which is sort of the "emperor equivalent" in a democratic society, I suppose.

So daughter, 5th grade, is working on a long for 5th grade essay on Francisco Vázquez de Coronado. We are finding it hard to find direct quotes from him. I have found quotes from people on the expedition. Is there a solid book I should be able to find at the library that would be good for first hand quotes? I have a large library system and I can scan for quotes for her so it doesn't need to be age appropriate.

What would have been a common way that an office worker in early 1950s Britain would approach making a single copy of an existing document - would someone have simply typed up a copy? (pre-Xerox machine, was there an efficient way to make one or two copies of a document? It seems like a ditto machine or mimeograph would not be efficient for 1-2 copies since a master sheet would first have to be created... I think, right?)

I'm looking for bibliography about greek mythology/religion (esp. Orphism) as a gift. Would anyone here have a recommendation for something informative and in (relative) depth, but still accessible to a very motivated and well-informed high-schooler?

So to lay my cards openly I will admit this is a bit of a confrontational question, and is directed specifically at /u/Snapahot52. I hope this is the right place to ask it, and I think I am allowed to ask it?

It's concerning part of an old answer they gave regarding egalitarianism of pre-Columbian Native American communities. Specifically this part:

am from the Nez Perce Tribe. We are a Plateau tribe and, in the past, semi-nomadic. We had a class system in place. It consisted of three levels: upper class, lower class, and slave class. The tribe was split into individual "bands" that would move around and establish villages. The upper class was mainly chiefs and their families, medicine men, and other important figures. The lower class could be warriors and your average citizen of a tribe. The slave class was, obviously, the slave class. While there exist this hierarchy, the other classes were not completely disadvantaged. Those of the upper class could marry anyone from another class and the lower class would enter the upper class. Those of the lower classes were not despised, but were cared for just like any other member of the tribe, including the slaves. A person from the lower class could even become a chief through a more or less democratic process and join the upper class. It was not completely wealth based and it was more fluid than one might think. Now, someone couldn't just decide one day to switch classes, but they were not treated like the poor and impoverished of today's world.

I understand this is in writen in context of contrast to Antebellum and Columbian Triangle trade slavery. At the same time, it seems to imply that, well, slaves of Native American communities "had it good" and "it wasn't a bad thing"? Again, I am very unsure about this (and am honestly a bit worried about a ban given Im adressing a mod here), but it resembles things I've heard said by neopagan communities to justify Viking slavery, or serfdom in Eastern Europe.

So I was hoping /u/Snapahot52 could expand a bit on the topic of native American slavery with mind to that?

What's the etymology of Auschwitz/Oświęcim? Wikipedia says it probably derives from the Slavic name of a local landowner. Wiktionary traces it to the name Uswinczin (Ospenchin in Latin). I've tried to find the etymology of those words, alternate spellings, or possible roots and haven't been successful.

I recently read The Ancient City by Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges. It’s a pretty old book, so I was wondering, does modern historical scholarship generally agree with its depiction of life in ancient Greece and Rome?

Any good sources about Gobekli Tepi that aren't from weird conspiracy guys?

Communication is believed to be the most vital component in warfare. In which battles/wars were won purely because of communication/information? This can be information on the enemy, the battlefield, the circumstances etc.

Some WWI tankers wore these chainmail masks to protect their faces from spalling, was this chainmail riveted or forged solid rings or butted links like current day cheap armor?

For anyone who's read The Search for Modern China by Jonathan Spence and Making China Modern by Klaus Mühlhahn, how would you compare them?

Why did a lot of Nazist prominent figures seem to love animals?

I've always been curious about this. Hitler himself, Goebbels and Amon Göth had dogs they seemed to love. Even Dirlewanger was passionate about exotic animals and would adopt a lemur.

Since they would've been consumed by use, how sure are we on what paleolithic oil lamps used for wicks?

I'm curious if some of them came up with something different, say it flickered a bit less or burned a bit cleaner, that we'd never spend the cognitive energy on rediscovering and they had thousands of years to ponder it.

The stones would seem to stand for themselves and the chemical residues would presumably show any interesting additives but wick and things like wicks seem so ephemeral.

In which historical event or any moment in history, has the saying "Knowledge is Power" proven to be not true? For example, Iraq had the knowledge that they did not possess any weapons of mass destruction. However, in 2003 the US invaded Iraq believing they did. Thus, in this situation despite Iraq knowing the truth, they were powerless against the US invasion.

How many people died from smallpox vaccines vs catching smallpox? (In any historical context you are familiar with).

I saw a statistic that the historical vaccine had a 0.5-2.0% mortality rate, compared to a 20-30% mortality rate for the disease itself.

I am just curious to compare how many people died from getting vaccinated vs contacting the disease.

So what happened to the Parthians and Hyracnians. And by Parthians I mean both the Parni and the Parthians there before them. like today that record is inhabited by Kurds, Turks and even some Balochs as well as Parsians so what happened to these earlier and famous people and when did they disappear/be assimilated away.

In the History Channel’s The Titans That Built America from last year, it’s claimed that JP Morgan Jr. had a non-negligible role in helping FDR get elected in 1932. In the sense of helping raise money and such.

Is there any truth to this?

Nazi Germany was also called the “Third reich” but what was the first and second reich?

It's that time of year where you start hearing "Christians just co-opted Christmas/Christmas traditions from the pagans". I believe I've read on this subreddit that's not really true at all. Is there a tl;dr one can read to help with this?

What was the Italian equivalent to a Jäger in ww2

Japan History, can you recommed me books (historical or fiction) or documentaries about the Boshin Wars?

I am looking for textbooks used in China, or scholarly articles produced in China, that cover events up through the end of the Cultural Revolution, collapse of the Soviet Union, and the beginning of the Reform and Opening Up period.

It could be the equivalent of a High School Textbook that gives the era 3 pages, or a higher level textbook dedicated to that the era. But I'm specifically looking for information used in the Chinese educational system, and not scholarly information written up outside of China.

(Or, again, produced by it - i.e. - journal articles from Chinese history departments on this period of time.)

so yaknow "telegraphing" in fighting/sports, how was this referred too pre invention of the telegraph? I realise that for fencing it'll be something in French and karate will be in Japanese but yea, curious and google is no help, just shows me paywalled telegraph articles about fighting

When was the first ever protest and what was it about?

What are some reputable books to consult about researching, understanding and writing about historical topics? i.e. Making sure that if I'm writing a non-fiction book about a historical topic, I don't make common rookie mistakes.

Does anyone have a map of Railways in Europe in 1941? (focusing mostly on Germany and the Soviet Union)

what was the ancient egyptian name for Assyria/Assur? Any attestations? For example, for Israel, we have ysrỉꜣr on the meneptah stele. I've seen someone claim that this refers to Assyria, not Israel. Do we have any examples of ancient egyptian names that definitely are referring to Assur / Assyria, for comparison?

Has anyone ever been voted into any type of office or electoral nomination without consenting to the role? If so, how did it play out?

What is the oldest recorded date?

I suppose this could be interpreted as two separate, but related questions -

• What is the oldest date that was referenced in historical record, IE a Sumerian tablet complaining about a copper delivery on Sumertember 7th
• What is the oldest event that we know the exact date of, IE an asteroid impact on December 14th, 13,237 BCE