Deck 1: The Origins of the West in the Ancient Near East

Question 1

How did early humans believe they could influence the supernatural world?

A) By constructing temples.
B) Through religious rituals.
C) By hunting and gathering only in areas specified by priests.
D) Writing the names of their gods on cave walls.
E) None of the above.

Answer 1

Through religious rituals.

Question 2

The two major revolutions in food supply circa 8000 B.C.E. included

A) domestication of animals and large-scale fishing.
B) pastoralism and cooking with fire.
C) domestication of agriculture and use of stone tools.
D) domestication of animals and pastoralism.
E) None of these.

Answer 2

domestication of animals and pastoralism.

Question 3

What was the earliest human population in Africa called?

A) Homo habilis .
B) Homo erectus .
C) Austrolepithicans humanis .
D) Homo sapiens .
E) Neanderthal man.

Answer 3

Homo habilis .

Question 4

The defining characteristics of civilization include all of the following except

A) writing.
B) economies based on agriculture.
C) different social classes.
D) metal technology.
E) fortified cities.

Question 5

What is the single most important technological achievement of Mesopotamia?

A) bronze.
B) pottery wheels.
C) multicolored pottery.
D) weaving of wool for clothing.
E) wheeled vehicles.

Question 6

All of the following technologies were found in river valleys prior to 3000 B.C.E. except

A) wheeled vehicles.
B) wool weaving.
C) multicolored pottery.
D) writing.
E) metal technology.

Question 7

Early homo sapiens sapiens began to demonstrate progress through all of the following except

A) using resin to bond pieces of stone for sickles.
B) exploration of religion and supernatural worlds.
C) cave paintings.
D) fertility rituals.
E) human sacrifice.

Question 8

Which of the following was the most important characteristic in allowing humankind to settle in an area?

A) mineral deposits
B) temperate climate
C) proximity to water
D) abundant food supply
E) access to trade routes

Question 9

Western civilization began in approximately 8000 B.C.E. in which region?

A) Mesopotamia
B) Africa
C) Asia
D) Latin America
E) Western Europe

Question 10

How do we know how Stone Age civilizations functioned?

A) Through written records.
B) Studying material culture.
C) Carbon dating.
D) Via general anthropological theory.
E) By educated guesses.

Question 11

What caused the disappearance of Neanderthals?

A) assimilation by homo sapiens sapiens
B) evolutionary failure
C) the cause is unknown
D) starvation from lack of adaptation to agricultural methods
E) killed off by clan warfare

Question 12

One of the reasons for the spread of agriculture throughout the world is thought to be

A) cultural materialism.
B) cultural assimilation.
C) cultural trade and transmission.
D) material dissemination.
E) divine revelation.

Question 13

Domestication of animals is primarily found in which area?

A) Africa
B) Western Europe
C) Latin America
D) Middle East and Asia
E) the Russian steppe

Question 14

What factor most likely led to social differentiation?

A) Surplus agriculture created wealth for some agricultural communities.
B) The transition to roving hunting communities.
C) Massive food shortages in pastoral communities..
D) The rise of organized religion. .
E) The development of the military. .

Question 15

The presence of monoliths such as Stonehenge demonstrate all of the following in Neolithic society except

A) divisions of labor.
B) defined religious ritual space.
C) elementary knowledge of astronomy.
D) social hierarchy.
E) mobilization of manpower.

Question 16

Which of the following was NOT considered "women's work" in the gendered division of labor?

A) manufacturing tools
B) childcare
C) preserving or preparing food
D) scraping animal skins
E) gathering agriculture

Question 17

Early human food supply came from

A) hunting and gathering.
B) domesticated agriculture.
C) organized social labor for procurement.
D) trade with other tribes.
E) conquering areas with greater food production.

Question 18

The varied uses of bronze as a new metal technology were applied to all of the following except

A) jewelry and weapons.
B) household items.
C) farm implements.
D) all of these.
E) b and c.

Question 19

Stone Age art devoted to fertility rituals indicate that, in some cases, society may have been

A) organized around gender division of labor.
B) patriarchal.
C) matriarchal.
D) promiscuous.
E) monogamous.

Question 20

What began civilization as we understand it?

A) The Bronze Age.
B) Written language.
C) The rise of homo sapiens .
D) The organization into city-states.
E) The discovery of fire.

Question 21

The first woman to rule in Egypt was

A) Hatshepsut.
B) Innana.
C) Nitocris.
D) Cleopatra.
E) Nefertiti.

