History

ggmae

N gave me a history lesson last night of several Middle Eastern countries and it got me thinking -

If you could go back in time and witness first-hand one major event, what would it be and why?

sarah0725

I'd like to witness the carving of this sculpture, the Laocoon:



Officially, it's classified as a "Roman marble copy of a lost Greek original" by some unknown Roman sculptor, but there are a lot of conspiracy theories, my favorite being that Michelangelo carved it as a deliberate forgery of a classical statue, then buried it in a place where it would be likely to be found soon. It's my favorite art historical mystery, and I'd love to know the answer.

Either that, or I'd like to live in Liverpool before the Beatles were really famous, so I could be one of their fans from the Cavern Club.

[Deleted User]

The Trojan War, for a few reasons:
1, because I absolutely love Greek and Roman history
2, to determine once and for all whether or not it actually happened (since there is such a debate over that)
3, to find out the actual location of the war and then go excavate the site (I did a paper on 1 location that's thought to be the site and I wonder if tthe guy was right)
4, to watch the whole Trojan horse fiasco in wonder, I absolutely love that part
5, to see if Helen really deserves the title of "the face that launched 1,000 ships." Really, how beautiful was she?

MarriedInAFever

I would like to witness the civil rights struggle because the real struggle is difficult to fathom and I think it's important to understand.

sarahmk5

Germany in the Weimar period (post WWI, pre Hitler).  It had such an amazing cultural revolution then, and I'd love to be able to experience it.

BecW2be

I'd like to go back in time to 2007 to start dating and marry the dude who invented silly bandz in 2008.

shellydiane820

That's tough.  Hmmm...I'd like to see something that is probably boring but has affected everyone.  Like the creation of peanut butter or something.

526SadieSadie

i have a history degree, it's pretty much all I ever read about, fiction isn't anywhere near as entertaining as things that actually happened.  I'd be happy going back to any time period, to witness anything. 
For the purposes of this question, I'm going to say Salem, MA, 1692.

If anyone likes history, particularly women's history, or Euro history, I highly reccommend Eleanor Herman's Sex with the Queen.  It's fantastic.

ohwhynot

What a cool question.  I'd love to see any of the 7 wonders of the ancient world, but on a more frivolous note I want to be a guest at the wedding of Grace Kelly and the Prince of Monaco.

GreenPepperBurger

I'd love to witness the invasion of Normandy.

missy68

I would like to be alive when Claude Monet was painting, before he was going blind (and maybe even then, too). I would love to learn to paint from him.

shellydiane820

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_history?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:17Discussion:891fcb36-6ef6-47b4-920f-93d4d01cc676Post:0a2aa13e-363e-4fc0-b4c6-a1d306b3bffe">Re: History</a>:
[QUOTE]Germany in the Weimar period (post WWI, pre Hitler).  It had such an amazing cultural revolution then, and I'd love to be able to experience it.
Posted by sarahmk5[/QUOTE]

I'm currently reading "Every Man Dies Alone" you should check it out, you'd like it.

sarahmk5

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_history?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:891fcb36-6ef6-47b4-920f-93d4d01cc676Post:31eddbbd-5b79-424f-b930-e098296e6b99">Re: History</a>:
[QUOTE]i have a history degree, it's pretty much all I ever read about, fiction isn't anywhere near as entertaining as things that actually happened.  I'd be happy going back to any time period, to witness anything.  For the purposes of this question, I'm going to say Salem, MA, 1692. If anyone likes history, <strong>particularly women's history, or Euro history,</strong> I highly reccommend Eleanor Herman's Sex with the Queen.  It's fantastic.
Posted by 526SadieSadie[/QUOTE]

<div>That may just cover my two favorite kinds of histories!  I'll be checking that out!</div>

AllAboutTheBenjamin

I don't know about certain events in history but I would have LOVED to live in the 60s and 70s.  Most of my favorite music is from that time.  I would just die to see like, I dunno, The Doors in concert or something.

My mom saw Led Zeppelin when she was in high school and when I found that out I freaked and asked her what it was like.  She goes, "Oh, he was alright."

...He?  *sigh*

sarahmk5

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_history?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:891fcb36-6ef6-47b4-920f-93d4d01cc676Post:792b8b20-f2c3-4307-b8ca-682e5646b4d6">Re: History</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: History : I'm currently reading "Every Man Dies Alone" you should check it out, you'd like it.
Posted by shellydiane820[/QUOTE]

<div>Will do.  Thanks!  Berlin Stories is a really good collection from around the Weimar time, if you're interested.  They're what inspired Cabaret.</div>

ggmae

(I'm still thinking! I know what N would want to see, but I never got a chance to think about it myself!)

ggmae

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_history?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:17Discussion:891fcb36-6ef6-47b4-920f-93d4d01cc676Post:cc36003c-40f1-4dd3-b676-b6733864fa1f">Re: History</a>:
[QUOTE]I don't know about certain events in history but I would have LOVED to live in the 60s and 70s.  Most of my favorite music is from that time.  I would just die to see like, I dunno, The Doors in concert or something. My mom saw Led Zeppelin when she was in high school and when I found that out I freaked and asked her what it was like.  She goes, "Oh, he was alright." <strong>...He?  *sigh*
</strong>Posted by AllAboutTheBenjamin[/QUOTE]



Haha!

betrothed123

This is a great question.  Too bad I don't have agreat answer.  There are so many things I'd like to see.  I can't pick just one.

luckyme502

The death and resurrection of Jesus. 

