askhistorians

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I remember reading something about how Spartan boys had to sacrifice a puppy to Ares as an imitation rite. Is this true? Also are there any good sources on Spartan/Doric religious traditions?	9
Did the Celts have their own writing system prior to adopting the Greek/Roman writing system?	9
We hear about prominent Roman men like Julius Caesar having a multitude of affairs and how this reflected on them but what did their wives think? Was this expected behavior from a (aristocratic) Roman man, was it scandalous/humiliating to the wives involved?	9
In the 16th Century Leo Africanus said that the African city of Gao was "very civilized compared to Timbuktu". What was Gao like at the time and what made this perception?	8
What cultural legacy has the diaspora of Middle Eastern communities in Latin America left?	8
Morgan Le Faye was originally a benevolent magical healer or queen in Arthurian legend but later versions cast her in her familiar role as a villain. Is this connected to any broader change in how women or sorcery was viewed in Britain or is it just creative license?	8
There's a TIL post making the rounds that Powdered Wigs originally became popular as a means of hiding Syphilis symptoms. Is this at all true?	8
Bronze Age Greece and Egypt had a lot of contact through trade. What did the Greeks think of the Egyptians in the Archaic period? How did this change in the second?	8
Romans did not allow women to hold political office and yet they dealt with allied and enemy queens like Cleopatra, Boudicca and Zenobia. How did they justify this double standard?	8
In Roman times the thumbs up gesture meant death and thumbs down meant weapons away. When did thumbs up become the positive gesture it is today and thumbs down negative?	7

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