AskHistorians

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A place to ask questions about history and life in past eras! Broad or narrow, if you're curious, and the question relates to history, ask away! If you have an interest in the subject, regardless of 'formal' expertise, feel free to answer as best you can!

RULES:

  1. Be civil. History can be contentious, but this isn't a meme or even a debate community. Arguments happen - but ultimately, this is about providing people with an overview on historical issues they're curious about, not pursuing one interpretation or another to the bitter end.

  2. The question must relate to a topic at least 20 years old. You can ask about a historical event in relation to a modern issue, but if the question is not substantially historical in some way, it will be removed. We are living through history, but this comm is about discussing the past.

  3. Question must be in the title. You can elaborate in the body, if you like, but the title must include a specific question, not just a non-specific "I have something I was wondering about."

  4. No misinformation. History is deeply contentious, and there will be many contradictory viewpoints tolerated on most subjects - but pop history myths, conspiracy theories, or propaganda will be corrected or removed. Inaccurate answers made in good faith are fine - we just don't want to normalize misinformation from people with insistently incorrect worldviews, like the notion that the world is secretly controlled by Jews or lizardpeople.

OTHER COMMS IN THE HISTORYVERSE:

founded 6 days ago
MODERATORS
Don_Dickle@lemmy.world
Hatshepsut@lemmy.world
PugJesus@piefed.social
Hatchepsut@piefed.social
listing: all - local
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Why did Herodotus have such a hate-on for Cyrus the Great? (multiverse.soulism.net)
submitted 4 days ago by Grail@multiverse.soulism.net to c/askhistorians@piefed.social
4 comments fedilink
 
 

Herodotus' account of Cyrus the Great's death at the hands of Tomyris is awe-inspiring, funny, and, I'm lead to believe, almost certainly fake. Other histories paint him as a pretty chill guy who tolerated other religions in his kingdom and expanded through peaceful means. Yet Herotodus paints him as demanding Tomyris' hand in marriage and invading when she said no.

Why did Herodotus do Cyrus dirty like that? Is there any chance he was telling the truth?

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Introductions, and a call for more mods! (piefed.social)
submitted 6 days ago by PugJesus@piefed.social to c/askhistorians@piefed.social
12 comments fedilink
 
 

Hello everyone! I thought I'd give an introduction for myself and for this comm, so it doesn't seem quite so empty.

I'm PugJesus - a terminally online user who blathers on about history altogether too much. I particularly enjoy the history of the Roman Republic and Empire, the medieval period, and economic history. I'm not a professional historian, or anyone special like that - I went to college and majored in History, but I was only an undergrad. Thus, my opinion is generally slightly more-informed than the average layman, but only slightly!

I'm very capable of being incorrect, so despite my penchant for convincing-sounding paragraphs, I beg you - don't ever take my word as gospel, on anything! I'm extremely capable of being wrong, and that's aside from the issue that history itself is rarely settled! I'm a lowly monoglot (shaming my ancestors) who can't even read primary sources without a pre-existing translation, and despite my enthusiasm for history, much of my post-college reading has been from an eclectic selection of literature ranging from cutting-edge to hopelessly-out-of-date. A man buys what books and journals he can afford, after all 😭

I already mod more comms than I really want to. But people, otherwise, might be WRONG on the INTERNET, and we can't have that! If anyone would like to assist with the modding burden - which I expect to be light - feel free to send me a message, and I'll check your comment history!

If you feel you might be answering often here, feel free to introduce yourself below! Or don't - all participation in this comm is welcome, at any level of expertise or involvement! We're here to learn together, after all!