Deck 8: The Rise of Universal Religions, 300-600 Ce

Question 1

How did Roman landowners in Gaul respond to the threat of peasant revolts and barbarian invasions?

A) They imported slave labor from Spain.
B) They allied themselves with Christian Goths to provide stability.
C) They abandoned their lands and returned to the Italian Peninsula.
D) They embraced a version of Christianity that called for them to abandon riches and enter monasteries.

Answer 1

They allied themselves with Christian Goths to provide stability.

Question 2

For what purpose did Constantine summon bishops to the Council of Nicaea?

A) to establish the primacy of the pope over matters of doctrine and faith
B) to finalize the selection of books making up the Christian Bible
C) to bring unity to diversity of belief in disparate Christian communities
D) to establish the celibacy of Christian priests

Answer 2

to bring unity to diversity of belief in disparate Christian communities

Question 3

Which of the following events weakened both Persia and Rome, making them easier prey for Arab armies in the seventh century?

A) losing campaigns with nomads from central Asia
B) prolonged warfare between the Sasanians and the Byzantines
C) failure to incorporate new military technology
D) persecution of religious minorities

Answer 3

prolonged warfare between the Sasanians and the Byzantines

Question 4

Which of the following was Emperor Justinian's most enduring legacy?

A) selecting Byzantium as the new capital of the Eastern Roman Empire
B) instituting a major reform and codification of Roman law
C) conquering the Sasanian Empire
D) establishing fiscal responsibility by frugally controlling his personal expenses

Question 5

Which of the following statements concerning Christian churches built after the conversion of Constantine indicates the structure of the religion?

A) Only male Christian converts were permitted inside.
B) The spaces for the bishop and clergy were separate from the congregation.
C) The buildings were small and intimate.
D) The buildings were elaborately decorated.

Question 6

For the Byzantine Empire, which of the following was a negative impact of trade connections to the east?

A) an outbreak of bubonic plague during Justinian's reign
B) higher prices for grain in Constantinople
C) displacement of skilled silk workers from Constantinople
D) the arrival of numerous competing religions in the empire

Question 7

The Sogdians were responsible for which of the following achievements?

A) blending Christian and Jewish beliefs to create a new religion
B) adopting the techniques of siege warfare from Alexander's heirs
C) linking the two ends of the Silk Road through its oasis cities
D) organizing the caravan trade across the Sahara Desert

Question 8

Which of the following slowed Hinduism from becoming a universalizing religion?

A) Hinduism was intertwined with the varna system, which was specific to South Asia.
B) Hinduism was less accessible to a wider audience than Brahmanism.
C) Hinduism was supplanted in South Asia by Jainism.
D) Hinduism rejected written sacred texts in favor of oral tradition.

Question 9

What replaced the political unity provided by imperial Rome after its collapse in western Europe?

A) The Christian church brought cultural unity centered on the authority of regional bishops under the bishop of Rome.
B) Gothic kingship united all of western Europe under Germanic rule.
C) A common spoken language, Latin, provided communication between small Germanic chiefdoms.
D) Opposition to the Huns united disparate Germanic and Latin chiefdoms.

Question 10

The so-called barbarian invasions of the Roman Empire in the late fourth and fifth centuries CE were, in actuality, what?

A) a consolidation of power among non-Roman tribes under kings who could coordinate widespread attacks against Roman troops
B) an armed insurrection against Christian missionaries who tried to force the conversion of pagan peoples to Christianity
C) a more violent and chaotic form of immigration pouring into the empire
D) a massive slave revolt in the provinces that destroyed the empire

Question 11

The status of Nestorian Christians in the Sasanian Empire exemplified which of the following?

A) the Sasanian Empire's persecution of non-Zoroastrians
B) universalizing religious communities spreading across Asia along trade routes
C) the lack of political unity in the Sasanian Empire
D) merging Christian and Zoroastrian beliefs

Question 12

What was the Hagia Sophia's symbolic importance?

A) It showed the dominance of church over state.
B) It showed the role of public games and spectacle in Byzantine life.
C) It represented the flowing of Christian and imperial culture.
D) It represented the role of martyrs in Byzantine culture.

Question 13

Which effect of climate change weakened the Byzantine Empire?

A) Colder, wetter weather made crops rot in the fields in Southwest Asia.
B) Earthquakes caused avalanches that closed key waterways, limiting trade.
C) Flooding led rivers to change course, damaging important agricultural areas.
D) Drier weather proved fatal to the prosperity of agricultural villages in Southwest Asia.

Question 14

Which two faiths in particular aspired to universality in the period between 300 and 600 CE?

A) Buddhism and Hinduism
B) Hinduism and Confucianism
C) Islam and Hinduism
D) Christianity and Buddhism

Question 15

What notion, perhaps derived from China, spurred Attila to attempt to conquer much of Eurasia?

A) Daoist ideas about proper government
B) successful Confucian-trained bureaucracy
C) propitious omens and auguries
D) divine right to rule all the tribes of the north

Question 16

What issue brought Christians into a Mediterranean-wide debate on the nature of religion?