Question 22

Which term best describes Sumerian social organization?

A) hierarchical
B) matriarchal
C) patriarchal
D) oligarchical
E) monarchical

Question 23

The practice of interpreting the intentions of the gods by reading signs was called

A) soothsaying.
B) prophecy.
C) oracle reading.
D) divination.
E) dreamquesting.

Question 24

Mesopotamians regularly ate and drank all of the following except

A) lettuce.
B) fish.
C) beer.
D) lentils.
E) pork.

Question 25

Farmers in Sumerian civilization had higher social status than

A) war captives.
B) merchants.
C) priests.
D) soldiers.
E) artisans.

Question 26

The most common punishment for breaking the Law Code of Hammurabi was

A) paying a fine.
B) being sent to jail.
C) having a body part cut off.
D) being exiled.
E) death.

Question 27

The first leader to unify Mesopotamia as an empire was

A) Gilgamesh of Uruk.
B) Ur-Nammu of Ur.
C) Sargon the Akkadian.
D) Hammurabi of Babylon.
E) Amen-hotep IV.

Question 28

What river valley(s) were settled by the Sumerians?

A) Indus
B) Nile
C) Mississippi
D) Tigris and Euphrates
E) Tiber and Po

Question 29

The growth in importance of the nobility in Old Kingdom Egypt was a problem because

A) it signified a decrease in the importance of the pharaoh.
B) its members were exempt from taxes, leaving the burden on free citizens.
C) the priestly castes were jealous of the influence of its members on the pharaoh.
D) its members demanded special benefits and trade rights.
E) its members raised armed revolts and overthrew pharaohs they didn't like.

Question 30

One reason that the Egyptians had a more optimistic outlook than the Sumerians was

A) They had more gold than Sumeria.
B) They developed writing earlier than the Sumerians.
C) Their afterlife was open to all Egyptians, even slaves.
D) The weather was extremely predictable.
E) Their agriculture was more extensive.

Question 31

Organization of work forces in Sumeria was the responsibility of

A) priest-kings.
B) viziers.
C) civil administrators.
D) military commanders.
E) slave owners.

Question 32

The most significant accomplishment of Hammurabi's reign was

A) his law code.
B) the implementation of weights and measures.
C) religious tolerance throughout his empire.
D) the use of horses and iron weapons in his army.
E) the advancement in Babylonian math and science.

Question 33

Women in Egyptian society had all of the following rights except

A) arranging her marriage.
B) owning property.
C) divorce.
D) inheritance.
E) asserting legal rights in court.

Question 34

Sumerian writing uses which form?

A) hieroglyphics
B) cuneiform tablets
C) the Phoenician alphabet
D) etchings on tortoise shells
E) calligraphy

Question 35

Semitic people of the coastal regions of the near East were bound to a sense of shared identity by which factor?

A) religion
B) trade
C) language
D) geopolitical organization
E) being enemies of Sumeria

Question 36

The infant set adrift in a basket in the river by his mother, who went on to form an empire, was

A) Sargon.
B) Moses.
C) Ramses II.
D) Ashurbanipal.
E) Hammurabi.

Question 37

What best describes the political organization of Mesopotamian city-states?

A) It was religious.
B) It was linguistic.
C) It was military.
D) It was democratic.
E) It was nonexistent.

Question 38

The first Indo-Europeans to invade Mesopotamia were the

A) Hittites.
B) Hyksos.
C) Aryans.
D) Balkans.
E) Minoans.

Question 39

Which of the following did the Egyptians not have in common with Mesopotamians?

A) writing
B) metallurgy
C) hierarchical organization
D) polytheism
E) rulers who were living gods

Question 40

The gods in Sumeria were characterized by

A) numeric rank.
B) nature elements.
C) alphabetical order.
D) both numeric rank and nature elements.
E) none of these.

Question 41

Minoan religion differs from Mesopotamian by its use of

A) human sacrifice.
B) cult objects.
C) strict separation of church and state.
D) anthropomorphic gods.
E) public rituals expected of all society.

Question 42

Homer's epic poem The Iliad describes

A) the fall of Pharaoh Ramses II of Egypt at the hands of the Mycenaeans.
B) a battle between Crete and Mycenaea.
C) Gilgamesh's journey to find the secret of eternal life in Uruk.
D) a war between the Trojans and the Greeks.
E) the defeat of the Hittite Empire by the Sea Peoples.

