Wu Zixu (伍子胥) did not suggest the assassination. He helped Fu Chai (夫差), the King of Wu, by reforming their kingdom and building a formidable army. They defeated the Kingdom of Yue in the Battle of Fujiao (夫椒之战), and broke into the capital city of Yue. Gou Jian (勾践), the King of Yue, was trapped on the Kuaiji Mountain (会稽山) with his remaining force of 5000 soldiers.

At this point, Wu Zixu insisted on forming an alliance with the Kingdom of Qi, so they could wipe out the Kingdom of Yue and sentence the King of Yue to death. However, Gou Jian bribed Bo Pi (伯嚭), who managed the royal affairs in the Kingdom of Wu. Though Wu Zixu had more power in the kingdom, Bo Pi was much closer to the king.

Fu Chai was already content with the victory, so he followed Bo Pi's advice. Ignoring Wu Zixu's warning, Fu Chai accepted Gou Jian's surrender and withdrew from the Kingdom of Yue. Later, Bo Pi framed Wu Zixu and accused him of treason. Convinced by Bo Pi and deemed Wu Zixu guilty, Fu Chai sent Wu Zixu a sword and ordered him to commit suicide. Filled with anger, Wu Zixu took his own life.

In the end, Wu Zixu was correct. In 482 BC, Fu Chai defeated the Kingdom of Jin, the most powerful kingdom at the time. However, after Fu Chai brought most of his force to the war, the Kingdom of Wu was undefended. Gou Jian, after keeping his profile low for ten years, saw the opportunity and attacked the Kingdom of Wu. In 473 BC, Fu Chai was defeated in battle, and the Kingdom of Wu fell.

The pre-Julian Republican calendar (dating back to at least 183 BC) had twelve months; it was not solar like the Julian one (it was lunisolar, like most of the calendars of its time). They are asking about the calendar which preceded that one.

You're suggesting 12 months is a universal standard, when in reality, that only came about later. You can not disregard that which doesn't exist. It is Caesar who reformed the system to be more structured.

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Yeah bloomeries were the earliest type of iron smelting furnaces (it's in the name!) so I don't understand it either.

The king believed that Wu got embarrassed because of his advice not panning out and would sabotage the state to make it look like they couldn't succeed without him. The charge was that he was acting on his own interest, not the state's.

If you were an early 1800s agrarian far from urban life, what sort of personal hygiene did you practice? Please cover teeth, bathing, pooping and hair. I’ve read nothing about day to day hygiene.

This was actually just what the Russians did in the Brusilov offensive in 1916, where they dug hidden trenches towards the Austro-Hungarian trenches to insure that the soldiers did not have to cross a wide no mans land.

I'm not sure, but maybe one of the reasons why this succeeded was that there was no vigorous patrolling of no mans land by the Austro-Hungarian army. If you detect such trenches, you are warned that an attack is imminent and you can direct artillery towards it.

Saqqara is very underrated historic site (overshadowed by the Great pyramid). It is the first stepping stone for large scale pyramid building.

Would always recommend to visit Saqqara to any history lover who travels to Egypt. Glad to see the site is making breakthroughs.

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I started reading "The Japanese Myths" by Joshua Frydman.

What are some other good books about Japanese mythology?

Insecure politicians didn’t always love statues that looked too much like political enemies.

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I'm more confused with their idea about "blooming" because from what I can tell it's clearly an early smelting technique involving heating the ore to purify it while smashing it

What is reddits obsession with doomerism

Here are more detailed photos from the Facebook page of the archeological site https://www.facebook.com/100080444869192/posts/pfbid07fUcA5siZsxreas6E51yeZYYx1i8SoFVijz3Sf6V9WQ8HspUfciavbfKCmkGMFbbl/

Iusius and Tiberclaud.

Tunnels were very much used, generally to put explosives under defenses so the territory could be easily taken after the defenders were killed.

They weren't reliable though, because tunnel collapse was always a major risk, and defense in depth meant the enemy could pull back and make a new line of defense quicker than a massive tunnel could be made.

I always have trouble wrapping my brain around building cities on top of cities.

When we visited Seattle and took a tour, we went underground and saw all the structures that used to be above ground and were even still used when they rebuilt on top of it all. They even installed lights and glass in the walkways above so daylight would shine through.

It still trips me out to think about how people decide to just build on top of everything.

Anyone claiming the Romans invented iron is hardly worth debating history with in fairness.

there's many reasons why this wouldn't be practical, but for a start once your trench is within 50 yards of mine, how much further are you planning to dig?

Because anything within 40 yards, I can reliably toss hand grenades into your trench the whole time you're digging.

I appreciate how archaeologists keep pushing back the beginnings of human civilization. Take that, 6000-year Creationists!

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What's the real story of the early Roman calendar? (The one that began in March and ended in December.) They didn't actually disregard two whole months, did they?