A question! (History & Mythology)

[Sherona]

My turn :)

History question, and a fairly easy one at that.

Alexander III arguably came the closest in history to have conquered and ruled "the world" Granted then, the world was considered quite smaller then it is today. It is said that as a child he tamed a horse that no one else dared to ride. The name of this horse?

[Vekseid]

Bucephalus :-p

What ancient goddess was once depicted with dozens of breasts?

[Sherona]

Artemis.

ARTEMIS (Female): This goddess was a real feminist. She was patron to young girls and provided comfort to women in childbirth. She was known as the virgin huntress, and she chose to spend her time among a clan of toughened nymphs living in the greatoutdoors of a land called Arcadia. Artemis was also called "Mistress of Beasts" and "Goddess of Wild Things." It's not surprising then that she was also considered a fertility goddess. In fact, she is often portrayed in sculpture with dozens of plump breasts. What is surprising is that this fertility goddess was a perpetual virgin. The race of warrior women called the Amazons worshipped her as the goddess of the New Moon. Strong, athletic, and temperamental, this was no goddess to irritate. Even looking at her could kill. She was also very demanding when it came to her worship. She was known to bring down entire empires simply because a sacrifice might have been overlooked. I don't know about you, but I've known cats like this. Twenty minutes late with their mealtime and it's shredded curtains, magazines, toilet-paper, whatever. Taking all this intoconsideration, you might name your moody, outdoor loving, rough and tough mistress cat after this powerful goddess of the wilderness and nature.

Just thought to add this. I will be adding a question tomorrow.

[Vekseid]

What African kingdom is estimated to have been responsible for between a third and a half of the slave trade, and what nation currently occupies that region?

[Sherona]

Ok I looked for the answer both by googling, ask.com, I looked up many history documentaries that I have on DVD but none really had to do with the origins or anything else of Slavery (I assume you mean the slave trade to all the world and not simply talking about the slave trade to the america's)

I looked in the few books I do have that speak about the history of slavery (Which has some pretty interesting tidbits about ancient egyptian slaves..which of course gives me a story idea *bats down the ideas..too many stories as it is lol* but alas nothing about African province that supplied 1/3 of the slaves. Closest I have come was finding out that 1/3 Senegram's population was slaves..

[Vekseid]

Okay, I did find an Internet source
This one says 30%

Others say a third, one of the books I had said it might have been up to a half.

What is modern-day Nigeria was once known as the Kingdom of Benin or Benin Empire, which should not be confused with the country of Benin.

Someone else's question-time :-p

[Vekseid]

More specifically, she is called the Lady of Ephesus.

I had to guess that their collapse resembled a Volcano :-p Sherona can be more specific.

I am splitting the question topic into various categories, I'll let someone else ask one in History & Myth here

[Sherona]

*claps* Yaay History and Myth. *will give someone else a chance to ask a question, though won't wait for long

[Vekseid]

Uhm... how did Catherine the Great (Tzarina) die?

Catherine has a lot of legends about her death but according to Wikipedia she died of a stroke in her bathroom : )

[Vekseid]

What well-known culture's creation myth features a cow that licks the gods into being?

[Elandra]

Norse mythology and a cow named Audhumla. Who would have thunk it.

[Valerian]

Ooh, history....

Who was the Black Prince, and why was his death significant to the course of English history?

[Sherona]

Without looking it up,

The black prince was Prince Edward. He was knighted by his ather and took part in many many military campaigns, one of which was the battle of Poitiers (Spelling?) An important battle int he 100 years war.

His death was during the The Great Parlaiment (again spelling?) and he encouraged attacking Lancaster's influence in Parliament..

I need to go look this up to be certain of these facts..

[Elvi]

The Prince who never became King. (14th century)
(He would have been Edward IV, but died before his Father Edward III)

He was a great Millitery leader and captured the French King at the Battle of Poitiers, then lead the expedition to Spain to free the Spanish King, caught an illness there and died before his father at the age of about 45(?)

He was called the Black Prince not becasue he was 'evil', but because of the Black armour he wore.

[Valerian]

Well, between the two of you, you hit all the highlights.   

Traditionally his nickname is supposed to be from his black armor, though apparently the name wasn't used during his lifetime.  Another theory is that the French called him that because he was so effective in battle against them.

