Deck 1: The Ancient Near East: The First Civilizations

Question 1

In contrast to Egypt, Mesopotamia

A)was more stable and peaceful.
B)lacked natural barriers to invasion.
C)was more optimistic and hopeful ​​about eternal life.
D)had a belief system that promoted the significance of the individual.
E)possessed predictable rivers, which flooded regularly.

Answer 1

lacked natural barriers to invasion.

Question 2

The  Epic of Gilgamesh  explores

A)the blessings provided by the gods.
B)the human protest against death.
C)the absolute power of kings.
D)the dangers of friendship.
E)Gilgamesh's successful quest for immortality.

Answer 2

the human protest against death.

Question 3

Paleolithic mythic-religious ideas included

A)the belief that natural elements were spirits.
B)the belief that the forces of nature could be influenced by rituals, trances, and chants.
C)the belief in some existence after death.
D)the importance of female figurines representing fertility.
E)​all of the above

Answer 3

​all of the above

Question 4

Which of the following CANNOT be attributed to the Sumerians?

A)development of the first urban civilization in Mesopotamia
B)transformation of swamps into fields of barley and groves of date palms
C)frequent warfare amongst themselves and with invaders from the north and the south
D)incorporation into various kingdoms and empires
E)establishment of Sumerian as the common language for three thousand years of Mesopotamian history

Question 5

The " land between the rivers"  refers to

A)Mesopotamia.
B)Egypt.
C)​Assyria.
D)the Hittite empire.
E)Persia.

Question 6

The first civilizations emerged approximately

A)two million years ago.
B)one million years ago.
C)two hundred thousand years ago.
D)ten thousand years ago.
E)five thousand years ago.

Question 7

Enheduanna was

A)an Akkadian deity.
B)a Sumerian ruler.
C)the builder of the world's first empire.
D)the world's oldest known poet.
E)an Egyptian pharaoh.

Question 8

Which of the following provided the basis for Mesopotamian civilization?

A)Sumerians
B)Egyptians
C)Assyrians
D)Hittites
E)Akkadians

Question 9

The text identifies all of the following as characteristics of the first civilizations EXCEPT

A)specialization of labor.
B)art such as fertility figurines and cave paintings.
C)cities and monumental architecture.
D)organized government and a willingness to work for the common good.
E)river valley agriculture.

Question 10

With their simple but useful tools, Paleolithic people were able to do all of the following EXCEPT

A)making clothing.
B)using draft animals for agriculture.
C)trapping, killing, and skinning animals.
D)fashioning fish nets.
E)digging up roots .

Question 11

During the Paleolithic Age, humankind illustrated each of the following developments EXCEPT

A)a nomadic life dependent on hunting and gathering.
B)a division of labor between men and women and the emergence of shamans and medicine men.
C)the making of stone tools.
D)the discovery of farming, the domestication of animals, and the establishment of villages.
E)the extinction of groups where cooperation was absent or weak.

Question 12

The Neolithic Revolution

A)began about ten thousand years ago in the Near East.
B)included the invention of agriculture, which resulted in a more reliable food supply.
C)included the domestication of animals and the development of polished stone tools.
D)resulted in more organized and complex societies.
E)all of the above

Question 13

Çatal Hüyük, Jericho, and Jarmö are most remembered

A)as sites of ​primitive cities.
B)for containing numerous cave paintings.
C)for producing an astounding number of fertility figures.
D)as sites of well-preserved royal tombs of the Neolithic period.
E)as founders of Sumerian civilization.

Question 14

Which of the following was NOT part of or pertained to Mesopotamian religion?

A)The belief that humankind was shaped from clay by divine craftsmen and given life in order to execute the will of the gods.
B)The belief that heaven is the reward for a life of absolute obedience to the gods.
C)Religion dominated and inspired all other human activities.
D)Cities were seen as sacred communities dedicated to serving the gods.
E)The belief that the gods were everywhere in nature but showed little love for humankind.

Question 15

Who were the creators of the earliest civilizations?

A)Egyptians and Babylonians
B)Sumerians and Egyptians
C)Sumerians and Assyrians
D)Persians and Egyptians
E)Greeks and Romans

Question 16

The deliberate planting and cultivation of crops   and the domestication of animals directly led to all of the following EXCEPT

A)a shift of population to larger, more permanent villages.
B)an awareness of private property and the rise of a ruling elite that possessed wealth and wielded power.
C)increasingly egalitarian and isolated communities.
D)technological inventions such as pottery, copper and bronze implements, the wheel, and the sail.
E)a new tempo of life including considerable toil, routine, and loss of personal freedom.

