Deck 4: First Empires and Common Cultures in Afro-Eurasia 1250-325 Bce

Question 1

Which of the following reflects a way that the Persians integrated their multiethnic empire?

A) Persian administrators taught Old Persian to the local populations in order to create a common language for governmental affairs.
B) Local provinces were allowed to keep their own currency and standards of weights and measures in order to promote trade.
C) All subject peoples' beliefs and customs were respected and they were required only to give loyalty and pay tribute to the king.
D) All subject peoples were required to convert to Zoroastrianism,in order to create a common religion throughout the kingdom.

Answer 1

All subject peoples' beliefs and customs were respected and they were required only to give loyalty and pay tribute to the king.

Question 2

What was a consequence of dualism in Zoroastrian beliefs?

A) Many different gods fought with one another for human followers.
B) One god,Ahura Mazda,was worshipped by Persians; another,Ahriman,was worshipped by the conquered peoples.
C) Humans' choices between good and evil determined their reward or punishment in the afterlife.
D) Corpses had to be buried in bare earth so that they would decompose quickly and be reunited with the mother goddess,the consort of Ahura Mazda.

Answer 2

Humans' choices between good and evil determined their reward or punishment in the afterlife.

Question 3

Which of the following beliefs was reinforced by the visual propaganda of Persian architecture?

A) The empire as a homogenized state of people who had adopted Persian culture
B) The empire as heir to pastoral nomadic culture
C) The empire as a society of diverse and obedient peoples
D) The empire's use of terror to control local peoples

Answer 3

The empire as a society of diverse and obedient peoples

Question 4

Which of the following Persian innovations was most closely linked to improving agricultural production?

A) A canal linking the Red Sea to the Nile River
B) Satraps directly oversaw grain production.
C) Qanats increased the water supply for irrigation.
D) Harnesses for water buffalo allowed new plowing techniques.

Question 5

Which of the following reflects a similarity between the Persian and Vedic peoples' ideology of kingship?

A) Kings ruled under the mandate of heaven.
B) Both peoples' ideologies reflected their pastoral roots,with similar traditions of warrior and priestly classes.
C) Both peoples' ideologies reflected their need to conquer large territories to spread their cultures.
D) Kings were largely figureheads who ruled as puppets for the priestly class.

Question 6

In addition to climate change,which of the following was an important factor that challenged the foundations of states in the first millennium BCE?

A) Slavery
B) Military innovation
C) Literacy
D) Increased trade

Question 7

Which of the following is true of the Sea Peoples?

A) They were migrants from southeastern Africa who adopted boats as a primary means of transportation.
B) They disrupted the society of the Minoans,leading to the rise of the Mycenaeans.
C) They settled in northern Africa,from where they dominated the western Mediterranean Sea.
D) After conquering Egypt and northern Africa,they became known as the Carthaginians.

Question 8

Which of the following was a characteristic of the Neo-Assyrian administration?

A) People who lived in Assyria proper were heavily taxed and regulated in order to prevent rebellion.
B) People who lived in Assyria proper were forbidden from serving in political offices in order to prevent rival factions from emerging.
C) The conquered people who lived outside of Assyria were ruled directly by officials appointed by the king.
D) The conquered people who lived outside Assyria provided tribute that went to the king to support the court and the military.

Question 9

Which of the following demonstrates Cyrus the Great's policy toward conquered peoples?

A) Cyrus the Great relocated the Jews from Jerusalem to Babylon.
B) Cyrus the Great instituted a bureaucratic system based on central control in order to unify his realm.
C) Cyrus the Great claimed to liberate conquered peoples from the oppression of their own kings.
D) Cyrus the Great forced Persian traditions and customs on subject peoples.

Question 10

What factors led to the collapse of urban centers around 1200 BCE?

A) Administrative centers were unable to organize workers either for defense or canal repair.
B) New monotheistic religions cast doubt on traditional priesthoods,weakening support for urban centers.
C) Invaders from peripheral societies that were affected by climate change attacked urban centers.
D) Increased monsoon activity led to floods and crop failure.