Question 43

The Sea Peoples were originally from

A) Troy.
B) Germany.
C) Egypt
D) Crete.
E) the central Asian steppes.

Question 44

What led to settled lifestyles of human civilization? What are the consequences of such a lifestyle?

Question 45

Describe the development of religion among early humans.

Question 46

How did the rise of agriculture impact civilization?

Question 47

What are the two primary ways early communities interacted with each other? Describe in detail examples of each.

Question 48

Which form of writing was found in Crete until approximately 1400 B.C.E.?

A) linear B
B) linear A
C) ogan
D) hieroglyphics
E) cuneiform

Question 49

What was Akhenaton's most significant contribution to the New Kingdom in Egypt?

A) surrendering to the Hyksos.
B) forming an alliance with Assyria.
C) capturing Nubia and integrating it into the Egyptian Empire.
D) revising the religion of Egypt to focus only on one god.
E) declaring war on Sumeria.

Question 50

Which is not characteristic of Mycenaean civilization?

A) linear B
B) fortified cities
C) limited agriculture because of geographic conditioning
D) economy based on trade
E) iron metal technology

Question 51

What are the technical and cultural hallmarks of the civilizations of the eastern Mediterranean and the Near East?

Question 52

Compare early human perspectives on death and the afterlife. Include preliterate societies, Egypt, and Mesopotamia. How do each of these civilizations conceive of and contextualize death?

Question 53

How can historians put together the picture of early civilizations in the absence of writing/written history?

Question 54

The most significant feature of the New Kingdom was

A) militarization and empire.
B) isolation and introspection.
C) conquest of Nubia.
D) a female ruler for the first time, Hatshepsut.
E) widespread use of diplomacy with Asia and Africa.

Question 55

The main emphasis of Minoan economy was

A) conquest.
B) trade.
C) hiring out their ships.
D) pastoralism.
E) agriculture.

Question 56

According to historical sources, the Sea Peoples were defeated by

A) King Minos of Crete.
B) Ramses II of Egypt.
C) King Ammurapi of the Hittite Empire.
D) the Aryan king of Iran.
E) King Zardoz of the Pyrenees.

Question 57

Most of the Minoan records in Linear A are what type of documents?

A) inventories.
B) law codes
C) religious texts
D) poetry
E) genealogies.

Question 58

Minoan civilization was destroyed around 1400 B.C.E. by

A) volcanic activity.
B) a tidal wave that swallowed the island, giving rise to the Atlantis legend.
C) an invasion by the Sea Peoples.
D) probable conquest by the mainland Greeks.
E) the plague.

Question 59

Which of the following is not characteristic of Middle Kingdom Egypt?

A) The afterlife was available to everyone, not just pharaohs.
B) There was a new god, Amon, as well as Ra.
C) There was an invasion by the Hyksos that pushed them into the second intermediate period.
D) The Egyptian Book of the Dead was written.
E) There was a switch to monotheism under Akhenaton.

Question 60

What is the importance of geography in establishing civilizations?

Question 61

Instructions Please define the following key terms.
hunter-gatherer

Question 62

Which civilization of the Bronze Age was the "most advanced" among those you've read about? Support your Answer with historical examples and evidence.

Question 63

Sumerians developed a very optimistic view of their civilization because of geographic stability and wealth of resources.

Question 64

The highest-ranked member of Sumerian society was the priest-king.

Question 65

Both the Egyptian and Sumerian calendar of 360 days was based on a lunar calendar.

Question 66

Instructions Please define the following key terms.
Archeology

Question 67

People of the Old Stone Age left no written records.

Question 68

How did the trade-based economy of the Minoans of Crete differ from other early Mediterranean civilizations?

Question 69

Instructions Please define the following key terms.
cultural assimilation

Question 70

Instructions Please define the following key terms.
matriarchal

Question 71

Sea Peoples brought an end to the Bronze Age..

Question 72

Minoans developed the first alphabet demonstrated in Linear A.

Question 73

Instructions Please define the following key terms.
material culture

Question 74

Urbanization was the main focus of Egyptian living arrangements.

Question 75

Describe the changes in Egyptian religion under the Middle Kingdom?

Question 76

Mycenaeans were better defended than Minoans.

Question 77

Sargon defeated the Hyksos.

Question 78

Describe the Bronze age. What led to its decline?

Question 79

What were the advantages and disadvantages of pastoralism in supporting human life?

Question 80

Each major early civilization formed in river valleys.