A) the nature of God
B) the idea of salvation and eternal life
C) obedience to God rather than to human rulers
D) the source of evil in the world

Question 17

Which of the following was a major difference between Mahayana and Hinayana Theravada) Buddhism?

A) The Hinayana school became a major universalizing religion, while the Mahayana school remained centered in South Asia.
B) The Hinayana school was accepted by Hinduism, while the Mahayana school was not.
C) The Mahayana school encouraged bhakti devotion, but the Hinayana school rejected it.
D) The Mahayana school accepted the divinity of both the Buddha and the bodhisattvas, while the Hinayana school accepted only the divinity of the Buddha.

Question 18

Which of the following factors inhibited religions from becoming universalizing religions?

A) They had too few followers.
B) They were tied to a specific locality or ethnic group.
C) They did not have a specific creed.
D) They did not create sacred texts.

Question 19

The growth of early Christianity coincided with the appearance of what central figures in matters of faith?

A) prophets
B) priests
C) martyrs
D) disciples

Question 20

Which of the following was a major cause of the Roman Empire's fall in the west?

A) Byzantine invasions of the Italian Peninsula
B) mismanagement and corruption among the Roman elite
C) overextension of the empire, leading to high taxes and constant demands for more manpower
D) slave uprisings occurring after Christian missionaries taught slaves the ideal of brotherhood among all believers

Question 21

Which of the following is an accurate statement concerning the city-state of Teotihuacán?

A) It influenced its neighbors beyond the Valley of Mexico mostly through cultural and economic diffusion.
B) It lacked monumental architecture and large urban areas.
C) It forced its political culture on neighboring peoples as it established sovereignty over them.
D) It became an empire as it expanded its influence throughout Mesoamerica.

Question 22

Why did the progressive land reform policies of the Northern Wei dynasty fail to bridge the cultural divide between the Han and the Tuoba?

A) The Han were insulted that the Tuoba wanted to redistribute their land.
B) The Han nobility had all fled south, and Han peasants refused to work for the Tuoba.
C) The Tuoba had little interest in farming, so were not interested in working with the Han.
D) Empress Fang had overreached her powers as regent, raising strong opposition to the Northern Wei dynasty.

Question 23

What was the impact of the Code of Manu on South Asia?

A) It established government control and coercion over social behavior.
B) It only applied to individual actions, so Hindu religious expansion was unaffected.
C) It provided mechanisms for absorbing new groups into the system of varnas and jatis, propelling Hinduism into every aspect of life.
D) It represented social relations and could easily be transported to new societies.

Question 24

Which of the following facilitated the spread of Brahmanism in South and Southeast Asia?

A) Sanskrit emerged as a common language of the elites.
B) The Gupta Empire conquered Southeast Asia.
C) The Vedas were translated into the vernacular languages of Southeast Asia.
D) Brahmans abandoned the strict rules of caste in order to appeal to more people.

Question 25

In what way did both Mayan kings and many rulers of Afro-Eurasian empires legitimate their authority?

A) Both claimed divine approval for their rule and traced their lineage directly back to the gods.
B) Both obtained the financial support of powerful merchants.
C) Both centralized authority to undermine the authority of the priestly class.
D) Both isolated themselves from the public in order to create a sense of mystery about kingship.

Question 26

Which of the following is an accurate comparison between the way Bantu "big men" and Eurasian elites achieved status and wealth?

A) Eurasian elites achieved status through education, while "big men" relied on the support of their age groups.
B) Eurasian nobles were usually military leaders, while "big men" opposed territorial expansion.
C) "Big men" attracted followers based on courage, valor, and wisdom, while Eurasian nobility was based on inheritance.
D) Bantu ruling elders included women beyond childbearing age, while Eurasian elites rarely included women.

Question 27

Which of the following inhibited the Mayans from developing a great metropolis?

A) The Mayans settled in a region that was hot, infertile, lacked navigable river systems, and that was vulnerable to hurricanes.
B) The Mayans were unable to develop long-distance trade because they lacked large domesticated pack animals.
C) The Mayans' religious beliefs were centered on worship of the natural world, so they did not need to build large cities or monumental architecture.
D) The Mayans' low population growth rates over several centuries failed to produce the manpower needed to build a large urban center.

Question 28

Which technological innovation allowed the Bantu to become successful agriculturalists in different ecological zones?

A) digging sticks
B) iron smelting
C) crop rotation
D) ox-drawn plow

Question 29

What was the main purpose of warfare in Mayan lands?

A) to provide a way to release population pressure
B) to support the role of the Mayan king as he centralized authority in all of Mayan society
C) to provide victims for the bloodletting rituals of rival dynasties
D) to unite the Mayan communities against a common enemy, the Aztecs

Question 30

What was an important difference between Daoism and Buddhism in China during the Six Dynasties period?

