The History Thread!

There was plenty of variation in the beliefs of the various Germanic tribal groups, so we shouldn't assume that the same gods were equally prominent among Saxons or Norsemen. The worship of Freyr was really important in what is modern-day Sweden, so much that the kings claimed descent from him and claimed that their leadership was just as important for farming. IIRC Saturday being named after a Roman god applies mostly to the Anglo-Saxons, while many others have variations of the modern-Swedish "Lördag", which means "washing-day". There is speculation that this was a day especially chosen for taking baths or going to the sauna, possibly with the intent of a pseudo-religious cleansing tradition, but most likely to preserve water during the rest of the week for just cleaning the most relevant bits of your body.

A question about the Five Races Under One Union principle the founders of the 1912-49 Republic of China opted for, I can understand yellow representing Manchus (to connect them to the Jin Dynasty with the hanzi for that dynasty's name meaning "gold") and that white for Turkic peoples called "Hui" before that applied to these people but how exactly does red represent the Han, the blue for Mongols, and black for Tibetans?

Mongols, before adopting Tibetan Buddhism, traditionally worshipped the "Eternal Blue Sky" (Tengri), while Tibetan culture saw the colour black as a repellent for evil spirits. And red is the defining colour of Han Chinese culture, symbolising fortune and life as well as the traditional colours of imperial seals and lacquerware.

I mean, that's probably how the design process went - it's not like they had a lot of Mongols or Tibetans on the committee. Both parts of the Qing Empire declared independence around the same time that the Five-Colour Flag was adopted, so evidently they weren't too keen on joining the new Republic of China (outside of the Qing loyalist Mongol aristocrats in today's Inner Mongolia).

Speaking of Turkic and Mongolic peoples: I would love to know more about the culture of the various nomadic Turkic kingdoms that emerged in Eastern Europe after the diminishing of the Roman Empire in the 5th century. For instance, I find it interesting how both Constantinople and the quickly emerging Islamic factions tried to convert the nomads to their respective religions, with centuries of broken alliances back-and-forth. It especially backfired with the Khazar Khaganate, who felt that the Jewish ambassador from Baghdad seemed like such a sensible person, so they went on to adopt Judaism instead of Islam.

Watching Great Wonders & Splendors of the World (again ^_^;; It's just that good ) gave me this idea. Which ancient structure could be considered the more impressive feat of engineering and architecture: the Pyramids or the Colosseum?

I'm tempted to say the pyramids, because of the insane workload to deliver huge stones and that the things are still standing, even though they are without all the original surface decoration. But the Colosseum is impressive because they used concrete, which lessened the workload and sped it up. This is also much better concrete than the stuff we use, but the recipe is unfortunately unknown and reverse-engineering has not worked entirely yet.

The Great Wall of China.

I don't think that's quite the right way to look at it, personally. Every historical culture builds whatever suits their needs, using the techniques and materials available to them. I don't feel like there's a truly fair way to compare the two, because history doesn't advance on a linear "tech tree" like strategy games so often present it.

The Great Pyramid of Giza and the Colosseum have some 2,500 years of history separating them. One was designed as a protected, enclosed space with a sacramental purpose. The other was designed as a public, open space for mass activities. The Egyptians lived on the flat, low-lying banks of the Nile, where great limestone blocks could be dragged from their quarries and transported on river barges with relative ease. The Romans lived in a much more mountainous country and innovated by using the lime as a binding material. Different times, different constraints, different purposes.

I think I just found my new favorite video about zeppelins. :)

True, context is everything when looking at the past (and the present).

For such an impractical way to travel, the zeppelins are still really cool and a great way to create the atmosphere needed for hardboiled pulp sci-fi.

Speaking of videos, the British Museum posted a video analyzing the famous Sutton Hoo helmet:

Edited by Mara999 on Jan 15th 2021 at 9:16:15 PM

Speaking of Ancient Egypt, why was Tutankhamen’s tomb the only one that was (mostly) untouched by grave robbers?

Current read: Dancing in the Glory of Monsters: The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa, by Jason Stearns. It's a weird feeling to read through a history book, think "Huh, I wonder what this person is up to now" (in my case, Burundian president Pierre Buyoya) and then look them up on Google, only to find out that they died from COVID last month.

Found a copy of that. I really need to finish reading that one.

I recently rewatched the documentary series Great Wonders & Splendors of the World. If you haven't seen it yet, you should. It's very fascinating to watch, and it has great poetic narration to go with it. :)

I have said and thought many stupid things in my life.

But one of the stupidest of them all is thinking that all the biggest moments in the history had already happened and nothing momentous will happen in my lifetime.

And boy howdy, I'm seeing a new chapter of history book written every month or so.

This is an exciting time, though not necessarily in a good way.

There's a reason "May you live in interesting times." is considered a curse.

I never heard that expression. :S

It is from some old speech implying that in order for things of historical import to be of notable interest they would also be moments of anxiety, turmoil, and danger.

As I read more and more of Don Quixote, I realize it not to be the first Picaresque work, but rather a dead unicorn unbuilder of picaresque fiction.

The channel Invicta published a video commenting on the Roman view on different races and cultures. There is also a brief summary on the origins of the modern view on race, with a point about how we should refrain from applying our views on those living further back in time. People have always been xenophobic about others, but the nature of the xenophobia has never really been constant.

Here are two more fascinating historical videos from Knowledgehub. :)

Half this thread and half the "Things you didn't know until very recently..." thread. On this day back in 62 A.D., Pompeii was severely damaged by a strong earthquake.

How did the caliphates of old handle law enforcement?

Do you have a region and time period in mind? Like, if we're talking about the Abbasids in the 8th century alone, I'm sure that things would've worked differently in Baghdad than in Samarkand or Alexandria.

Whose idea was it to call it the “French and Indian War”?