text: It's the middle of the night and you find yourself on the square of what seems to be a fairly large city. There is much activity around you at this early hour. Coming your direction is a group of people seemingly running for their lives. You quickly move aside to let them pass. They scream and shout in panic, an elderly woman in a silk dress even grabs you by your shirt, desperate, pleading and tears in her eyes. It seems she wants you to help her, but you don't understand what she wants. It doesn't take long for you to find out what they are running from: behind them carrying torches are scruffy men, wearing knee-length leather tunics caught in at the waist by belts. Some wear plated tunics, others just made of linen. Among these fierce warriors you can also distinguish men dressed in chainmail and helmets. Once on the square you see the people disperse to the surrounding streets. The woman grasping your shirt is soon knocked down by what seems to be a slave and after having pushed you away brutally with a curse is dragged away violently. You see the scruffy men barge into houses and others coming out again with all kinds of valuables in their arms. Those that don't find any loot set the building on fire in frustration. Vandals in the distance crawl upon the statue of a 25 foot Roman Emperor and tie a rope around its neck before pulling it down. It crashes to the ground and breaks into a number of pieces to the cheers of the intoxicated thugs.
  
  You probably have already guessed where you are dear contestant: you are in Rome in 410 A.D. As you can see it is being pillaged, ransacked and destroyed. If I were you, I would get out of here as soon as possible...it's pure chaos around you - lawlessness reigns. You can either run for your life - as most of the Roman inhabitants - or answer me the following question: Rome was sacked a few times during its long history as capital of the Roman Republic, Roman Empire and even after...but which people NEVER sacked Rome ?
  
  Before you answer though, grab that silk tunic off the ground that the Roman woman left behind at your feet when she was dragged away by her former slave. Your shirt is dirty, torn and looks like that of a beggar. This over-tunic will hide the rags you are wearing and keep you warm at the same time ;-)
  
  > The Huns
  Once again that is 100% correct! Although Attila the Hun, also known as "The Scourge of God" was planning on marching onto Rome in 452 A.D., he was supposedly convinced to leave Italy by Pope Leo I. After having been halted in his conquest of Gaul by General Aetius at the battle of Chalons the year before, Attila retook the initiative in the next year and invaded Italy in order to claim his marriage to Honoria, the sister of the Western Roman Emperor. One Italian city after the other in northern Italy fell to the maurauding Huns and the Western Emperor was unable to raise an army on time to stop them. Attila halted at the Po river, whereupon Emperor Valentinian III sent three envoys to negotiate with the Hun leader - one of them was Pope Leo I. The pope was able to convince Attila not only of refraining to march upon Rome but also to leave Italy altogether. What convinced Attila to do this is uncertain, disease had broken out in the Hunnic ranks, food shortages on the Italian countryside as well as a handsome bribe have been suggested by historians, but it probably was a mixture of them all. Added to this was the fact that an Eastern Roman Army was on the Danube about to fall upon Attila's home territory...
  
  Well, well, you made it through again time traveler. Let me get you out of Rome and out of sight of these 'barbarians' before you get hurt...But, no sobbing, you will be visiting Rome soon enough again, that is, if you make it past the next destination of course!
  
  > Off you are...
  You've ended up in northern India in 521 B.C.
  
  You are standing in the suburbs of the city Rajgir, capital city of the kingdom of the Magadha. The sun is shining, it is dry and the temperature is very agreeable. Around you, people are going about their daily chores and business. You hear local traders arguing for the best deals, a musician playing his flute for a coin, you see artisans proudly showing their wares and farmers selling their cows and goats. And then there are the regular passer-by's, rich and poor folk, on foot or on carriage, that simply need to follow the sandy street in order to get to their destination. Ahead of you, you notice a small group of people standing around a man in his early forties. It seems as if he is teaching them something. In any case, they look up to him with much interest and respect. Others of his group are begging for food and when they receive it, thank them with a kind smile and warm handshake of utmost appreciation. It is apparent that these men are Buddhist monks. Carrying nothing along but their toga's and a small sack, these men must live off the donations given by the people around them. Suddenly the crowd disperses in fright, there are screams and panic as an elephant suddenly erupts onto the street. It charges forward without heed for anything or anyone, destroying a shop and almost trampling an old man in the process. For one reason or another this huge animal is on a rampage...and it's headed towards you!
  
  Hurry traveler, answer me this question before you get squashed by this 5 ton giant! This elephant is heading straight for the leader of the monks a little ahead of you. This man is no other than Gautama Buddha, the founder of the Buddhist religion. Do you know under which ancient religion Gauthama was raised as a child, before becoming a Buddhist?
  