Question 11

In what way did Darius I ensure that the satraps actually sent the central government the wealth of the peripheral provinces?

A) The satraps were required to leave close family members as hostages in Persepolis to ensure their good behavior.
B) The satraps were closely monitored by military officers,tax collectors,and the "eyes of the king."
C) The satraps were only appointed from the most highly respected men of their provinces.
D) The satraps could be enslaved if they failed to account for all taxes collected.

Question 12

Which of the following is an accurate statement about the role of women in Middle Assyrian society?

A) Women who served as support troops in the military were granted special privileges.
B) Veiled women were less restricted than in earlier Mesopotamian cultures and enjoyed special privileges protected by law.
C) Queens wielded considerable power behind the throne due to the independence granted to them.
D) Women had almost no control over their lives.

Question 13

Around 1200 BCE,which of the following was an effect of environmental change in the lands bordering the eastern Mediterranean?

A) Desperate farmers in the Indus River valley migrated westward,settling in Mesopotamia.
B) Decreased Nile flooding forced pharaohs to secure food supplies and repel invaders such as the Sea Peoples.
C) The Mycenaean Greeks used the warmer weather to increase exports of wine and olives.
D) The Hittites prospered because they controlled the rich agricultural region along the Tigris River.

Question 14

Which of the following is true about slaves in Assyria?

A) Assyrian peasants were enslaved to large landowners.
B) Assyrians who were enslaved for not paying their debts were still permitted to marry free partners and engage in financial transactions.
C) Foreigners enslaved through war were granted rights of marriage and the ability to work for wages.
D) Foreigners forcibly relocated were enslaved in their new localities.

Question 15

Which of the following were techniques used by Darius to promote trade?

A) Road building and standardized currency
B) New shipbuilding techniques and more ports on the Red Sea
C) Local tax collection and tariffs
D) Elevating merchants to key administrative posts in the empire

Question 16

Which of the following was used to pacify and integrate the Neo-Assyrian Empire?

A) Forced labor and relocation of large numbers of conquered peoples
B) Internal trade to supply military resources
C) Required work from all families on monumental architecture
D) Soldiers of different ethnic groups mingled together

Question 17

What was the reason that the domestication of the camel was a major agent of change in overland trade in the first millennium BCE?

A) Camels were considered a delicacy,and trade in their meat caused an increase in interregional trade.
B) Camels became farm animals in regions that were too poor to support cattle,permitting the expansion of agriculture.
C) Camels became a center of cult worship among nomads,leading them to attack settled regions to spread their new religion.
D) Camels facilitated caravan travel across deserts in Afro-Eurasia,encouraging long-distance trade between regions.

Question 18

Which of the following did empires use to integrate distant regions in the first millennium BCE?

A) Bronze technology
B) Innovations in ship building
C) Shared religious beliefs
D) New ways to smelt steel

Question 19

Which of the following describes the rise of kingdoms that emerged in the first millennium BCE?

A) They conquered existing states and different ethnic groups to become the world's first empires.
B) They had short lives,as they lacked local,popular support.
C) They developed ideologies based on the inclusion of all classes and ethnic groups.
D) They were primarily focused on agrarian production and trade with their hinterlands.

Question 20

Which of the following correctly defines a relationship between ideology and governance in Assyria?

A) The Neo-Assyrians believed that their regime had a divine destiny to expand the empire.
B) The goal of the empire was to create cosmic chaos so that the Assyrian gods could defeat the gods of other peoples.
C) The king ruled by the mandate of heaven.
D) Assyrian religion supported a king who was a shepherd to his people.

Question 21

Which aspect of the belief system outlined in the Vedas and Upanishads brought spiritual unity to the northern half of South Asia?

A) The integration of all people into atman
B) The Book of the Dead
C) The Laws of Manu
D) Local gods could be easily absorbed into the pantheon

Question 22

What was a consequence of the defeat of the Persians at Marathon in 490 BCE and Salamis circa 480 BCE?

