AskHistorians

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What was the Japanese perception of their Emperor and how did they compare it to that of the Chinese Emperor throughout the Medieval Period? Did they acknowledge the Chinese Emperor as being higher in rank? Inferior in status or equal?	351
What would be the primary differences between a cheap sword and an expensive sword, taking into account different time periods and methods of manufacture?	196
When the Muslim Arabs first conquered the middle-east, they were an extreme minority. How is it that they managed to assimilate the original inhabitants, linguistically, culturally and religiously, and how is it that Persia still retained it's own identity when places like Egypt and Syria did not?	111
How did Pikemen fight other Pikemen?	106
In A History of the Ancient Near East ca. 3000 - 323, Marc van der Mieroop contends that the Median Empire was invented by Herodotus to fill the gap between the Assyrian and Persian empires. Is there any truth to this?	87
What is the current academic view of the origin of the inhabitants of Classical Greece? Was there direct cultural and linguistic continuity from the Mycenaean period, or was there a migration of Archaic Greek Speakers from the north?	78
I keep on encountering all these stories about "lost civilizations" that dwelt in the Amazon rainforest and urban structures. Is there any factual basis to them?	55
Are there any records of Republican Legions facing the conventional Hoplite phalanx rather than the Sarrisoi phalanx in battle?	54
A question about the Macedonian Phalanx	46
So I've been reading a few books about ancient history, and I have frequently encountered the claim that bronze was a superior material to iron, but iron was much more common, cheaper and easier to forge. Is this true?	40

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