Historic Kaleidoscope

15 Points Per Correct Answer - No time limit  

1. The Celtic tribes in Scotland were called Picti or Painted People by the Romans. Do you also know what colour they painted themselves? Blue Green Red Chalky White

2. The Chinese called their own Empire the Middle Kingdom. What did they mean by that? Kingdom right in the middle of barbarians in all wind directions Kingdom on its' way to Paradise on Earth Kingdom in between the Golden Age and an Age of Decay Kingdom of the Golden Mean in All Things

3. We are used to linking priests and church officals with the wearing of black. In the Middle Ages they didn't do so. They wore coloured dress like everybody else, though the colours may have been slightly mitigated. It was the mendicant orders that 'invented' colourless priest's uniforms. As their names sometimes betrays. Which of these four names of mendicant friars does not refer to the same group as the three others do? Friars Preachers Dominicans Greyfriars Blackfriars

4. On January the 8th 1815, a bloody and superfluous victory was won by an American general in a war for which the peace treaty had already been signed two weeks earlier. The general was called Jackson. Where was the battle ? Pensacola New Orleans Horseshoebend, Alabama Topeka

5. Of which Russian ruler was it said that he or she tried to make Germans or Englishmen of his subjects rather than Russians? Lenin Peter the Great Gorbatchov Catherine the Great

6. For precise measurements of small weights we use the term 'troy'. What is its' historic origin? Unit of weight current in the antique town of Troy Unit of weight current in the medieval town of Troyes in France It was first used by Heinrich Schliemann for the fine measurements of weight he had to carry out whe The word is linked to the idea of 'three' and is related to the Russian troika

7. The Biblical Story of Noah and the Flood is not a unique story historically. There is another story about survivors of a flood in another civilization. Which one? Sumerian Babylonian Hittites Assyrian

8. France is usually very proud of their 'fashion-designers'. Yet some of their great designers were actually born 'in the wrong country'. One of them was Pierre Cardin who was born outside France, where ? Venice, Italy Liege, Belgium Oran, Algeria Casablanca, Morocco

9. When Columbus 'discovered' America he was actually in the service of a King that was not his own King. Born in Genoa, he first had offered his services to the Portuguese King, but had finally found more support at the Spanish court. Who was the other explorer who did exactly the same thing? Bartholomeo Diaz Ferdinand Magellan Hernando de Soto Vasco da Gama

10. And well yes in June 1815, Copenhagen went to Brussels to take part in the Battle of Waterloo. But who or what was Copenhagen ? Napoleon's best gunsmith Wellington's Danish cook Napoleon's most experienced orderly The Duke of Wellington's horse