AskHistorians

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Why didn't Vesuvius's eruption in 79 AD create more governmental instability for the Roman empire?	10
In America, casinos and gambling are associated with organized crime;. Monte Carlo predates Las Vegas in it's association with gambling by almost a century; did it share a similar shady reputation?	10
Arlington National Cemetery, where the most honored of American military casualties are buried, is somewhat famously located on the site of Robert E. Lee's former home. Was there a special place for the 'most honored' veterans before this time?	10
How did the approximately four minute song become (somewhat) standard? Was it influenced by the needs of radio, or was it the other way around?	10
At what point did the patrician/plebeian distinction no longer matter? The Gracchi were plebeians yet Scipio Africanus's grandchildren, and Antony, another pleb, was ancestor to several emperors. Had it ceased to matter by that point?	10
When and why did King John and Richard get added to the legend of Robin Hood?	10
How did Aristotle wind up as Alexander the Great's tutor?	10
Was Dante working from an existing theological conception of hell (or heaven, for that matter)? Other than mentioning a lake of fire and paradise, the Bible seems non-specific, so what was he drawing from?	10
Rudolph Valentino's funeral in 1926, with 100000 mourners, was an event of mass hysteria and rioting. Was there any indication to that point that Hollywood had made that deep an impression on the American psyche?	10
How would historians differentiate between a "revolution" and a "coup" (if they would)? How did the English end up appropriating a French word to describe this kind of situation?	10

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