Question 17

In the first civilizations, religion

A)challenged traditional rules of morality.
B)failed to provide explanations for the working of nature.
C)justified the law and the power of rulers.
D)provoked disunity among the people.
E)all of the above

Question 18

The first civilizations began in

A)rural villages.
B)mountainous regions.
C)river valleys in the Near East.
D)India and China.
E)the deserts of northern Africa.

Question 19

In Mesopotamia, temple priests

A)had no involvement in their city's economic activities.
B)collected rents, operated businesses, and received contributions for festivals.
C)forbid women to serve the temples.
D)trained peasants to interpret the will of the gods.
E)all of the above

Question 20

​In addition to its positive features, civilization had a dark side that included

A)increased epidemic diseases.
B)inadequate sewage systems.
C)more destructive warfare.
D)slavery.
E)all of the above

Question 21

In Egypt, the qualities of truth and justice

A)were almost totally absent from religion.
B)were associated with the universal, divinely ordained order of Ma'at .
C)were traditions that Egyptians absorbed from the Hebrews during their captivity.
D)were the primary code of loyalty to pharaoh.
E)differed according to social status.

Question 22

The code of Hammurabi employs which of the following principles?

A)Business transactions are beyond the concern of the law.
B)Punishment depended on the status of both the victim and the perpetrator.
C)Extenuating circumstances are never considered, and neither women nor children had any rights.
D)Government officials are exempt from punishment.
E)all of the above

Question 23

How many gods were part of the Egyptian pantheon?

A)one
B)two
C)twelve
D)several hundred
E)about two thousand

Question 24

Cuneiform refers to the writing system created by the

A)Egyptians.
B)Persians.
C)Hittites.
D)Sumerians.
E)Assyrians.

Question 25

Which of the following is true of Egyptian intellectual life?

A)Egyptian literature was restricted to hymns and religious texts.
B)Egyptian doctors were less capable than their Mesopotamian counterparts.
C)The Egyptians developed a calendar based on the sun.
D)A significant portion of the Egyptian population was literate.
E)all of the above

Question 26

All of the following were features of Egyptian belief in the afterlife EXCEPT

A)a renunciation of this life and a longing for death.
B)the yearning for eternity that inspired the pyramids.
C)mummification to preserve the dead.
D)funerary art.
E)a continuation of pleasures enjoyed on earth.

Question 27

Which of the following is an accurate statement about Mesopotamian education?

A)Education was limited to the priestly class.
B)Virtually all scribes were men, but female scribes are mentioned in Mesopotamian records.
C)Because education was accomplished through memorization, there was no need for textbooks.
D)The Sumerian system of writing did not spread to other parts of the Near East.
E)none of the above

Question 28

Which of the following was NOT true of Mesopotamian trade?

A)Trade was conducted almost exclusively by the state bureaucracy.
B)The Mesopotamian economy depended heavily on trade.
C)Written records were required of all business transactions.
D)Weights and measures were standardized and interest on loans was limited.
E)The most important imports were stone, timber, and silver.

Question 29

The powers of the Egyptian pharaoh included

A)authorizing commercial ventures.
B)theoretical ownership of all Egyptian land.
C)the management of an army of government officials.
D)the responsibility for rendering justice.
E)all of the above

Question 30

The Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom, and New Kingdom periods of Egyptian history

A)were separated by two Intermediate Periods. In each of these periods, the growing power of the nobility brought instability with foreign invasion, an additional factor in the Second Intermediate Period.
B)formed one seamless continuum of stable government.
C)were separated by two Intermediate Periods caused by foreign invasion.
D)demonstrate the dynamic nature of Egyptian civilization.
E)ended through revolt prompted by the expense of the construction of the pyramids.

Question 31

The Egyptian writing system, known as hieroglyphics, was

A)a wedged shaped writing system formed with a reed stylus.
B)a form of picture writing in which figures such as crocodiles, sails, and eyes represented words or sounds that could be combined to form words.
C)the world's first writing system.
D)not forbidden by priests to be used in pyramid texts.
E)used exclusively to record business transactions.

Question 32

Established at the beginning of the Old Kingdom, the pharaoh was the earthly embodiment of the deity

A)Aton.
B)Osiris.
C)Nut.
D)Amon.
E)Horus.

Question 33

Akhenaton's monotheism

A)may be viewed as the vision of a great prophet who replaced traditional polytheism with a single god, Aton, depicted as the sun disk.
B)may have been intended to stem the growing power of Egypt's priests.
C)had little impact on the Egyptian population and was quickly eliminated after Akhenaton's death.
D)is a continuing controversy among historians.
E)all of the above

Question 34

Which factor best explains why a Mesopotamian king was NOT perceived as an all-powerful ruler?

A)The king became a god only after his death.
B)Kings shared power equally with priests.
C)The king was selected to rule by the gods, but was subservient to them like everyone else.
D)Kingship never became hereditary.
E)Except in war, kings were subservient to the priests.

