Tests

In 1797, the former Jesuit Abbot Barruel published four volumes in London and explained the French Revolution as a conspiracy of philosophers, masons, and Bavarian Illuminati. His interpretation of events is still read today. The trick is that some of his plots are confirmed by documents, while others he invented himself, and they sound equally convincing. Here are ten statements about lodges and the revolution. Separate truth from fiction and find out if you would have believed the abbot.

If the Russian fin de siècle had a face, it would be the year 1905. We know it by Bloody Sunday, the battleship Potemkin, and the October Manifesto. But this year was broader than its symbols: behind each familiar image lies another story, about people whom history preferred to forget, about the price that is not customary to count, and about memory that is difficult to distinguish from myth. Take the test and find out if you know the real 1905—or just its textbook portrait.

Ancient literature is the foundation of the entire European cultural tradition. It has given us heroic epics, tragedies and comedies, philosophical dialogues, and the first literary theories. This test will help you assess how well you know the works, authors, and key ideas of antiquity.

If you lived in the Age of Enlightenment, you would surely be debating freedom of speech, equality, and morality by candlelight in a Parisian salon. But whose ideas would you defend to the end? Take the test and find out who is hidden within you: the rebel Voltaire, the dreamer Rousseau, the jurist Montesquieu, or the strict judge of reason Kant.

The ideas of the Enlightenment always sparked heated debates, and many, while accepting certain elements of the era's worldview, decisively rejected others. Where is your limit of Enlightenment? Take the test and find out who you resemble more: the reactionary de Maistre, the conservative Burke, the religious philosopher Hamann, or the romantic nationalist Herder.

Gladiators became one of the symbols of Ancient Rome. Answer eight questions and find out which type of arena warrior suits you best!