A) Daoism provided the Wei rulers with legitimacy, while Buddhism remained the official practice of the southern Han.
B) Daoism sought ways to prolong life, while Buddhism sought enlightenment through transcendental experiences.
C) Daoism taught a notion of karmic retribution, while Buddhists sought salvation through penance and ceremony.
D) Daoism attempted focus on reason, while Buddhism focused on the occult and magical.

Question 31

Which of the following did the Northern Wei dynasty pursue after it took control of part of the old Han territory?

A) It maintained many Chinese traditions of statecraft.
B) It refashioned the Chinese military traditions to emphasize the military practices of the nomadic tribes.
C) It abolished the practice of forced labor for large, public projects.
D) It worked to systematically destroy all evidence of previous dynasties, especially the Han.

Question 32

Which of the following is an accurate comparison of Buddhist monasteries in China and Christian monasteries in the west?

A) Both were refuges from worldly affairs that were supported by royal courts and pious warriors.
B) Both consisted of thousands of monasteries.
C) Both reflected universalizing faiths that tried to be the same in all places and at all times.
D) Both absorbed the wisdom and even the deities of other peoples they touched.

Question 33

What did the western Bantu-speaking people do?

A) They created priestly rule under the control of healers and spirit guides.
B) They established centralized political systems whose kings ruled by divine right.
C) They established independent city-states governed by rich merchants.
D) They organized themselves into small-scale societies that relied on family and clan connections.

Question 34

What did Bantu peoples do as they began migrating out of West Africa?

A) They moved rapidly, absorbing most of the local hunting and gathering populations.
B) They were forced farther and farther west as local populations prevented them from settling in their lands.
C) They swept all before them, eliminating most of the local populations.
D) They conquered all of sub-Saharan Africa, establishing a single empire that eventually rivaled that of ancient Egypt.

Question 35

Which of the following accurately describes Mayan culture?

A) Mayan rulers did not construct monumental architecture because there was no universalizing religion.
B) Mayan priests were skilled mathematicians who integrated mathematics with astronomy and worked out an accurate calendar.
C) Mayan spiritual centers were abandoned after the Aztecs conquered them.
D) Mayan funerary tradition emphasized that the soul would return to nature following the body's decomposition while being exposed to the elements.

Question 36

What new crop introduced by the Bantu into the rain forests of central Africa radically changed regional agriculture and slowed deforestation?

A) the yam
B) manioc
C) the banana
D) date palms

Question 37

Which of the following statements concerning Buddhism in the third and fourth centuries CE is accurate?

A) Buddhist travelers had become frequent visitors in the streets and temples of the competing capitals.
B) Buddhism had already been widely adopted and would now develop its Chinese forms without continued influence from South Asia.
C) Buddhism had been outlawed as an example of negative foreign influence.
D) Buddhist thought found little support due to the violence and chaos of constant war.

Question 38

What led to the collapse of Mayan urban centers?

A) The people of Teotihuacán defeated the Maya.
B) A catastrophic earthquake caused many of the Mayan cities to collapse.
C) The Maya lacked a common faith to unite disparate communities.
D) After years of warfare, the ruling households collapsed and people abandoned the cities.

Question 39

Which of the following was the most prominent political and social organization among western Bantu-speaking communities?

A) small-scale societies, which used the age-grade system
B) the caste system, which supported a warrior elite
C) central polities ruled by divine-right kings
D) an oligarchy supported by large numbers of plantation slaves

Question 40

For what reason did the second wave of Bantu-speaking migrants entering central Africa revert to subsistence farming?

A) The tropical rain forest was so rich in edible plants that humans did not need intensive agriculture.
B) The region was infested with tsetse flies carrying sleeping sickness that wiped out the Bantus's cattle.
C) The Bantus lacked the iron technology needed to farm in that region.
D) The local populations prevented the Bantus from obtaining the best farm land.

Question 41

Explain the ways that the Bantu and Mayan peoples organized their political and social systems as well as the role religion served in organizing these societies.

Question 42

Compare how Buddhism offered religious and political alternatives to Hinduism in India and to Confucianism in China. How did Buddhism challenge and adapt to Hinduism and Confucianism?

Question 43

The civil wars marking the end of the Han Empire hindered the flow of ideas and religious beliefs from the west.

Question 44

The Mayans, unlike the Han or the people of Teotihuacán, did not build a great central metropolis.

Question 45

Compare the political and cultural developments of the Maya in Mesoamerica with those of the Wei in northern China.

Question 46

Identify the similarities and differences between the development of Christianity in the Roman Empire and the development of Buddhism in China. How did each provide continuity as the two empires collapsed?

Question 47

What are the characteristics of a universal religion? Why did universalizing religions develop in regions of Afro-Eurasia and North Africa, but not in the Americas or sub-Saharan Africa in this time period?

Question 48

Sogdian merchants were known to the Chinese for their commercial skills.

Question 49

The remembered heroism of women martyrs helped balance the increasingly all-male hierarchy of the Christian church.

Question 50

Barbarian invasions caused the collapse of the ancient world.