/r/AskHistorians

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What is the historical origin and significance of the red flag raised over the Qom mosque in Iran?

200 upvotes • FateAV

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How did the River Thames get so polluted again after the Victorians largely fixed the problem?

200 upvotes • KeeperofQueensCorgis

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Why do we, in English, refer to countries by names that are completely different than their native language names? When did this start and has there been change over time?

200 upvotes • cosmonaut205

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What caused so many recreational drugs to become illegal in the past century, and why is that illegality an international norm?

200 upvotes • UnchainedMimic

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How did the Ancient Romans keep rrack of a person's status as Free or Slave or Citizen or Not? Did they have identity papers?

200 upvotes • CircumventPrevent

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In the tv series "The Good Place," the only notable ancient philosopher in their analog of Heaven is Hypatia of Alexandria. (The others mentioned by name all defended slavery.) How well did her philosophy and conduct conform to 21C Anglosphere social mores?

200 upvotes • edwardtaughtme

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It's the 9th Century and I've just put some cakes in my oven when King Alfred turns up. How do I know he is who he says he is, and how much reverence would a peasant like me afford him? How would contact amongst the public compare to meeting the Queen today?

200 upvotes • lastaccountgotlocked

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When did Byzantine culture begin to think of the Western Roman provinces as independent kingdoms as opposed to occupied provinces to which it still had de jure rights or claims?

200 upvotes • jurble

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Modern English is as far as I'm aware the only European language that uses the Latin alphabet without any diacritical marks. Is there a historical reason for this?

200 upvotes • ArmandoAlvarezWF

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Two separate sections of the Bible describe a male visitor(s) arriving to a town late at night, and being beseiged in a house by mob of rapists demanding to violate them, and the owners offering their own daughters instead. How often a problem was this in the Levant and would it play out like that?

200 upvotes • Lamujereenrojo

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Title	Upvotes	Author	Mark as read	Favorited	Rating	Add to a list
What is the historical origin and significance of the red flag raised over the Qom mosque in Iran?	200	FateAV
How did the River Thames get so polluted again after the Victorians largely fixed the problem?	200	KeeperofQueensCorgis
Why do we, in English, refer to countries by names that are completely different than their native language names? When did this start and has there been change over time?	200	cosmonaut205
What caused so many recreational drugs to become illegal in the past century, and why is that illegality an international norm?	200	UnchainedMimic
How did the Ancient Romans keep rrack of a person's status as Free or Slave or Citizen or Not? Did they have identity papers?	200	CircumventPrevent
In the tv series "The Good Place," the only notable ancient philosopher in their analog of Heaven is Hypatia of Alexandria. (The others mentioned by name all defended slavery.) How well did her philosophy and conduct conform to 21C Anglosphere social mores?	200	edwardtaughtme
It's the 9th Century and I've just put some cakes in my oven when King Alfred turns up. How do I know he is who he says he is, and how much reverence would a peasant like me afford him? How would contact amongst the public compare to meeting the Queen today?	200	lastaccountgotlocked
When did Byzantine culture begin to think of the Western Roman provinces as independent kingdoms as opposed to occupied provinces to which it still had de jure rights or claims?	200	jurble
Modern English is as far as I'm aware the only European language that uses the Latin alphabet without any diacritical marks. Is there a historical reason for this?	200	ArmandoAlvarezWF
Two separate sections of the Bible describe a male visitor(s) arriving to a town late at night, and being beseiged in a house by mob of rapists demanding to violate them, and the owners offering their own daughters instead. How often a problem was this in the Levant and would it play out like that?	200	Lamujereenrojo