AskHistorians

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In the historical novel I’m reading a Roman soldier tells his subordinates to poke their spears in excrement before going to combat, so the Carthaginians will die of infection later even if they aren't killed in battle. were the Romans aware that getting dirt in wounds made infection more likely?	6
is it genuinely the case that philosophy & science started to emerge mid-way through the first millennium BCE, or is just the case that we don't have good records from before that? if it really is the former, what was so special about that point in time?	6
When did Americans start to think (however justifiable) that they were or should be more "free" than most or all people in the old world? When did they start to take pride in that perceived greater freedom?	6
I've been told that the Romans thought it was improper to hold a triumph for a general/emperor who won a victory over other Romans. does that mean there was no public celebration in such cases, or just that it was less grand?	6
Ian Hislop once did a documentary in which he claimed the reason the Norman gentry popularised the king Arthur myth because it depicts the Saxons negatively, and the Anglo-Saxon commons embraced it because by the 12th century they just thought of themselves & Arthur as English. Any truth to that?	6
someone once told me the Spartan version of Greek was deliberately made to be simplistic so the soldiers couldn't think too much (basically the same idea behind New Speak from 1984), is that true?	6
Suppose I'm an English peasant farmer working my allotted field strips. at what point in history would I likely become aware of enclosure as an alternative to my way of life? at what point in history would I start actively worrying about enclosure taking away my livelihood?	6
Are there any conditions that generally have to be in place before a country will elect a totalitarian government?	6
had any of the coal in Britain been used by 1212BC?	6
In the first millennium BC Were scribes less valued in societies that used the phonetic alphabet (where it was easier to learn to read)?	6

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