Divinity Atlas
Things this atlas does not know. Each entry is a question that specialists
have posed and not settled, recorded with what would actually resolve it and which
expertise the answer needs.
These are kept deliberately, rather than quietly omitted. An atlas that shows
only what it is sure of implies a confidence it has not earned, and the gaps are often where
the interesting work is. Several sit exactly where two fields fail to meet: identifying the
hyssop of the Hebrew Bible needs a botanist and a philologist of Biblical Hebrew, and neither
one settles it alone.
You can send evidence on some of these. A pilot is open on 55 questions in one field, Palaeography. Each says what would resolve it; send something that meets that bar, with a source anybody can check, and an editor will weigh it. Sending evidence does not guarantee the question will be resolved, and it does not have to be your field to read what is being asked. See what is open.
Grouped by the field an answer needs. A question sitting between two disciplines appears under both, which is why the group counts add up to more than the number of questions.
Filter By Specialty 99 fields
Showing 541 to 560 of 781 open questions, page 28 of 40.
Not Yet Classified 508
Seti I
Where was Seti I born?
Open Seti I
Why It Is Open Like nearly every pharaoh of the New Kingdom, Seti I's birth was not the subject of any surviving record; his father's military family had roots near Avaris in the north eastern Nile Delta, but that is the origin of the Ramesside line rather than a record of Seti's own birthplace specifically.
What Would Settle It An inscription or administrative record naming his birthplace directly, which no source recovered to date supplies.
Expertise Needed Egyptology; New Kingdom administrative history
Question posed in
Divinity Atlas Open Questions Register, First Edition.
Euclid
Where was Euclid born?
Open Euclid
Why It Is Open Euclid is known almost entirely through his mathematical works and a handful of later, largely legendary anecdotes; no ancient source states where he was born, and even his activity at Alexandria is inferred from the school he founded there rather than from a personal record.
What Would Settle It A Hellenistic record naming his origin, which no papyrus or inscription recovered so far supplies.
Expertise Needed History of Hellenistic mathematics; classical scholarship; papyrology
Question posed in
Divinity Atlas Open Questions Register, First Edition.
Ptolemy
Where was Ptolemy born?
Open Ptolemy
Why It Is Open Ptolemy's entire attested career was at Alexandria, where he made his astronomical observations, but no ancient source records where he was born; a medieval Arabic tradition names Ptolemais Hermiou in Upper Egypt, unsupported by any earlier source and generally doubted by modern historians of science.
What Would Settle It A Hellenistic or early Roman record naming his birthplace directly, independent of the later Arabic tradition.
Expertise Needed History of ancient astronomy; classical scholarship
Question posed in
A History of Western Astrology, Nicholas Campion.
Eusebius of Caesarea
Where was Eusebius of Caesarea born?
Open Eusebius of Caesarea
Why It Is Open Eusebius spent nearly all of his career at Caesarea Maritima, and scholars generally assume this was also his birthplace, but no ancient source states it directly; the assumption rests on where he later lived and worked rather than on a record of his birth.
What Would Settle It A contemporary or near contemporary source naming his birthplace independent of his adult career.
Expertise Needed Patristics; early church history
Question posed in
The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 3rd revised edition, F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone (eds.).
Brenda J. Dunne
Where was Brenda Dunne born?
Open Brenda J. Dunne
Why It Is Open Dunne's education and long career at Mundelein College, the University of Chicago and the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research laboratory are well documented, but no obituary or profile located names her birthplace.
What Would Settle It An obituary, biographical profile or public record naming her birthplace; she died in 2022, so a fuller obituary or family record may yet surface.
Expertise Needed Biographical research; parapsychology history
Question posed in
Divinity Atlas Open Questions Register, First Edition.
Moses Cordovero
Where was Moses Cordovero born?
Open Moses Cordovero
Why It Is Open His surname reflects his family's presumed origin among the Jews expelled from Cordoba in 1492, but that is an inference from the family name, not a birth record; his entire documented life took place in Safed, where he led the kabbalistic academy that counted Isaac Luria among its students.
