AskHistorians

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suppose I'm a wealthy roman and I need a surgeon to remove the end of a sharp stick stabbed into my abdomen by a slave attempting escape. does whether I happen to be living AD297 Rome or AD1297 Constantinople, effect my survival odds much?	547
Suppose you visited a marketplace in Constantinople in 1116, suppose you visited a marketplace in Constantinople in 1395. Could you tell The Empire had fallen on hard times by the difference in the quality and variety of the things being sold?	543
you know you hear old stories about women and young boys dressing up as men to join the military. During either of the world wars, or maybe even before, did any of the world powers have any official special rules for what you were supposed to do if a POW turned out to be either under 18 or women?	532
I was just reading about Alexander Selkirk (the guy Robineon Crusoe is based on) Was he just uncommonly skilled and resourceful, or was it just normal for 17/18th century British working men to some basic knowledge of animal husbandry, hunting, foraging, metal working, tanning and carpentry?	530
I've been told that Columbus wrote that Caribbean natives "had no Religion". If that's true (is it?) was it that he was just arrogantly refusing to call the Taíno belief system "a religion", or was he genuinely incapable of recognizing alien spiritualistic/ritualistic behavior?	519
In the time of Cleopatra were the Pyramids still being worshipped and kept in repair?	518
Before Commodore Perry showed did many/any people in Japan know the United States existed?	510
Suppose you're the emperor of Japan in 1514. How meny servants do you have attending you and your needs in your day to day life? And how does that compare to what a European monarch's (particularly the king of England if you want to be specific) household would have had in the same time?	509
Donald Trump is worth over 4 billion. Hearing that made me wonder; who is the riches and the poorest president when accounting for the relative value of the dollar at different times?	495
In The Man In The High Castle, an alternate history book and now web show, the Japanese occupied the west coast of the US after winning the war. In reality did the Japanese have any intention of doing that if they won?	466

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