askhistorians

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To what degree was Rome's Republic destabilized by a unwillingness to deal with real social and economic problems that could have had political solutions? Did Cato the Younger and the Optimates block reforms that would have stabilized the Republic?	17
Montaigne is said to have invented the essay. What separates his writing from the similar works of Seneca or Plutarch?	17
Did WWI & WWII supply constraints turn combatant populations into "necessity vegetarians?" Was this considered politically untenable?	17
Thomas Aquinas wrote that eating too soon in the day was a form of the deadly sin of gluttony. Did Medieval Europeans pay attention and eschew their sinful breakfasts, or did only members of the church heed him?	17
The majority of the US Supreme Court interprets the constitution according to "Originalism," which tries to determine what the framers intended when they created the document. Did those framers find elements of the constitution didn't work as planned and have to reinterpret their own document?	17
What happened to the Russian Communist Party after the fall of the Soviet Union? Today, Russia is dominated by United Russia. Did the soviets retain much support after the early 1990s?	17
King Menelaus seems fine with his wife Helen running off with Paris and launching a war that killed thousands. Should we read this as indicative of a permissive - or at least different — moral structure to Mycenaean Greek society?	17
Socrates had two wives (according to Aristotle) — Xanthippe and Myrto. Wasn't this contrary to the monogamy laws of Athens? Should we believe this?	17
What do historians think about Will Durant's 11-volume "Story of Civilization" which was written for the general public?	17
The Diolkos ship trackway in Greece was used from the 5th century B.C. to 700 A.D. before being revived by the Byzantines in the 9th century. Did trade networks really collapse so thoroughly that the trackway wasn't be needed? What caused this collapse?	17

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