And because of his early death, his son, Richard II, was only ten when he took the throne (though he almost certainly would have been a weak king no matter what his age), allowing the nobles to gain extra power, and eventually to depose him and help set the stage for the Wars of the Roses in the 15th century.  And I could talk about the Wars of the Roses all day...

[Sherona]

*grins* I need to do a thorough search on him..sounds a peach of a guy. I just remember vaguely hearing about him in my World Civ class my freshman year of high school..

[Elvi]

The Victorians, as with many parts of our History, romanticised The Prince of Wales, Prince Edward, by calling him the 'Black Prince'. That is also how the 'War of the Roses' so became named.

And the Boy King, Richard II had a lot on his plate, the poor bugger.
Not only did he have to try and trust those around him (he became King at the age of 10), to guide him in the right direction, but he also had to deal with the Black plague and all that entailed.
Poor bugger didn't stand a chance....

[Valerian]

Yeah, and Richard somehow ended up far too refined and scholarly to be a king in an era when prowess in battle was everything.  He really never stood a chance...

His father was apparently fairly honorable, though ruthless when he needed to be, and I've often wondered what sort of a king he would have made.  Like Richard the Lion-Hearted, maybe, always running from one battle to another and hardly bothering even to visit England...

[MadPanda]

Ah, you mean the guy who spent only six months out of a ten-year reign in England?  And yet somehow ended up this great English king?  We are talking the same man who ended up getting killed whilst attacking one of his own vassals (over, I think, a pile of gold that didn't exist, but Elvi will know better).

:)

Okay, okay, in comparison with Prince (and later King) John 'Lackland', he probably looked pretty good.  Plus Anthony Hopkins played him in The Lion In Winter.

Although in all candor you can't help but feel a bit sorry for these guys.  When your dad is Henry II and your mom is Eleanor of Aquitaine, you're bound to grow up with a few unresolved issues.

[Valerian]

Yep, someone who was supposed to be swearing fealty to Richard didn't, and he went to beseige the place and managed to die of some sort of infection after he carelessly went out without his armor and got himself shot by a crossbow bolt.  And there were rumors of a cache of Roman gold around, which may certainly have been an extra enticement to go beat the crap out of the poor rebellious lord.  Heh.

There's an excellent book called Warriors of God, dealing mainly with Richard in the Crusades and comparing him to Saladin, the Islamic hero who managed to kick him out of the middle east.

And Henry was kind of scary, yeah...

[MadPanda]

(scratches chin)

The Plantagenets as a whole were a major piece of work, especially the last couple.  Poor Henry VI shoulda been a shopkeeper.  He'd have been happier.  Most of Richard II's problems, none of Richard II's personal charisma...

[Valerian]

I have to admit to a sneaking admiration for Edward IV, but I think that's mainly because I first read about him as an impressionable child.  Heh.  But yeah, they all seemed to have problems living up to the family reputation, whatever they felt that might be.  All the pressure must have worn them out.

Henry VI quite probably suffered from catatonic schizophrenia, as far as we can guess from this distance, and he was certainly too spiritual to be the forceful king that the Lancastrians needed just then.

And to bring back the questions to the question thread: What was the fate of Henry VI's son?

[MadPanda]

Executed after the battle of...uhm...damn.  Not Towton...I've got the Osprey book on the battle at home.  Tewkesbury?

Anyway, he was captured after the battle and summarily executed.  Messy business all around...which is a pity, because he might have made a decent king.

[Sherona]

Due to a poor choice in marriage (atleast according to nobility) he was ran out and king Henry VI was set up as a puppet king once more until he came back.

Their two armies clashed at Tewkesbury on 4th May 1471. Edward, the Lancastrian Prince of Wales, was killed either in battle or during its aftermath, contemporary accounts conflict on the point, some stating he was killed in 'plain battle', others claiming he was taken prisoner and murdered after the battle by Edward IV, his brother Richard of Gloucester and Edward's favourite, Lord Hastings.


http://www.englishmonarchs.co.uk/plantagenet_11.htm

[Sherona]

Question


A Noble person who some accredited to being the inspiration of Brom Stoker's Dracula. No I am not talking about Vlad Drakula of Transelvania either :)