askhistorians

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One of Oda Nobunaga’s fabled set-piece atrocities was the third siege of the Nagashima temple-fortresses. Supposedly he built up a wooden wall that he set on fire and burned the fortress and all it’s 20,000 defenders to ashes. Is this really plausible or just part of the Nobunaga legend?	1765
Is there any consensus on what the secret sacred name of Rome was/is?	180
When the pagan philosopher Damascius wrote his Life of Isidore between 517-526, the day of Hellenic religion and philosophy was clearly waning if not dead. What sort of an audience was Damascius writing for and what kind of an impactful was he hoping to make?	69
Between 1687 and 1779, none of the five male Japanese emperors lived to be over 35. Was there a reason for this trend?	44
Supposedly, the last Roman emperors to be deified on death were Christians, Libius Severus and Anastasius I Dicorus. Does this maintance of pagan traditions imply that the Roman elite were hedging their bets religiously?	20
Wikipedia states that the Khazar capital of Atil had seven judges: two Christian, two Jewish, two Muslim but only one to adjudicate for all "Shamanists and Pagans". Was this simply due to the difference in demand for legal arbitration between organised and disorganised religion on the steppe?	15
In the erotic writings of the Marquis de Sade, a great deal of prominence is given to the act of passive sodomy on the part of the libertine. Would this act have been part of the normal activity of a libertine of that time? NSFW	7
Was castration a common punishment for the sons of executed or exiled nobles in pre-modern Islamic societies?	7
Certain Religious and Philosophical groups played a significant role in the Chinese Civil War: the Christian faction of the KMT, the Muslim army of Ma Bufang and the Atheist Communists. What role were China’s other religious groups playing at this time?	6
How would the long term adherence of a forcibly converted Jewish person as in the Merchant of Venice be enforced?	6

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