askhistorians

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Nearly everyone in the Western world knows the name "Julius Caesar" and recognizes his life as seminal to many modern civilizations. Has this been the case for 2,000 years, or is it the product of 18th/19th century neoclassical Roman weebs?	7284
You're a married, Roman citizen serving the legion hundreds of miles from home. How is your family supported?	360
What do Ancient and Medieval sources say about the care and training of dogs?	228
How did Greco-Roman engineers and scientists "do math"? Would bridges, astrolabes, the Antikythera mechanism, etc. have been built entirely by someone doing mental arithmetic? Or did they have a way of writing down and working through equations and formulas?	77
How were Roman baths kept clean? Do we have any records of masses of people getting sick from contaminated bathwater?	73
Wikipedia says that after six days the Great Fire of Rome in 64AD was "brought under control." How did the vigiles accomplish this? How was such a massive city-wide disaster control project organized and coordinated?	35
Other than Meditations, what works survive from Ancient Rome that give good insight into individuals' private thoughts?	31
Before the discovery of bacteria and yeast, how did people think fermentation (bread, booze, pickling) worked?	18
What did people think fermentation was prior to the discovery of yeast and bacteria? I'm particularly interested in classical antiquity, but any period is likely interesting!	12
There were lots of great scientists in Classical Antiquity, but it seems much of their "science" was based on observation and opinion. Did any of them advocate for what we might call a "scientific method"? Rigor? Peer review? Double-blind placebo-controlled trials? Evidence-based medicine?	6

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