askhistorians

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Why was Tenochtitlan and other Mexica cities so much larger and more impressive than the grandest European cities the conquistadors had seen?	54
Florence Nightingale was a hygiene and medical reformer. But the system of military medical care she was trying to fix was incredibly inept and mismanaged. Why did the British offer such dismal medical care and sanitation to their soldiers?	53
"Caesar was the hero trying to fix a dysfunctional Republic and help the common people, and Brutus was the oligarchic villain who murdered him." — Was this inversional take on the modern despotic Caesar/republican martyr Brutus ever popular?	52
Ancient elites seem way more "blingy" than is common today based on their grave goods. Were they like Mr. T, or just wanted to enter the afterlife with the option to be Mr. T?	52
What did Epictetus's Roman "pretty boy" look like?	52
Did ancient Athens have a raft of people affecting lisps and over-articulating words like children?	52
American cuisine seems to have been meat centric from early on, and meat seems to have been affordable even to the poor. Why was it so much more ubiquitous than in many places in Europe where its inhabitants came from?	52
The Greek writer Plutarch mocked ancient Greek religion/mythology, and yet served as a priest at the temple of Apollo at Delphi. What should we make of this arrangement? Was this sort of worship combined with lampooning common?	51
Did Rome ever come up with any battle tactics that could beat steppe nomads and other cavalry-based armies?	51
The Grand Catalan Company of mercenaries was remarkably successful against the Turks in Anatolia. For centuries, Byzantine troops and the European crusaders who'd aided them only rarely beat Turkish troops. Why were the Catalans able to do so much better?	51

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