526SadieSadie

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_history?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:17Discussion:891fcb36-6ef6-47b4-920f-93d4d01cc676Post:be7fe8b8-9209-4146-97a6-e2de8939e6c8">Re: History</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: History : That may just cover my two favorite kinds of histories!  I'll be checking that out!
Posted by sarahmk5[/QUOTE]

OMG Sarah, it's really one of the best special histories I've ever read.  I also have Sex with Kings also by Herman but I haven't started it yet.  She gets into all of this intrigue and stuff but she also pays attention to how lonely these poor women were and how completely trapped they were. It's facinating.

AllAboutTheBenjamin

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_history?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:891fcb36-6ef6-47b4-920f-93d4d01cc676Post:8cafad93-4680-4ba9-b6ba-4eb688406cab">Re: History</a>:
[QUOTE]The death and resurrection of Jesus. 
Posted by luckyme502[/QUOTE]

...THAT is a really, really good one.

ohwhynot

It is an excellent question.  The really fascinating historical events, though, I don't think I could stand to witness:  they involve suffering, fear, and death.  It is horrible enough to imagine these things, but to actually stand there and bear witness . . . I couldnt' do it. 

NuggetBrain

I second Lucky's.

Nebb

I think I would like to go and see (british) royal weddings and coronations. I dont have any particular one I want to see more than another, i would just like to see all the old fashioned pomp and circumstance first hand. Anything earlier than the 1900's though.

ggmae

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_history?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:17Discussion:891fcb36-6ef6-47b4-920f-93d4d01cc676Post:84a6b117-6d35-48cf-a5ec-b4a014e66cd6">Re: History</a>:
[QUOTE]This is a great question.  Too bad I don't have agreat answer.  There are so many things I'd like to see.  I can't pick just one.
Posted by betrothed123[/QUOTE]

I give you permission to list them all. ;) <3

ggmae

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_history?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:17Discussion:891fcb36-6ef6-47b4-920f-93d4d01cc676Post:8cafad93-4680-4ba9-b6ba-4eb688406cab">Re: History</a>:
[QUOTE]The death and resurrection of Jesus. 
Posted by luckyme502[/QUOTE]

My husband said he'd like to see that too, as well as the Exodus.

ggmae

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_history?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:17Discussion:891fcb36-6ef6-47b4-920f-93d4d01cc676Post:c06acbc2-8d5c-4856-9281-7872c9749b33">Re: History</a>:
[QUOTE]It is an excellent question.  The really fascinating historical events, though, I don't think I could stand to witness:  they involve suffering, fear, and death.  It is horrible enough to imagine these things, but to actually stand there and bear witness . . . I couldnt' do it. 
Posted by ohwhynot[/QUOTE]

I understand what you mean, and agree. Do you have specific examples?

TurtlesAllTheWayDown

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_history?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:891fcb36-6ef6-47b4-920f-93d4d01cc676Post:08920d46-ba5a-491d-8224-f918e5609b24">Re: History</a>:
[QUOTE]I would like to be alive when Claude Monet was painting, before he was going blind (and maybe even then, too). I would love to learn to paint from him.
Posted by missy68[/QUOTE]

NPR is doing a series where they visit a bunch of places Monet (and other impressionists) painted. I think they're actually going to Giverny in the next installment.

TurtlesAllTheWayDown

This is really hard. And I'm a history major. Like Sarah, there are things that I wonder about - historical mysteries if you will. But I mainly study recent US history.

Also, the more I study history, the harder it is to romaticize it. Society, on the whole I think, really does move forward and become more open and accepting. I can tell you I would NOT want to live in seventeenth or eighteenth century Edinburgh, for example. Despite the cool people who lived during that time. Or pretty much any other European capital prior to 1900. Unsanitary conditions freak me out.

Right now I'm reading a book about all the events in 1959 that led to changes in American culture. I think I'd either like to live in NY or San Francisco in the 1950s and 1960s. NY - basically to witness music and art - jazz, adstract expressionism, pop art. I would have loved to be a part of Andy Warhol's factory in the mid 60s. In San Fransico I would have loved to be a regular at City Lights book store in the late 50s and be involved with the beats. Allen Ginsberg is my favorite poet.

Blueyed228

I would like to witness the Revolutionary War. 

526SadieSadie

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_history?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:17Discussion:891fcb36-6ef6-47b4-920f-93d4d01cc676Post:86faed33-fbd8-41c2-b629-a84497b5b2f5">Re: History</a>:
[QUOTE]I would like to witness the Revolutionary War. 
Posted by Blueyed228[/QUOTE]

the whole thing?  <img src="http://cdn.cl9.vanillaforums.com/downloaded/ver1.0/content/scripts/tinymce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-wink.gif" border="0" alt="Wink" title="Wink" />