Deck 5: New Civilizations and Empires in Western and Central Asia

Question 1

Which of the following is the most notable accomplishment of the Phoenicians?

A)The discovery of gold.
B)The development of a sailing ship's rudder.
C)The development of a magnetic compass as an aid to navigation.
D)A rejection of international trade to focus on internal peace.
E)The development of a phonetic alphabet for writing.

Answer 1

The development of a phonetic alphabet for writing.

Question 2

The Phoenicians were colonists and traders.  What was the name of their most substantial and influential colony in the ancient world?

A)Carthage.
B)Alexandria.
C)Babylon.
D)London.
E)Atlantis.

Answer 2

Carthage.

Question 3

Why might modern Iranians see their country as having long played a pivotal role in the affairs of the wider world?

A)It had a strategic location that was a crossroads for those traveling between the Mediterranean and China and/or India.
B)The Persians successfully mediated between the Muslims and the Hindus of India.
C)Their peoples had emerged from the central Asian steppes with a highly organized government already in place.
D)With their entrance into Persia, the Persians brought much-needed agricultural skills.
E)Though mostly nomadic in the beginning, the Persians quickly settled down and established important trading centers.

Answer 3

It had a strategic location that was a crossroads for those traveling between the Mediterranean and China and/or India.

Question 4

The Assyrians were able to capture fortified towns using which method of warfare?

A)Massed formations.
B)Siege warfare.
C)Light infantry tactics.
D)Chariot charges.
E)All of the options are correct.

Question 5

What actions characterized the Hebrew prophets of the eighth to the fifth centuries B.C.E.?

A)They lived among the people without calling attention to themselves.
B)They preached God's word and converted many unbelievers.
C)They spoke out often concerning social justice for the powerless.
D)They aligned themselves to their kings without much thought for the ordinary people.
E)They advised harsh treatment for all non-Jews.

Question 6

Where did the Phoenicians obtain the tin they needed for bronze-making?

A)France.
B)Britain.
C)China.
D)Spain.
E)Greece.

Question 7

With which civilization would Zarathustra have his strongest association?

A)Assyrian.
B)Persian.
C)Hebrew.
D)Philistine.
E)Phoenician.

Question 8

What was the general governmental policy of the Persian Empire regarding its many subject peoples?

A)Business enterprises and foreign trade were actively encouraged.
B)The kings did not try to pass themselves off as gods.
C)Local religious beliefs, laws, and customs were tolerated in return for loyalty.
D)A special law code applying to everyone was enacted and enforced.
E)All subjects were required to conform to Persian religious beliefs.

Question 9

What would be the best one-word description of Hebrew society?

A)egalitarian.
B)matriarchal.
C)backward.
D)progressive.
E)patriarchal.

Question 10

Shortly after entering the Promised Land of Canaan, the Hebrews engaged in a series of wars with which of the following?

A)Assyrians.
B)Egyptians.
C)Philistines.
D)Babylonians.
E)Amorites.

Question 11

What major event shook the Hebrew nation shortly after the death of King Solomon?

A)Jerusalem became the Jewish capital.
B)the Hebrew Kingdom split in two.
C)the Temple was totally destroyed.
D)Judges began to administer the Hebrew tribes.
E)the Babylonians captured all of the people of Israel.

Question 12

What did the Babylonians do with many of the Jews after the capture of Judea?

A)Murdered them to serve as examples to the rest.
B)Made them a part of the Assyrian Empire.
C)Held them hostage to ensure that the remainder of their people would not rebel.
D)They caused the Jews to be lost to history, becoming known as the Ten Lost Tribes of Jewish tradition.
E)Lured them away from their monotheistic faith.

Question 13

When the Hebrew people were first united under Saul, most were of what occupation or status?

A)Rural herders and peasants.
B)Masters of navigation and migration.
C)Wealthy merchants and traders.
D)Skilled at iron smelting.
E)None of the options are correct.

Question 14

Which modern-day country is most associated with the location of the Persian Empire?

A)Iraq.
B)Jordan.
C)Egypt.
D)Iran.
E)Syria.

Question 15

What did the Hebrews do after their mass exodus from Egypt?

A)Settled in an under-populated area of coastal Palestine
B)Defeated the Canaanites and established a kingdom with Saul as their first king.
C)Defeated the Philistines first and then turned to the Canaanites, who proved much harder to conquer.
D)Established a kingdom ruled by Solomon, then David, and finally Saul.
E)United with the Canaanites in order to defeat the more powerful Philistines.

Question 16

Which of the following provides the correct sequence of travels for the early Hebrew people?

A)Canaan, Saudi Arabia, Mesopotamia
B)Palestine, Canaan, Egypt
C)Canaan, Egypt, Canaan
D)Mesopotamia, Saudi Arabia, Canaan
E)Egypt, Canaan, Mesopotamia

Question 17

Which of these empires might most accurately be termed "multi-cultural"?

A)Egypt
B)Assyria
C)Sumer
D)Persia
E)Babylonia

Question 18

What was the chief town in the Assyrian Empire?

A)Jericho.
B)Jerusalem.
C)Nineveh.
D)Cairo.
E)Tyre.

Question 19

How did the Hebrews see their relationship to Yahweh?

A)He was never a strong deity in Samaria.
B)He became their only deity before their time in Egypt.
C)He used Saul as his voice to the people.
D)He became the first and only "single god" in ancient history.
E)He became the only deity for the Jews of Jerusalem.

