: Influenced by the Freemasons, the order used a hierarchical system of degrees and internal discipline to ensure secrecy.
The society did not last long. In , the Bavarian government, under Elector Karl Theodor, issued an edict banning secret societies.
: At its peak, the group had between 650 and 2,500 members, including notable figures like the writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The Suppression illiminate
The was founded on May 1, 1776, by Adam Weishaupt , a professor of law at the University of Ingolstadt.
: The group aimed to promote Enlightenment ideals, such as reason, secularism, and individual liberty , while opposing the powerful influence of the Roman Catholic Church and the state. : Influenced by the Freemasons, the order used
Weishaupt was banished from Bavaria, and after 1785, no historical records exist of the group's continued activities.
Illuminati | Facts, History, Suppression, & Conspiracy Theories : At its peak, the group had between
: Modern theories were largely popularized in the 1960s by writers Robert Wilson and Kerry Thornley , who wrote fake letters to magazines to satirize the era's paranoia—a prank that backfired and fueled real belief in a hidden cabal.