askhistorians

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In Ancient Rome, slaves could attain great material wealth, and sometimes used this wealth to buy their freedom. However, their master still held near absolute power over them. What, legally or socially, stopped a master from just taking a slave’s wealth?	5397
Are there any genuine examples of Satan worship in medieval/renaissance Europe, e.g not confined to the imaginations of paranoid Christians?	199
I'm a Muslim during the Middle Ages who is not wealthy or of high social status. Could I realistically fulfill the Hajj to Mecca? If so, what kind of preparations could I make with my limited means?	79
Book claims that the corpus of Nahuatl texts is larger than the corpus of Classical Greek texts. Is this true?	16
In some battles that took place in ancient China, the amount of soldiers claimed to have fought on a single side are over 500,000 men. I’ve always been skeptical of these numbers. Is it possible that ancient Chinese states could field that many soldiers for a single battle?	12
Sylvester Magee claimed to be a slave and veteran of the civil war, with a purported lifespan of 130 years. Are his claims plausible?	7
What do we know about the Ancient Greek wrestling style of pankration?	5
The modern music industry is dominated by songs about relationships and love. Was it always like this? If not, how and when did these songs first become so popular?	5
Several medieval theologians spent considerable time creating refutations to certain objections to the existence of god. Why would they bother with this, given the near nonexistent state of atheism at this time?	4
What military tactics did the Inca use against their indigenous rivals? How did they adapt later against the Spanish?	4

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