Question 20

The ruler of which ancient civilization said, "I cut off their heads and piled them at the walls of their cities like heaps of grain"?

A)Phoenicians.
B)Hyksos.
C)Carthaginians.
D)Assyrians.
E)Persians.

Question 21

What was the purpose of the Covenant between Yahweh and the Hebrew people?

A)It established the promise of a Heavenly Kingdom on Earth.
B)It replaced an earlier moral contract between Yahweh and earlier prophets such as Amos and Isaiah.
C)It dealt with ethical matters but left other matters under the control of civil leaders.
D)It promised that if the Hebrews kept their solid faith in Yahweh, they would defeat all of their enemies.
E)It has failed, in later times, to adapt when social circumstances changed.

Question 22

The Old Testament is also known as the ____________________.

Question 23

After the Exodus from ____________________, Moses received a(n)____________________ for the Hebrew people from Yahweh.

Question 24

____________________ received the Ten Commandments from God on ____________________.

Question 25

What effect did the rise of Assyria have on the Hebrew population?

A)a union of convenience between Israelites and Judeans.
B)a split between Israel and Judea.
C)a more important role in the Near East for Judea.
D)the weakening of both Judea and Israel.
E)the weakening of Judea.

Question 26

What did the Jews do after Cyrus released them from their Babylonian Captivity?

A)They conceded that Yahweh would readily accept Gentiles into the faith.
B)They clarified their belief that Yahweh had not given man free will.
C)They returned to Jerusalem to worship in the temple built by Solomon.
D)They began to question exactly what Yahweh wanted of them, and determined that he wanted blind obedience.
E)They began to view Yahweh as a personal deity who was always available to help those who worshipped him wholeheartedly.

Question 27

Which of these was true of Jewish marriages?

A)There was no disgrace in remaining single or dedicating one's life to Yahweh.
B)When a woman married, her property was given to her husband.
C)Young women had the opportunity to reject one marriage partner proffered by her parents.
D)Adultery was a crime for women but not for men unless committed with a married woman.
E)None of the options are correct.

Question 28

What was the critical new factor in the Jews' vision of God that had developed by the first century C.E.?

A)A link between the merciful deity and humans' ethical conduct on Earth.
B)The belief that God was all-powerful and that he controlled all human affairs.
C)A belief that God was supreme over all other deities.
D)A promise of an eternal life given by God to those whom he deemed worthy.
E)Their belief in a messiah who would remove his people from their troubled lives on Earth.

Question 29

As the Jews became scattered throughout the Roman Empire, which belief did they take with them?

A)That they should convert nonbelievers.
B)Yahweh had left them to care for themselves, according to his guidelines.
C)Yahweh would someday establish an earthly kingdom.
D)They had been, and remained, Yahweh's chosen people.
E)They were Yahweh's chosen people, but he expected them to bring nonbelievers to the truth.

Question 30

Term for identification: Nineveh

Question 31

The chief Assyrian deity was the fierce ____________________.

Question 32

Zoroaster's teaching is preserved in written form in the ____________________.

Question 33

The ____________________ became the greatest maritime traders and colonizers of the ancient Near East.

Question 34

Three of the most prominent Persian kings were ____________________.

Question 35

When the enemies of the Assyrians captured the city of ____________________, they ____________________ the land to prevent the site from ever being used again.

Question 36

Despite their cruelty, the Assyrians had a great appreciation for all forms of ____________________.

Question 37

What was the difference between the Jewish faith and the other religions in the area?

A)It was a supernatural monotheism.
B)It had prophets.
C)It had a written book.
D)All of the options are correct.
E)None of the options are correct.

Question 38

In 586 B.C.E., ____________________ captured Judea and destroyed the ____________________ built by King Solomon.

Question 39

How were the Assyrians overthrown?

A)by an internal palace plot.
B)by a coalition of their enemies led by the Chaldeans.
C)by the Egyptian and Hittite armies.
D)by a general rebellion of the slaves.
E)by the invasion of the Hyksos peoples.

Question 40

When the Jewish faith accepted Yahweh's promise of rewards for those who did good, it became one of the first faiths to incorporate which concept?

A)"give and take."
B)good and evil.
C)a supernatural deity.
D)ethics, or the study of good and evil.
E)other worldliness.

Question 41

Term for identification: Chaldees

Question 42

Term for identification: Cyrus the Great

Question 43

Describe and evaluate the effectiveness of the tactics and policies that made the Assyrians a "feared and hated people."

Question 44

Term for identification: phonetic alphabet

Question 45

Term for identification: Mount Sinai

Question 46

Term for identification: Phoenicians

Question 47

Term for identification: satrapies

Question 48

In what ways do each of the four civilizations affect/influence one another?

Question 49

Compare and contrast the religions of the four civilizations discussed in this chapter.

Question 50

In what ways did the Persian Empire contribute to the advancement of civilization? Compare these contributions with those of the Assyrians, Phoenicians and Hebrews.

Question 51

Term for identification: Zarathustra

Question 52

Term for identification: Diaspora

Question 53

What was the belief system of the Zoroastrians and how did it influence other religions?

Question 54

Term for identification: Assyrians

Question 55

What were the notable differences between the Phoenician civilization and the other three in this chapter?