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Posted by /u/StrawberryPatient307

How empty (of population) was the ancient world?

When I look at Bronze Age maps, I see states and civilizations around the major rivers, not far from those areas the map appears completely empty. How should this be interpreted? Does it mean there simply weren’t many humans overall, or were humans living everywhere but not in t…

Posted by /u/snugglebunny822

Of the roughly 1.6 million Homestead Act patents issued between 1862–1934, is there any data or academic estimate on what percentage of that land remains in the hands of the original family line today?

Posted by /u/Umpuuu

Medieval peasants famously ate "bread and cheese". What kind of cheese was it? Would whatever cheeses they normally ate, be recognizable as any of the modern varieties?

Posted by /u/Odd_Old_Professional

Children's Sleepovers: where does this tradition come from?

My youngest is having a sleepover, and it is kind of a weird custom. Where does this come from? How old is it? Was there an older custom that this grew out of?

Posted by /u/Naive-Actuary4414

Why do Western countries like the UK, US etc consider Greece and the Roman Empire as the basis of their "civilisation"?

Okay so I would like to explain my context so that you guys can better understand my question: I am a tribal, Indian guy from the northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh. And here in India, the basis of the Indian "civilisation" are considered to have been formed by Vedic cultur…

Posted by /u/Kutluna

Why have straight men historically been so hostile toward homosexuality?

I've had this thought since I was a kid, and every time I bring it up to my friends they just laugh. But I genuinely don't understand it, so I'm curious if there's an explanation from psychology, sociology, evolutionary biology, or history. I'm a straight man, and my logic has a…

Posted by /u/grapefruitcanteloupe

Why did so many communist parties historically view homosexuality as “bourgeois decadence”?

It seems that until relatively recently, most communist parties and leaders throughout history were against homosexuality. Some examples being Fidel Castro calling homosexuality a “bourgeois trait”, as well as the French Communist Party calling homosexuality “the rubbish of capi…

Posted by /u/ProfessionalKnees

Did women in 1920s America really wear their stockings rolled down and apply rouge to their knees for a night out, as the musical Chicago implies?

In the song All That Jazz from the musical Chicago, Velma Kelly sings: Come on babe, why don't we paint the town And all that jazz I'm gonna rouge my knees, and roll my stockings down And all that jazz Was common for women to do this ahead of a night out? Why? As someone who has…

Posted by /u/t-licus

Did medieval people know that the past looked different?

In medieval European art, you often see scenes and characters from the Bible depicted as if they lived in the artist’s present. Think Roman legionaires in full plate armor, Moses and the Israelites dressing like 14th century nobles, or Jesus’s Jerusalem looking like medieval Nur…

Posted by /u/assbootycheeks42069

The Sixth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States guarantees a "speedy" trial. When this amendment was written, how long did it usually take for someone to be tried for a crime after being arrested?

Some context: I am not an attorney, but I do work for one. Many cases drag on for a year or more before resolution, which is disheartening when many of our clients are in jail. From some preliminary reading on this issue, the major limiting factor in when someone would be tried…

Posted by /u/SaysToMabelISays

In the Iliad, Ajax is shown as one of the only great warriors to not receive help from the Gods while still accomplishing amazing feats. Would this be seen as a bad thing?

One of my favourite characters in the Iliad is Ajax. In his frequent feats including holding off the Trojan army essentially by himself to protect the Greek fleet, almost killing Hector (who then receives help from a God to return), he's never described as receiving direct inter…

Posted by /u/Being_A_Cat

Why is the Jewish language called Hebrew instead of Jewish/Israelite?

Posted by /u/WartimeHotTot

How did US homelessness during the Great Depression compare to homelessness today?

The way I was taught about the Great Depression in school made it seem like there was extreme political pressure coming from homeless people themselves, and this ended up affecting politics at the highest level. To me, it seemed that the term Hoovervilles (along with Hoover blan…

Posted by /u/Prize-Nothing7946

How did knights work out?

Did a high medieval knight wearing very heavy armour workout to be able to walk around in it? Or did they just walk around till they were comfortable walking in it? I know the Ancient Greeks and Romans had gyms with weights and such, was it the same in the high medieval era?

Posted by /u/Thundertushy

What was life as a diabetic like in Rome in 2nd Century AD?

Aretaeus of Cappadocia described life with diabetes as short, disgusting and painful. What would life as a 2nd Century AD person with diabetes have been like? Let's assume that the person is wealthy enough (i.e. prosperous merchant or landowner) to have a physician on staff to s…

Posted by /u/Sad_Highlight_9059

I recently saw a YouTube video of Matt Lewis speaking about Medieval history. In it he states that Henry II (of England) was exceptionally good at laying siege to castles without much elaboration. So, what exactly made Henry II so notewort…

Posted by /u/Ruthrfurd-the-stoned

Why did many Caribbean nations become majority black as opposed to North America (white) and Central / South America (mestizo/ white)?

There are clear exceptions such as Puerto Rico and Cuba but for countries like Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, and the Bahamas it’s just very different from what we see in the rest of the new world. Haiti is similar but they had the revolution which helps explain it. Was curiou…

Posted by /u/JackDaniels3456d

Was the French Colonial Empire’s Bordel Militaire de Campagne an awful and dehumanizing system of sexual slavery like Imperial Japan’s comfort women system, or was it instead a mundane and consensual system of colonial prostitution?

I am deeply familiar with the comfort women system that the Imperial Japanese military instituted during the Second World War and how women were forced to provide sexual services to Japanese soldiers during that war. I am also deeply familiar with how some Japanese politicians t…

Posted by /u/Captain_Strudels

In recent years, I've seen some claims in several circles that "Historically the solution to excess unmarriageable men is to start a war to kill some of them off". Has this ever been remotely true? Have we ever even had historical times of…

I've quoted the claim word-for-word from a very recent frontpage sub, however I've seen this sentiment echoed more than once and it got me curious. It seems really unlikely to me - at most, perhaps unmarried men might seek out war for social mobility, but I can't imagine some le…

Posted by /u/Powerful-Mix-8592

Was 1800s London really that bad compared to other major European cities?

When talking about 1800s European capitals, you heard about how Vienna was the cultural capital and Rome the marvelous city of marble and Paris the city of light and Berlin was the beating heart of intellectualism and industry. And these cities were known to have pretty bad unde…

Posted by /u/Asleep_Wealth5602

We are historians of childhood and food, authors of 'First Helpings: A History of Children and Food'. Feel free to AMA.

Our names are Dr Deborah Albon and Dr Amy Palmer and we are the authors of ‘First Helpings: A History of Children and Food’ published by Reaktion Books. This book explores the relationship between children and food in history, drawing on a rich variety of social records, cookery…