Question 35

According to the text, the "finest work of Mesopotamian literature" was the

A)Pentateuch .
B)Epic of Gilgamesh .
C)code of Hammurabi.
D)Book of Instructions .
E)Iliad and the Odyssey .

Question 36

Which of the following is the name of the ruler of Upper Egypt who conquered the Nile Delta and Lower Egypt?

A)Narmer
B)Ramses
C)Amenhotep
D)Tutankhamen
E)Hatchepsut

Question 37

Mesopotamian astronomy

A)concentrated on abstract principles similarly to Mesopotamian mathematics.
B)devised a calendar based on the motion of the sun.
C)was used mainly to determine the will of the gods.
D)focused on the cause and effect connections between phenomena.
E)all of the above

Question 38

Which of the following best describes the role of the Nile in Egyptian civilization?

A)Although the Nile provided fertile, well-watered land, ancient Egypt was shaped more by frequent foreign invasions.
B)Due to its unpredictability, the Nile helped to establish the intensely pessimistic quality of Egyptian culture.
C)Together with the Tigris and Euphrates, the Nile ensured stability and abundance in Egypt.
D)The predictability of the Nile and the abundant natural resources it delivered gave Egypt an unusual sense of security and stability.
E)The Nile effectively divided Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt.

Question 39

All of the following features were true of the Middle Kingdom EXCEPT

A)restoration of pharaonic rule.
B)economic revival.
C)reinvigoration of cultural life.
D)control of Nubia.
E)creation of noble domination of political life.

Question 40

Mesopotamian advances in mathematics included

A)multiplication and division tables, cubes, and cube roots.
B)the division of circles into 360 degrees.
C)the basis for the Pythagorean theorem and for quadratic equations.
D)the ability to calculate the area of right triangles and rectangles.
E)all of the above

Question 41

Which name is best associated with the Wise Lord or the god of light and justice?

A)Ahriman
B)Ma'at
C)Ahura Mazda
D)Isis
E)Yahweh

Question 42

Key Terms Instructions: Please define the following key terms. Show Who? What? Where? When? Why Important?
Neolithic Revolution

Question 43

Key Terms Instructions: Please define the following key terms. Show Who? What? Where? When? Why Important?
code of Hammurabi

Question 44

The Chaldean empire reached its height under the rule of

A)Cyrus.
B)Esarhaddon.
C)Darius.
D)Nebuchadnezzar.
E)Zarathustra. ​

Question 45

Zoroastrianism is best described as

A)the Babylonian astrological system.
B)Egypt's experiment in monotheism.
C)the Persian religion that stressed ethics; envisioned a cosmic battle between good and evil; and promised eternity in paradise to those who chose good and eternal torment to those who chose evil.
D)the monotheistic religion whose god expelled humankind from paradise, nearly ended the world with a flood, and established a special relationship with one nation.
E)a dramatic departure from the political and cultural universalism of the Persian empire.

Question 46

Key Terms Instructions: Please define the following key terms. Show Who? What? Where? When? Why Important?
civilization

Question 47

In the passage from the "Lament for Ur" presented in the text, the god Enlil punished the people of Ur through

A)storms.
B)earthquake.
C)fire.
D)flood.
E)all of the above

Question 48

Which of the following CANNOT be associated with the emergence of international empires after 1500 b.c. ?

A)the extension of civilization beyond the river valleys
B)a sharp break with the past that prevented the first civilizations from influencing what would become the West
C)the migration of Indo-European peoples
D)an intermingling of peoples and cultural traditions
E)new languages which were derived from an Indo-European core

Question 49

Key Terms Instructions: Please define the following key terms. Show Who? What? Where? When? Why Important?
ziggurat

Question 50

Which of the following statements is true of the Hittite empire ?

A)The empire failed to blend the culture of Indo-Europeans, Mesopotamia, and Asia Minor.
B)The empire did not extend beyond Asia Minor.
C)The Hittites possessed a well-trained army of light horse-drawn chariots and well-armed foot soldiers.
D)The Hittites were the first to develop a substantial bronze industry.
E)all of the above

Question 51

The mythmaking mind of the ancient Near East

A)had no conception of natural causes or natural law.
B)sought logical consistency in its belief system.
C)developed an awareness of repetitive laws inherent in nature.
D)proclaims truth derived through reason.
E)made life seem overwhelming and death more frightening.

