AskHistorians

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when did a majority of astronomers start to hypothesize ("hypothesize" not "prove") that the stars were probably many tens of thousands of times farther away than anything in the solar system? When did they start to hypothesize stars were other suns?	65
suppose you were mutilated in some humiliating way (like loosing your legs or even your testicals or something) at a young age. If you were eldest the son of an English lord circa 1150, would he be likely to disinherit you in favour of a younger brother?	65
what motivated so many European tribes to convert to Arian Christianity? what were they getting out of that religion that they weren't getting out of paganism?	65
Was there really a global drought between 2200BC and 2000BC?	64
“It (the bible) does not endorse chattel slavery. It describes a system of indentured servitude widely used in ancient cultures, and provides a method of dealing with prisoners of war that avoids execution”. How do you respond to the assertion that chattel slavery didn’t exist in Judea or Rome?	64
suppose you live in constantinople in 1414. why do you still live there? why haven't you (or one of your ancestors) left with many other thousands of people who abandoned the city as the eastern Roman empire shrank in wealth and territory?	63
300 years ago do you think most people in England believed the King had been literally chosen by God to rule?	63
Suppose I'm a typical freeman living in Rome (the actual city) in 266. What effect (if any) would all the barbarian incursions and usurpers around the borders of the empire, have on my day to day life?	63
Did the larger ancient cities (more than 50000 people) have street gangs like modern ones do?	63
in the late 2nd century the Bosporan Kingdom, A Greek client state of Rome, launched a military campaign against Scythian tribes to the north of them. would the soldiers who carried out this campaign have been using Roman amour, weapons & tactics, or ancient Greek amour, weapons & tactics?	63

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