Deck 1: The Ancient Near East: The First Civilizations.

Question 1

Compare the development of Mesopotamian and Egyptian societies. In what ways do they develop along similar lines? In what ways is their development markedly different?

Answer 1

Answers will vary.

Question 2

Discuss the importance of rivers and water to the development of civilization in general, and specifically to the civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt.

Answer 2

Answers will vary.

Question 3

Why begin the history of Western Civilization with a study of ancient societies in Mesopotamia and Egypt?

Answer 3

Answers will vary.

Question 4

Please define the following key terms.
Homo erectus

Question 5

Please define the following key terms.
cave paintings at Chauvet

Question 6

How might the quality of most people's lives have benefitted from the shift to an agricultural society? In what ways might the quality of life have diminished as people moved from hunting and gathering to settled, agricultural-based society?

Question 7

Consider the ancient Mesopotamian and Egyptian societies. Which one would you have preferred to have lived in, and why? What is it about the culture you selected that you find more appealing than the other?

Question 8

Discuss some of the similarities and the differences between the religions and religious practices of the Mesopotamian region with those of Egyptian civilization.

Question 9

Please define the following key terms.
Çatal Huyuk

Question 10

The Code of Hammurabi was one of the first of all ancient legal codes. In what ways was it "modern"? How was it different from modern day Western legal codes? What do you believe constituted "justice" for the inhabitants of Mesopotamian city-states?

Question 11

Please define the following key terms.
Homo sapiens sapiens

Question 12

Please define the following key terms.
Paleolithic Age

Question 13

In the modern Western world, we often draw a distinction between religion and secular society. Would this distinction have made sense to the peoples of ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt? Explain.

Question 14

Please define the following key terms.
Neolithic Revolution

Question 15

Discuss the Old, Middle and New Kingdoms in Egypt. What changes are apparent in each in terms of the role of leaders in relationship to the people?

Question 16

Compare and contrast the role of women and families in Mesopotamian and Egyptian societies.

Question 17

Please define the following key terms.
Bronze Age

Question 18

Please define the following key terms.
Neanderthals

Question 19

Please define the following key terms.
Hominids

Question 20

Please define the following key terms.
Australopithecine

Question 21

Please define the following key terms.
Tigris and Euphrates Rivers

Question 22

Please define the following key terms.
Mesopotamia

Question 23

Please define the following key terms.
Sumerians

Question 24

Please define the following key terms.
divination

Question 25

Please define the following key terms.
Isis

Question 26

Please define the following key terms.
the pyramids

Question 27

Please define the following key terms.
Code of Hammurabi

Question 28

Please define the following key terms.
Old Kingdom

Question 29

Please define the following key terms.
Menes

Question 30

Please define the following key terms.
polytheistic

Question 31

Please define the following key terms.
Eridu, Ur, Uruk, and Lagash

Question 32

Please define the following key terms.
ziggurat

Question 33

Please define the following key terms.
patriarchy

Question 34

Please define the following key terms.
Agricultural Revolution

Question 35

Please define the following key terms.
Middle Kingdom

Question 36

Please define the following key terms.
The Epic of Gilgamesh

Question 37

Please define the following key terms.
"The Gift of the Nile"

Question 38

Please define the following key terms.
Indus and Yellow Rivers

Question 39

Please define the following key terms.
cuneiform

Question 40

Please define the following key terms.
Sargon of Akkad

Question 41

Please define the following key terms.
Osiris

Question 42

Please define the following key terms.
Tutankhamun

Question 43

Please define the following key terms.
Sea Peoples

Question 44

Which of the following was a development of the Neolithic era?

A)A shift from hunting and gathering to an agricultural society
B)The appearance of cities and urban life
C)The domestication of the horse in ancient Egypt
D)The smelting of iron
E)The invention of the bow and arrow

Question 45

When did systematic agriculture most likely develop?

A)Between 10,000 and 4000 B.C.E.
B)Between 9000 and 8000 B.C.E.
C)Between 8000 and 7000 C.E.
D)Between 6000 and 5000 C.E.
E)Between 8000 and 7000 B.C.E.

Question 46

Please define the following key terms.
hieroglyphics

Question 47

Please define the following key terms.
theocracy

Question 48

Please define the following key terms.
Ma'at

Question 49

Three to four million years ago, hominids lived in

A)Europe.
B)Asia.
C)Africa.
D)South America.
E)North America.

Question 50

Please define the following key terms.
Civilization

Question 51

Please define the following key terms.
Ramesses II

Question 52

Please define the following key terms.
New Kingdom

Question 53

Homo sapiens sapiens

A)first appeared in Africa between 200,000 and 150,000 years ago.
B)developed the bow and arrow.
C)lived mostly in small groups near the sea.
D)mastered the art of making bronze tools and weapons.
E)appeared in Europe about one million years ago.

Question 54

Please define the following key terms.
Hatshepsut

Question 55

Which cave in southern France, discovered in 1994, contains three hundred paintings of animals?

A)Lascaux
B)Chauvet
C)Andalusia
D)Pyrenees
E)Poitiers

Question 56

Please define the following key terms.
Amenhotep IV

Question 57

As a result of the Agricultural Revolution, people

A)found food supplies less reliable, more dependent on weather conditions.
B)embraced a nomadic existence.
C)enjoyed a steady source of meat and milk.
D)recognized the inability of humans to control nature.
E)abandoned the cultivation of regional plants.

Question 58

Which of these developments emerged during the Paleolithic Age?

A)The ability to grow crops
B)The knowledge of how to raise animals for farming
C)The invention of such tools as the spear and bow and arrow
D)The rise of patriarchy
E)The regular production of food through agriculture

Question 59

Please define the following key terms.
Akhenaten

Question 60

Please define the following key terms.
Hyksos

Question 61

According to the Sumerians, who owned the cities?