A) Initially the Greeks gained mastery over Anatolia,providing them a base for attacks into the Persian heartland.
B) The balance of power shifted and the Greeks gradually regained land in southeastern Europe and western Anatolia.
C) Persians lost faith in Zoroastrianism and began to follow the more powerful Greek gods.
D) Outlying Persian cities allied with the Greeks in rebellion against the empire.

Question 23

Which of the following accurately describes the early integration of Vedic society in South Asia?

A) The early Vedic people established a central monarchy that organized the regions by appointing provincial governors.
B) Early Vedic society remained socially unified in order to survive among the indigenous peoples.
C) The early Vedic people refused to include indigenous peoples in their lineages.
D) Early Vedic political life was organized through kin and clan structures.

Question 24

Which of the following describes a key difference between the Vedic culture settling in South Asia and societies such as the Neo-Assyrians and Persians in Southwest Asia?

A) The Vedic people did not have previous territorial states in South Asia upon which to base their administration.
B) The Vedic people were pastoralists,unlike the Assyrians or Persians.
C) Vedic culture did not have core beliefs or rituals and adopted those of the Indus Valley people,while Persians and Neo-Assyrians imposed their belief systems on the conquered people.
D) The Vedic people did not create trade routes,in contrast to the Persians.

Question 25

What evidence suggests that the four-group caste system of South Asia was based on encounters with people of different complexions and cultures?

A) It was uniformly enforced throughout South Asia,putting conquered people in the lowest caste.
B) The word Varna means color in Sanskrit.
C) It had its roots in a myth about the meeting of mystical horses,each representing one of the four castes.
D) It originated with the Vedic people's nomadic life on the central Asian plains.

Question 26

Which of the following was an aspect of Shang rule that the Zhou adopted in China?

A) A patrimonial state centered on ancestor worship
B) A state in which the rulers came to power through the designation of oracles
C) Direct control of peripheral states through appointed governors
D) Queens held complementary power with kings

Question 27

The Zhou's endorsement of the mandate of heaven implied what potential threat to dynastic continuance?

A) A dynasty could end if priests undermined the power of the king.
B) A dynasty could end if the ruler turned over authority to local kings.
C) A dynasty could end if religious rituals and ideas unified political rivals.
D) A dynasty could end if the ruler did not uphold harmony and act with honor.

Question 28

The emergence of monotheism among the Israelites:

A) was universally encouraged by the priestly elite,who hoped to expand their power by developing a single ethnic community worshipping a single deity.
B) was rejected by the prophets,who broke off to form splinter groups.
C) unified a people who had long rejected all outside cultural influences.
D) came after a period of henotheism,in which one god has power and ascendancy over other spirits and deities that still exist.

Question 29

In what way did Vedic pastoralists adapt to society in South Asia?

A) They developed trading networks in order to obtain much-needed copper.
B) They adopted the language and religion of the local people.
C) They adopted settled agricultural practices from the local people.
D) They gave up their veneration of horses and substituted veneration of cattle.

Question 30

What provided the primary unifying structure for South Asian societies?

A) The caste system
B) The Upanishads
C) Pastoral trade routes
D) Gender equality

Question 31

Which of the following correctly characterizes the microsociety of the Israelites?

A) Israel served as a trader-state with special status,controlling trade with Egypt under Assyrian authority.
B) The kingdom established by King Saul lasted for many generations.
C) The Israelites were a hybrid society that merged aspects of the Minoan states with their own traditions.
D) Under King Solomon,the Israelites centered their kingdom on the great temple in Jerusalem.

Question 32

What led to nomadic warriors on the northern frontiers gradually settling into more peaceful relations with the Zhou?

A) The prince of Wu repeatedly defeated the nomads in the steppes with superior weapons and tactics.
B) The nomads came to depend on trade with the fertile farmland near the Yellow River.
C) The Zhou use of diplomacy won the nomads over.
D) The fortified walls of Zhou cities repelled the nomads.

Question 33

Which of the following was a response by the Zhou royal house as it began to lose control over regional lords in the ninth and eighth centuries BCE?

