Folks' Historical Interests

[Zibblsnrt]

I poked through the past several months of the archives and hadn't seen a general thread on the idea roughly since I showed up here, so I thought I'd throw the question out to you guys.

What're folks' particular interests/preferences/want-to-know-about-but-don't-yets as far as history goes? I figure it's useful both as a general conversation starter, and it'd also help for anyone interested in threadstarting who stumbles across something a chunk of readers might find interesting, especially if they didn't know that interest existed.

Mine are all over the place, a mix of ancient (pre-Carolingian) and modern (twentieth century) history, "focused" in Europe, the Middle East, and North America, along with military history in general and a growing interest in social or religious history.

Rome (both Republic and Empire) is particularly big in my interests; I'm gaining an interest in Russian and Middle Eastern history (across the whole ancient-to-modern range). Being presented with the need to pick one topic for an MA project is, frankly, a vile, vile thing. ;)

Anyhow. Et vous?

[Protagonist]

I'm really into:

1) Ancient Greece (Particularly the Peloponnesian War)
2) The High Middle Ages/Early Renaissance
3) The mid-twentieth century.

[Danustouch]

1. Celtic Society's.
2. Colonial America
3. Native American History
4. History of Indigenous Cultures.
5. Civil War History
6. Revolutionary War History
7. Victorian History.

[Philosophia]

Mythology
Egypt (especially Amarna, Heiroglyphs, art, mathematics)
Elizabethan Age and Renaissance
Classic Greek and Rome (especially literature, art, philosophy and mathematics)
Celtic (especially Anglo Saxon history)
WW 1 & 2 (Holocaust and other conflicts)
China (I've just started learning about this)

On the history of particular topics, I love philosophy, art, literature, mathematics, and psychology.

[Morr]

~ Medieval Times.
~ Church History (0 - Today).
~ Irish Mythology and Ancient History.
~ History of Torture and Serial Killers (Especially Medieval Torture Methods, and Historical Killers, rather than Modern).

[Theres]

Greek history and art
Roman history
Greco/Roman numismatics
naval history, especially military
WW2

and more...

[Eventide]

1.Norse/Celtic Mythology and Arthurian legend
2.Ancient Celtic history (Picts, Celta, Celt-Iberians)
3.Ancient Roman history
4.Medieval history (between Antiquity and the Renaissance)
5.Canadian history
6.Religious History(ancient druidism, paganism, zoroastrianism, shamanism)
I am also interested in their timelines and cultural history.

7.Eurolinguistics--etymology is another that I research once in awhile.

[ap Dafydd]

Anything to do with Welsh history (obviously)
Popular custom and folk beliefs (especially the unauthorised version)
Radical and trade union history
History of the Celtic countries
Britain in the Heroic Age

gwyn eich byd

Ffred

[Dawa Lhamo]

Hmmm....

Linguistics and etymology
History of Missouri (at any point in time)
Late Medieval/Renaissance Europe
Harappan (Indus Valley) Civilization
Folklore, definitely

I would definitely like to learn more about all of the above. ^_^

[Djinn]

I just know I'm going to leave out something important, but here goes:

Roman history, particularly early Roman religion and Etruscan influences
Islamic history to the end of the Abbassid caliphate
Heian Japan
Early Christianity to c. 400
France, from Francis I to Louis XV

[Zibblsnrt]

I just know I'm going to leave out something important, but here goes:

Pft, I realized a big pile of stuff I left out immediately after posting. A comprehensive list would go on for ages.

It's great to see so many of the interests are so eclectic, though. I expected a tighter focus on most people, and I'm pleasantly surprised to see I was mistaken in doing so. :)

[Driffinna]

Norse / Iceland / Sweden/ Scandinavia in general
Germans/Celts/teutons during Prehistory, during the roman empire, and middle ages
Sami
Inuit
Japanese
The cultures that up until very recently were still (or in some cases still are) hunters and gathers such as the !Kung, Aborigines, mabuti (Pygmies), etc.

Really just anthropology in general, whether it be about prehistoric people, or society today.

[Tulip Tree]

I can't choose a specific time period or region. I like to read about major events and their affect on everyday life. In fact, I love learning about the everday life of any historical period.

1. Ancient Architecture/Massive stone monuments: the cultures that created them
2. Regions affected by Plague: cultural study before, during and after.
3. Regions affected by Revolution or Invasion: cultural study before, during and after.
4. Historical True Crime (the recent stuff is too scary)
5. Folk tales or what I consider to be people's real, everyday beliefs.
6. The real person behind the hero, king, or demi-god.

[Agaliha]

:bumpsmili

Mythology and lore & religion in general
Ancient Egypt (A life long interest, started when I was 6-ish)
Rome (the Vestal Virgins, the persecution of the Christians, all the scandals and wacko Emporers :lol: etc)
Women in religion (from nuns to temple 'prostitutes')
Prehistory (all the way from A. Afarensis to H. Sapiens)
Queen Zenobia of Palmyra, her rule and her Empire.
Early Christianity (marytrs, saints, how things came to be, etc) I've been facinated with Saints Perpetua and Felicitas for some time now. Philomena too.
Symbols, linguistics, etc
Vedic times, India & Hinduism. Parts of Asia too.
Hmmmm. I'm forgetting some! :awilly:

[Maggie]

I'm tangential towards history. I'm not interested in the politics so much as I am in the ordinary things--history of art, history of handcrafts, history of celebrations, migrations and the effects on people, etc. I do have a rough area of interest, Euroasia and northern Europe.

[Brightshores]

Yay - thanks for bumping this, Agaliha!

In some vague approximation of order of importance, my interests are:

Medieval Studies (fall of Rome through 1450 or so)
Ancient Mediterranean studies (from Neolithic times through Classical Era)
Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe
History of spirituality and religions (all religions)
Renaissance through Early Modern Europe (pre-industrial)
Native American history
Mythology (particularly Greco-Roman and Celtic)
Paleoanthropology (does that count as history?)
Women's history

In general, though, I find just about all history interesting, and will happily read up on almost any place, culture, or historical period. I'm not nearly as drawn to American History, though (particularly the Civil War and WWII) simply because I had to take so many classes in those areas through the years, that I've just had about enough of it. :) I also love art history, music history, history of literature, and history of philosophy.

[Laoghaire]

Great topic!!

- Egyptian society and religion. Also the architecture fascinates me. The position form the pyramids to the stars for example.
- Celtic society and religion. And that starts very early, until now. At this moment, the languages fascinate me most.
- Medieval European times. Especially Burgundy (How do you write that in English??). And the relationship throughout time between Belgium and the Netherlands.
- Early Renaissance in Italy. The Medici's. Especially the paintings, just like the Flemish Primitives. Oh my, I just love them!
- The time of the Inquisition. Wrote a work on that... Especially the stories behind all those burned men and women.
- Scottish history, the time of Bonnie Prince Charlie (Thank you Gabaldon)
- Victorian society. Especially the writers... Mmm, Oscar Wilde.
- The Belle Epoque in Belgium and close to that, the First World War.

And... Fashion from all periods... I'm still looking for some good sites... *hint*

[forestrangergrrl]

i like anything up until around the victorian times. anything and everything basically.
but... if i absolutely had to choose just a few areas it would be celtic history, 'cradle of civilization' type history, and early american history focusing on late 18th to early 19th centuries.
but really, i'm fascinated by history and cultures in general...