A)The kings
B)The nobles and other elites
C)The priests
D)The gods and goddesses
E)The people

Question 62

Why did bronze replace copper in ancient civilizations?

A)Bronze was harder and more durable.
B)Bronze was prettier and therefore made prettier jewelry.
C)Bronze took less time to smelt.
D)Bronze ore was easier to find.
E)Copper tools and weapons became too soft because of the hot Middle East climate.

Question 63

Why didn't the ancient Egyptians have a word for "religion"?

A)Language was still new and not all words had been invented yet.
B)They used the word "worship" instead.
C)They didn't see religion as separate from the rest of human experience.
D)They focused on the names of individual gods.
E)All Egyptians shared the same beliefs so they didn't need a separate word to describe different faiths.

Question 64

How many laws does the Code of Hammurabi contain?

A)50
B)282
C)1,232
D)745
E)123

Question 65

What happened to the Sumerian states and city-states as they expanded?

A)They defeated the Hittites in 2600 B.C.E.
B)They were plagued by wars as they fought for control of land and water.
C)They developed a complicated religion with a sophisticated belief in life after death.
D)They became warriors who instituted totalitarian government.
E)They built damns and irrigation canals along the Indus River.

Question 66

Once systems of writing developed, the Mesopotamians used writing largely for

A)creating treaties and contracts between rulers.
B)keeping records and creating documents that might endure.
C)authoring religious doctrine.
D)creating texts and schools to educate all people.
E)designing buildings, legal codes, and outlining farming techniques.

Question 67

Which statement best describes the ancient city of Çatal Huyuk?

A)Çatal Huyuk was a farming community located in Greece.
B)Çatal Huyuk was a Neolithic walled community in which people traded with each other.
C)Çatal Huyuk was a large city with an elaborate water and sewer system.
D)Çatal Huyuk was an autocracy in which ruling religious elders exercise all political power.
E)Çatal Huyuk was the capitol of Egypt during the Old Kingdom.

Question 68

Who was the ruler of Akkad who established the first empire in Sumer ca. 2340 B.C.E.?

A)Cyrus
B)Naram-Sin
C)Hammurabi
D)Uruk
E)Sargon

Question 69

How did the shift to an agricultural society during the Neolithic Age affect relationships between men and women?

A)Farming required both sexes to do the same types of work.
B)Men's work took them further away from home; women's work increasingly confined them to household labor.
C)Women produced small gardens and surplus foods that could be traded; men hunted and raised crops for survival.
D)Men's lives became nomadic; women's lives became sedentary.
E)Women grew and stored food; men hunted for meat and gathered berries and other plants to supplement their diet.

Question 70

Why were temples important in Sumerian cities?

A)They demonstrated the equality of humans and the gods.
B)Their construction provided numerous opportunities for work.
C)They served as the center of Sumerian political and spiritual life.
D)They provided concrete locations for city-wide entertainment.
E)They helped to create equality among Sumerians.

Question 71

Where did Sumerian kings derive their authority to rule?

A)The will of the people
B)The parliamentary councils of the city-states
C)Success in athletic tournaments
D)The gods
E)Their military victories over the "barbarians"

Question 72

Paleolithic peoples survived by

A)hunting animals and gathering plants, nuts, and berries for food.
B)raising some animals and gathering nuts, plants and berries.
C)growing some small crops and hunting buffalo and other animals for meat.
D)planting some crops, gathering nuts and berries and fishing.
E)growing crops and raising farm animals.

Question 73

Which statement best describes Mesopotamian religion?

A)Mesopotamian religion was monotheistic.
B)Mesopotamian religion was simple with few rules and tenets.
C)Mesopotamian religion was severely critical of cultures that practiced divination.
D)Mesopotamian religion had many gods and people were created to do manual labor for the gods.
E)Mesopotamian religion stressed the power of humans over supernatural forces. .

Question 74

Historians theorize that early civilizations developed as a result of

A)ongoing wars and the need for unified defense.
B)the rise of food surpluses and labor specialization, which led to the creation of large communities.
C)the emergence of new ideas and systems of equality.
D)the rise of an organized aristocracy and nobility.
E)the development of new technologies such as tools and metalwork.

Question 75

What made Sumerians feel a deep sense of despair?

A)The conquest of Sargon and the end of his empire
B)Religious beliefs that focused on the anger of the gods
C)Ongoing wars and the burning of cities
D)Flooding of nearby rivers that put food supplies at risk
E)Harshness of the legal code established by Hammurabi

Question 76

How was punishment viewed under the Code of Hammurabi?

A)Punishments were more severe for the upper classes.
B)The system of justice was based on "an eye for an eye."
C)The goal of punishment was reform, not retribution.
D)The upper class was never punished.
E)Punishments stressed the importance of confession and forgiveness.

Question 77

What is one of the features of a human society's "civilization"?

A)An urban focus and a distinct religious structure
B)Art and music
C)Economic support through trading and manufacturing
D)Living in peace with neighbors
E)Giving up religion and adopting rational thinking

Question 78

What was the basic unit of early Mesopotamian civilization?

A)City-state
B)Village
C)County
D)Land one man could plough in a day
E)Empire

Question 79

Which river runs through the valley in Mesopotamia?

A)Indus River
B)Danube River
C)Tigris River
D)Nile River
E)Po River

Question 80

What did The Epic of Gilgamesh teach?

A)The gods are benevolent and care greatly for their people.
B)A wish fulfilled is not always a good thing.
C)Human life is fleeting; people are powerless against the supernatural.
D)A periodic flood is necessary to cleanse the world.
E)Immortality is guaranteed for the believing worshippers.