/r/askhistorians

Year:

Only show posts with narrations

Why does classical art rarely seem to include “cute” subjects, like babies and small animals? Did ancient people react to cuteness differently than we do?

567 upvotes • George4Mayor86

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Would Alexander Hamilton have had a noticeable accent?

566 upvotes • nutmegstateofmind

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How did Japan come to have a unified culture/national identity, across the archipelago? (Or does it actually not?) In another sub, someone claimed Japan is "the civilization that has most rebellions in human history and perhaps the most vibrant hermit culture in the pre-industrial world." Accurate?

566 upvotes • 82364

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In Vikings, Ragnar has a Chinese slave/thrall. She states that she was sold to the Franks. Did Asian slaves exist in Europe during this time (800-1000ce) or is it another fiction of the show?

566 upvotes • BigVikingBeard

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Uh, was public farting a popular pasttime in 1600’s England?

566 upvotes • GrandMasterGush

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What's the deal with all the sword fights in Shakespeare? Some of them seem a bit forced into the plot. Were they just for show? Would an audience member have just gone for these like we go see action movies today?

566 upvotes • AnnalsPornographie

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Why does boxing use a belt as its highest trophy?

566 upvotes • hao232

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How was it even possible for Oceanic peoples (Polynesians, Micronesians, etc) to travel to such thinly spread out islands across the Pacific if they just had canoes?

566 upvotes • FlexPex44

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As the .su top-level domain was introduced just over a year before the dissolution of the USSR, did the Communist Party of the Soviet Union have an internet webpage? If so, who made it?

566 upvotes • tombricks

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What lost literary work has tantalized historians with its surviving fragments?

566 upvotes • TheMissingPrimarch

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Title	Upvotes	Author	Mark as read	Favorited	Rating	Add to a list
Why does classical art rarely seem to include “cute” subjects, like babies and small animals? Did ancient people react to cuteness differently than we do?	567	George4Mayor86
Would Alexander Hamilton have had a noticeable accent?	566	nutmegstateofmind
How did Japan come to have a unified culture/national identity, across the archipelago? (Or does it actually not?) In another sub, someone claimed Japan is "the civilization that has most rebellions in human history and perhaps the most vibrant hermit culture in the pre-industrial world." Accurate?	566	82364
In Vikings, Ragnar has a Chinese slave/thrall. She states that she was sold to the Franks. Did Asian slaves exist in Europe during this time (800-1000ce) or is it another fiction of the show?	566	BigVikingBeard
Uh, was public farting a popular pasttime in 1600’s England?	566	GrandMasterGush
What's the deal with all the sword fights in Shakespeare? Some of them seem a bit forced into the plot. Were they just for show? Would an audience member have just gone for these like we go see action movies today?	566	AnnalsPornographie
Why does boxing use a belt as its highest trophy?	566	hao232
How was it even possible for Oceanic peoples (Polynesians, Micronesians, etc) to travel to such thinly spread out islands across the Pacific if they just had canoes?	566	FlexPex44
As the .su top-level domain was introduced just over a year before the dissolution of the USSR, did the Communist Party of the Soviet Union have an internet webpage? If so, who made it?	566	tombricks
What lost literary work has tantalized historians with its surviving fragments?	566	TheMissingPrimarch