AskHistorians

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Iron is a natural element whereas Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin -- why is it that weapons were first made in Bronze and then improved to Iron?	78
In the Bronze and Iron Ages, would a normal person consider the Pantheons of other tribes to be the same as their own (with different names) or physically different? E.g. would a Roman consider Jupiter and Zeus(pater) the same deity? Would a Teuton consider Tiwaz the same as Zeus and Jupiter?	31
How quickly did medieval ships deteriorate?	27
Why were the Spanish Kingdoms so vertical?	21
Why were Scandinavia and the Steppes so often producing major and disruptive tribes?	20
In movies/tv/books, the Viking invasions of England portray there being a distinct difference between the local Anglo-Saxons and the invading Danes -- but the Danes came from much the same region as the Anglos/Saxons/Frisians/Jutes. Did contemporaries living in England see Danes as so different?	19
Are the Greek mythologies generally one body of work, or a collection of the stories of different regions? E.g. would a kid from Athens be taught the founding myth of Thebes, or do we anachronistically group the stories together because they're all 'Greek'?	19
In movies/tv/books, the Vikings/Danes are portrayed as being sharply different from the Anglo-Saxons they invaded -- but those Anglo-Saxons were descended from people who came from many of the same places (e.g. the Jutes came from Denmark). Is this demarcation factually truthful?	18
Choose 5 books for someone to learn and have a very good grasp on Medieval (Fall of Rome to 1600s~) History, assuming the reader has an okay understanding of the abstract ideas (and wants to learn just the nitty gritty details)	16
Did Romans keep dogs as pets? And were there breeds of Roman dogs or foreign dogs that were in fashion at any point?	12

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