askhistorians

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I am a devout Parthian Jew in the 1st C. CE. If I observe the three pilgrimage festivals (Passover, Shavuot, Sukkot), will I have to be away from home almost half the year every year? If I can't afford to take this amount of time off, what alternatives do I have for showing my devotion?	2120
In the Arabian Nights, the inhabitants of a city are magically turned into fish of 4 colours: the Muslims white, the Zoroastrians red, the Christians blue, and the Jews yellow. Are these associations between religions and colours conventional in the period, or novel?	78
How did Tajiks in the USSR and Tajiks in Afghanistan perceive or relate to each other, both before and during the Soviet-Afghan War?	49
In 1534, Martin Luther records a meeting with Michael the Deacon, an Ethiopian Orthodox cleric travelling in Europe. Do we know of any other Ethiopian travellers in early modern Europe? Do we have any first-hand accounts of their impressions?	45
Why did the ruling parties in socialist Ethiopia and Somalia have such different approaches to their country's respective majority religions (the Derg positioning themselves strongly against the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, but the Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party presenting itself as Islamic)?	23
On Western maps of the Cold War, the Western Bloc is always blue and the Eastern Bloc is always red. Were the same colours used in Eastern Bloc maps during the period?	11
Who paid for and owned the printing presses in late-15th/16th century Europe?	8
In Philip Massinger's 1631 play, "Believe As You List," an early 2nd C. Carthaginian senator observes: "The tribute Rome receives from Asia is / Her chief supportance; other provinces / Hardly defray the charge by which they are / Kept in subjection." Is this accurate?	7
How did Turkmen, Uzbek, Tajik, and Kirghiz people in Afghanistan perceive the Soviet Union, both before and during the invasion of Afghanistan?	6
How/has inheritance law changed in response to the (relative) normalisation of childbirth and -rearing outside of marriage in the modern West?	1

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