What Would Settle It A contemporary document or family record naming his actual birthplace, which no source recovered to date supplies.
Expertise Needed Jewish studies; history of Kabbalah; Sephardic genealogy
Question posed in
Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2nd edition, Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik (eds.).
Nehunya ben HaKanah
Where was Nehunya ben HaKanah born?
Open Nehunya ben HaKanah
Why It Is Open He is known only from Mishnaic sayings, the Talmudic frame story of the four who entered the orchard, and later mystical works pseudonymously attributed to him; no ancient source records a hometown or birthplace for him.
What Would Settle It A Tannaitic era record naming his origin, which the Mishnah, the Talmud and modern scholarship alike do not supply.
Expertise Needed Rabbinic studies; history of Jewish mysticism
Question posed in
Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism, Gershom Scholem.
Shimon bar Yochai
Where was Shimon bar Yochai born?
Open Shimon bar Yochai
Why It Is Open He is documented studying under Akiva in Judea and later teaching in the Galilee, including at Tekoa, Tiberias and Meron, but no source, including Encyclopaedia Judaica's own detailed account, records the specific place of his birth.
What Would Settle It A Tannaitic era record naming his birthplace directly, distinct from the places he later studied and taught.
Expertise Needed Rabbinic studies; history of the Zohar and Jewish mysticism
Question posed in
Divinity Atlas Open Questions Register, First Edition.
Duke of Zhou
Where was the Duke of Zhou born?
Open Duke of Zhou
Why It Is Open He is documented as the fourth son of King Wen and brother of King Wu, later given the fief of Zhou near present day Qishan, Shaanxi, but no Zhou era or Han era source states where he was personally born, and the fief he is named for was granted only after the conquest of Shang.
What Would Settle It A Western Zhou era inscription or record naming his birthplace, which no bronze inscription or transmitted text recovered so far supplies.
Expertise Needed Early Chinese history; Western Zhou archaeology and epigraphy
Question posed in
Divinity Atlas Open Questions Register, First Edition.
Bilge Khagan
Where was Bilge Khagan born?
Open Bilge Khagan
Why It Is Open The Orkhon inscriptions and Chinese Tang era records document his genealogy, birth name, year of birth and campaigns in detail, but no surviving text ties his birth to a place; a nomadic steppe khaganate kept no fixed birth records tied to a settlement.
What Would Settle It A steppe or Chinese record naming a specific birth site, which the Orkhon inscriptions and Tang annals alike do not supply.
Expertise Needed Central Asian history; Turkic epigraphy
Question posed in
Orkhon inscriptions (the Kul Tigin and Bilge Khagan steles), Anonymous (Old Turkic royal inscription).
Bogu Khagan
Where was Bogu Khagan born?
Open Bogu Khagan
Why It Is Open What is documented is his lineage within the Yaghlakar clan, his accession in 759, and his role in suppressing the An Lushan rebellion and adopting Manichaeism; no Uyghur, Chinese or Sogdian source ties his birth to a specific place.
What Would Settle It A Uyghur, Chinese or Sogdian record naming a specific birth site, which none of the surviving sources on his reign supplies.
Expertise Needed Central Asian history; history of Manichaeism
Question posed in
Encyclopedia of Mongolia and the Mongol Empire, Christopher P. Atwood.
Camillus
Where was Camillus born?
Open Camillus
Why It Is Open Modern references converge on an approximate birth year around 446 to 445 BC and note his patrician family's ancestral association with the city of Tusculum, but that is lineage, not a stated birthplace; he is known only through Livy's history, written more than three centuries after his lifetime.
What Would Settle It A source earlier or independent of Livy's annalistic tradition naming his birthplace, which none survives.
Expertise Needed Roman history; early Republic historiography
Question posed in
Divinity Atlas Open Questions Register, First Edition.
Kartir
Where was Kartir born?
Open Kartir
Why It Is Open His own inscriptions at Naqsh-e Rajab, Naqsh-e Rostam and Sar Mashhad, the only sources for his biography, describe his career and titles under Ardashir I through Bahram II but never state where he was born.
