/u/howtoreadspaghetti's posts in /r/AskHistorians

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The Bible rarely mentions physical descriptions of its characters. Was this lack of physical descriptions a staple of ancient literature or is this only seen in the Bible? And when did that trend change to the long physical character descriptions we see today in literature?

870 upvotes

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In Luke 23:56 the women prepare "spices and perfumes" to be used in preparing Christ's body for burial. What spices would have been used for embalming? Was there an established process understood for embalming bodies by first century standards?

284 upvotes

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Would Plato or Aristotle or even Socrates have known the Old Testament stories?

77 upvotes

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The Old Testament uses barrenness becoming fertile by supernatural means as a literary motif. Is this literary motif exclusively from the Hebrew people or is this literary motif found anywhere else in ancient cultures?

34 upvotes

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When did the church as an institution begin to regard youth groups, Sunday school, Bible studies, etc. as commonplace?

16 upvotes

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Did the Founding Fathers make any sort of comment about John Wesley or the Methodist movement that was happening around the time of the Revolutionary War? Would they have even known of Wesley?

11 upvotes

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In the NT, Jesus uses denarii, "a day's wage", to illustrate His messages. Was a denarii a rough equivalent to a minimum wage?

11 upvotes

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Did Thomas Jefferson know Robespierre personally?

10 upvotes

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Did Napoleon have authority to write constitutions and negotiate treaties after defeating the Austrians in Italy or did he just give himself the authority to do that and nobody raised concerns?

6 upvotes

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Banking families in non Western countries

5 upvotes

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Title	Upvotes	Mark as read	Favorited	Rating	Add to a list
The Bible rarely mentions physical descriptions of its characters. Was this lack of physical descriptions a staple of ancient literature or is this only seen in the Bible? And when did that trend change to the long physical character descriptions we see today in literature?	870
In Luke 23:56 the women prepare "spices and perfumes" to be used in preparing Christ's body for burial. What spices would have been used for embalming? Was there an established process understood for embalming bodies by first century standards?	284
Would Plato or Aristotle or even Socrates have known the Old Testament stories?	77
The Old Testament uses barrenness becoming fertile by supernatural means as a literary motif. Is this literary motif exclusively from the Hebrew people or is this literary motif found anywhere else in ancient cultures?	34
When did the church as an institution begin to regard youth groups, Sunday school, Bible studies, etc. as commonplace?	16
Did the Founding Fathers make any sort of comment about John Wesley or the Methodist movement that was happening around the time of the Revolutionary War? Would they have even known of Wesley?	11
In the NT, Jesus uses denarii, "a day's wage", to illustrate His messages. Was a denarii a rough equivalent to a minimum wage?	11
Did Thomas Jefferson know Robespierre personally?	10
Did Napoleon have authority to write constitutions and negotiate treaties after defeating the Austrians in Italy or did he just give himself the authority to do that and nobody raised concerns?	6
Banking families in non Western countries	5