A) The Zhou attacked the people of the steppe to try to demonstrate their military power.
B) The Zhou introduced ritual reforms and grandiose ceremonies involving bronze vessels.
C) The Zhou managed to hold on to power until a peasant revolt drove the Zhou from their capital.
D) The last Zhou rulers allied with northern steppe invaders against local leaders within the empire.

Question 34

Which of the following were Zhou agricultural innovations?

A) Tenant farmers,use of Yellow River flooding to irrigate crops,sorghum
B) Crop rotation,reliance on monsoon rains,drought-resistant wheat
C) Bronze plows,plantation agriculture,slave labor
D) Iron plows,field rotation,canals

Question 35

The Phoenicians benefited from their location in which of the following ways?

A) Their location on the Red Sea allowed them to control trade between Egypt and Persia.
B) They were able to develop seaworthy crafts from the massive cedar trees in their region.
C) They sought to establish a maritime empire throughout the Indian Ocean.
D) They did not produce manufactured goods themselves,but only acted as traders.

Question 36

How did a class-based social hierarchy support Zhou rule?

A) It asserted power over the empire's diverse people and created social stability.
B) It enshrined sufficient members of each craft group so trade could proceed.
C) It served as a counter to the Confucian hierarchy promoted by Zhou's rivals.
D) It promoted opportunities for women in trades.

Question 37

Which achievement of the Phoenicians had the greatest long-term impact on the Mediterranean world?

A) Lateen sails,which improved long-distance trade
B) Monotheism,which led to the beliefs of Judaism,Christianity,and Islam
C) The alphabet,which permitted more widespread literacy
D) The sextant,which led to the creation of astronomy

Question 38

Which of the following accurately describes the origins of the Kshatriya caste?

A) They were descended from agricultural commoners,the original residents of South Asia.
B) They were descended from the most politically powerful clans that entered South Asia,and became rulers of the new land.
C) They were descended from servants and menial laborers,and became the lowest caste.
D) They were descended from Vedic priests and became the highest caste in South Asia.

Question 39

Which of the following was a Zhou contribution to China's political and cultural development?

A) The Zhou rejected the Shang's patrimonial state structure.
B) The Zhou regarded all those they had conquered as one people-Huaxia or Chinese.
C) The Zhou created a non-hereditary bureaucracy reporting directly to the king to govern conquered states.
D) The Zhou encouraged women to take an active part in political and cultural life.

Question 40

Which of the following correctly characterizes the Zhou state?

A) The Zhou state became a regional superpower,dominating nearby kingdoms.
B) Zhou rulers relied on culture and ideology,such as the mandate of heaven,to maintain leadership among rival powers within and without its borders.
C) Zhou rulers sought to control local principalities through military intimidation and threats to withhold grain shipments on the canals.
D) The Zhou state monopolized the resources of the region,leaving their opponents without power to oppose them.

Question 41

The Neo-Assyrian Empire's expansion exceeded its ability to maintain effective control over the empire,so the empire collapsed swiftly and without warning.

Question 42

Describe the factors that led to the formation of early empires in 1250-325 BCE.

Question 43

Explain how Vedic rulers achieved cultural integration in South Asia and account for the differences between South Asia's path to cultural integration and that of Mesopotamia and Egypt.

Question 44

Analyze the causes of the migrations of Indo-European speaking peoples and the effects of those migrations on settled societies after 1200 BCE.

Question 45

Compare the ways that the Zhou and the Persians encouraged the economic prosperity of their respective states.

Question 46

The Phoenicians maintained their autonomy from the Assyrian kings by supplying them with luxury items.

Question 47

The Vedic people drew on the political institutions of the Indus Valley Civilization to found their new state.

Question 48

Advances in the production of copper significantly aided agricultural production in the first millennium BCE,as farmers could more easily break the sod to bring up fertile topsoil.

Question 49

Compare the Zhou state's attempts to achieve consolidation and integration to those of the Neo-Assyrian state and Persian Empire.

Question 50

In both the Zhou dynasty and Persia,religious ideologies required rulers to act in moral ways and maintain an orderly society.