  > Hinduism
  In fact, Hinduism did not exist in Buddha's time. The term Hindu is actually a 12th century term given by the Muslims during their conquest of the Indian continent to those that worshipped neither Buddhism nor Jainism. Hinduism finds its roots in the old Vedic religion of India and it's under this belief that Siddharta Gautama grew up in. Around the 6th century B.C., the Vedic religion split up in Jainism, Buddhism and then Hinduism as we know it today. So in fact, you are right again! Siddharta Gautama was born in a wealthy and renown family in Nepal around 563 B.C. His father was the leader of the Shakya clan and they practiced the old Vedic religion which would later be called Hinduism. Hinduism is therefore one of the oldest religions of the world. It includes a wide spectrum of laws and philosophies on "daily morality" based on karma (that which brings forth cause and effect), dharma (the law which upholds or maintain the universe) and yogas (the methods or paths to attain something). The main God of the Hindus is the supreme being Vishnu. He/she is describes as having a blue complexion and four arms. Vishnu incarnates on earth from time to time, as an avatar, to eradicate evil forces, to restore dharma and to liberate the worthy ones from the cycle of births or deaths. The main Hindu text is the Rigveda and it contains several mythological accounts of the origin of the world, hymns praising the gods and ancient prayers for life, health, prosperity etc...
  
  Let's get you away from the rampaging elephant before you end up on the end of his tusks or crushed under his foot. I still only have two more destinations for you contestant. Are your ready for your next trip? This one I promised you earlier on: Rome!
  
  > Off to Ancient Rome...
  You find yourself in what seems to be a gloomy, cool tunnel. In the distance, you hear a multitude of muffled voices. Ahead of you at what seems to be a junction is a lightsource coming from a pathway to your right. You head towards it and when you look to your right, stumble upon three Roman guards. They are standing on a slight slope leading up to a gate through which daylight shines through. The Roman guards are surprised to see you standing there and approach you. They ask you questions, but you are unable to answer as your latin is not so fluent to say the least. The gate in front of you slowly starts rising whereupon one of the guards, clearly irritated by your silence, grabs you by your shoulder and brutally pushes you forward towards the gate to join the other people standing there. You soon find yourself bringing up the rear of a dozen people dressed in regular Roman clothing. Greeted by the daylight as you pass the gate you find yourself in what seems to be an arena. There must be a thousand people sitting around the arena, greeting you with exclamations and yells as your group appears. The people you are following are distinctively worried, if not scared. Some pray devoutly or sing hymns others yet, are weeping. There are a few women, but most people in your group are made up of men anywhere between 15 and 70 years old. Having arrived at the far edge of the sandy arena, a deathly silence falls over the arena...a frightening foreboding of what is to happen. From out of a few holes in the ground suddenly lions appear. First one, then two, three, four and finally five. The crowd on the tribunes cry out in a frenzy...and you know exactly why!
  
  As promised I've sent you to ancient Rome once again. This time, it's the year 64 A.D. and Emperor Nero reigns over the Roman Empire. It's september, and only a few months after the Great Fire. You are amongst the scapegoats of this tragedy: the Christians! Some Christians have already served as lighting for the sadistic Emperor, others have been crucified and you...will be thrown to the hungry lions...that is, unless you can answer the following question correctly: The Chirsitians were persecuted a number of times during the Roman Empire, under Emperor Nero, Decius, Diocletian and Galerius but do you when Christianity became the state religion of the Roman Empire?
  
  > After the Edict of Milan in 313 A.D.
  Wrong answer! The Edict of Milan granted all persons in the Roman Empire the freedom to worship the religion they pleased without fear of oppression. Previous edicts of toleration had been as short-lived as the regimes that sanctioned them, but this time the edict effectively established religious toleration. Although it made an end to the persecution of Christians and assured them legal rights, it did not make Christianity the state religion. The proclamation was the outcome of a political agreement concluded in Milan between Emperor Constantine I of the Western Roman Empire and Emperor Licinius of the Eastern Roman Empire in February 313 A.D.
  
  Unfortunately, you will not survive until 313 A.D. Within a few moments, the hungry lions will be upon you and your group. Even if you survive the feline dinner, I'm sure that the sadistic Emperor Nero and the blood hungry Roman populace will have another method to bring you to death, if not today, then certainly in the following days. Your journey through time ends here...