What Would Settle It A Sasanian era inscription or record naming his origin, which none of his own surviving inscriptions supplies.
Expertise Needed Sasanian history; Zoroastrian studies; Middle Persian epigraphy
Question posed in
Sasanian Persia: The Rise and Fall of an Empire, Touraj Daryaee.
Mursili II
Where was Mursili II born?
Open Mursili II
Why It Is Open What is documented is his parentage (son of Suppiluliuma I and Queen Henti) and his military annals; Hittite royal records name where kings ruled and campaigned but do not record where royal children were born.
What Would Settle It A Hittite administrative or annalistic record naming his birthplace, which none of the surviving Hittite archives supplies.
Expertise Needed Hittitology; ancient Near Eastern history
Question posed in
Hittite Prayers, Itamar Singer; Harry A. Hoffner Jr. (ed.).
Suryavarman II
Where was Suryavarman II born?
Open Suryavarman II
Why It Is Open His biography is generally treated by historians as beginning with his violent seizure of the throne in 1113, since nothing reliable is known of his origin or early life; a Wikipedia infobox names Angkor, but its own body text and citation do not support this as a birth record.
What Would Settle It An inscription or contemporary record naming his birthplace, independent of the assumption that a king born to rule at Angkor was born there.
Expertise Needed Khmer history; Angkorian epigraphy
Question posed in
Divinity Atlas Open Questions Register, First Edition.
Niceta of Remesiana
Where was Niceta of Remesiana born?
Open Niceta of Remesiana
Why It Is Open What is documented is his episcopal career at Remesiana from around 366 to his death around 414 and his missionary work among the Bessi; no ancient source records where he was born, and his frequently cited Dacian, Dardanian, Thracian or Gothic background is a modern guess from his diocese, not a birth record.
What Would Settle It A fourth or fifth century record, such as a letter of Paulinus of Nola not yet examined for this detail, naming his birthplace directly.
Expertise Needed Patristics; late antique Balkan history
Question posed in
Divinity Atlas Open Questions Register, First Edition.
Osei Tutu
Where was Osei Tutu born?
Open Osei Tutu
Why It Is Open His life before becoming chief of Kwaman rests entirely on Asante oral tradition; various accounts guess at Kokofu Anyinam, Akrokerri or an Akuapem shrine, but these read as retellings without a documented basis rather than competing scholarly claims.
What Would Settle It A documented oral tradition or record traceable to a named source, treated critically, distinguishing his birthplace from his later seat of rule at Kwaman.
Expertise Needed Asante history; African oral tradition studies
Question posed in
Encyclopaedia Britannica: Verified Biographies (online academic reference), Encyclopaedia Britannica editors.
Karen King
Where was Karen King born?
Open Karen King
Why It Is Open Her birth date and the fact that she was raised in Sheridan, Montana, are documented across her Harvard biography and press profiles, but every one of those sources describes Sheridan as where she was raised, not where she was born.
What Would Settle It A memoir, interview or public statement from Karen King herself naming her actual birthplace.
Expertise Needed Biographical research
Question posed in
Encyclopaedia Britannica (online academic reference), Encyclopaedia Britannica editors.
Lawrence Principe
Where was Lawrence Principe born?
Open Lawrence Principe
Why It Is Open His education, career and awards are extensively documented, but none of his dedicated institutional profiles states a birthplace; a vague "born in northern New Jersey" claim recurs in aggregator sites with no named source behind it.
What Would Settle It An interview, memoir or institutional biography from Johns Hopkins or the Science History Institute naming his actual birthplace.
Expertise Needed Biographical research
Question posed in
Encyclopaedia Britannica (online academic reference), Encyclopaedia Britannica editors.
Leonard Horowitz
Where was Leonard Horowitz born?
Open Leonard Horowitz
Why It Is Open His birth year and professional credentials are widely documented, but no source found, including his own author biography pages, states where he was born.
What Would Settle It A biographical profile or public statement from Leonard Horowitz naming his birthplace.
Expertise Needed Biographical research
Question posed in
Leonard Horowitz (reference article), SourceWatch contributors.