Question 52

Key Terms Instructions: Please define the following key terms. Show Who? What? Where? When? Why Important?
sympathetic magic

Question 53

Key Terms Instructions: Please define the following key terms. Show Who? What? Where? When? Why Important?
Paleolithic

Question 54

Key Terms Instructions: Please define the following key terms. Show Who? What? Where? When? Why Important?
cuneiform

Question 55

Key Terms Instructions: Please define the following key terms. Show Who? What? Where? When? Why Important?
Mesopotamia

Question 56

The first alphabet was devised by the

A)Hittites.
B)Phoenicians.
C)Aramaeans.
D)Persians.
E)Greeks.

Question 57

Persian kings

A)were far weaker than other Near Eastern rulers.
B)thoroughly rejected the Assyrian model of imperial administration.
C)allowed provincials a large measure of self-rule.
D)had no means of guarding against subversion in their vast territory.
E)eradicated local laws and traditions to institute their domination.

Question 58

To legitimize her rule, Hatchepsut

A)emphasized her divine birth and claimed to be conceived by the god Amon-Re.
B)was depicted with male attire and a male body.
C)sought to create a clear distinction between her position as queen regent and as pharaoh.
D)promoted trading expeditions to the land of Punt that sought precious treasures used in mummification and rituals.
E)all of the above

Question 59

Which of the following groups built an empire base on an all-consuming concern for war and the use of terror?

A)Assyrians
B)Canaanites
C)Medes
D)Neo-Babylonian (Chaldeans)
E)Persians

Question 60

The Greeks borrowed all of the following from ancient Near Eastern civilizations EXCEPT

A)Egyptian geometry.
B)Babylonian astronomy.
C)Mesopotamian mythologies.
D)Mesopotamian literary themes.
E)an awareness of general laws that became the basis of Greek philosophy.

Question 61

Instructions: Please use this outline map of the Near East to answer the question(s).
Clearly draw in the boundaries of the Assyrian and Persian Empires at their height.

Question 62

Instructions: Please write a thorough, well-organized essay to answer each question. What factors contributed to the development of Egyptian civilization? What was their impact on the nature of the Egyptian monarchy and Egyptian society in general?

Question 63

Key Terms Instructions: Please define the following key terms. Show Who? What? Where? When? Why Important?
Ma'at

Question 64

Instructions: Please use this outline map of the Near East to answer the question(s).
Locate and label the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Locate and label the body of water into which the rivers flow.

Question 65

Instructions: Please write a thorough, well-organized essay to answer each question. How did policies of Pharaoh Amenhotep IV challenge traditional Egyptian beliefs, and what impact did his attempt at religious change have on Egyptian civilization? What does his reign reveal about New Kingdom Egypt?

Question 66

Instructions: Please write a thorough, well-organized essay to answer each question. What role did geographical and environmental features play in the development of the earlier civilizations? Where were these civilizations located and why?

Question 67

Instructions: Please write a thorough, well-organized essay to answer each question. Explain the major differences between the Neolithic Age and the Paleolithic Age.

Question 68

Key Terms Instructions: Please define the following key terms. Show Who? What? Where? When? Why Important?
mythopoeic

Question 69

Instructions: Please use this outline map of the Near East to answer the question(s).
Locate and label the areas where the Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations were found. Locate and label the regions inhabited by the Hittites, Phoenicians, and Canaanites.

Question 70

Instructions: Please write a thorough, well-organized essay to answer each question. Explain, in detail, the Paleolithic Age. Why is the Paleolithic Age considered to be prehistory?

Question 71

Key Terms Instructions: Please define the following key terms. Show Who? What? Where? When? Why Important?
Hatchepsut

Question 72

Instructions: Please use this outline map of the Near East to answer the question(s).
Clearly mark the location of Lower and Upper Egypt. Locate and label the Nile. Locate and label the body of water into which the Nile flows.

Question 73

Instructions: Please write a thorough, well-organized essay to answer each question. What is civilization? What were the main characteristics of the first civilizations? How were the first civilizations related to life in prehistory?

Question 74

Key Terms Instructions: Please define the following key terms. Show Who? What? Where? When? Why Important?
hieroglyphics

Question 75

Key Terms Instructions: Please define the following key terms. Show Who? What? Where? When? Why Important?
Zoroastrianism

Question 76

Key Terms Instructions: Please define the following key terms. Show Who? What? Where? When? Why Important?
Indo-Europeans

Question 77

Instructions: Please write a thorough, well-organized essay to answer each question. Explain Mesopotamian government, law, and science. Is there a common theme among the three?

Question 78

Instructions: Please write a thorough, well-organized essay to answer each question. Historians divide the past into periods as a means of understanding historical development. What time periods are covered in Chapter One? Clearly identify each time period and explain its main features. How do these periods fit together? Evaluate the usefulness of this division of history into periods.

Question 79

Instructions: Please write a thorough, well-organized essay to answer each question. Contrast the religious attitudes of the Egyptians and the Mesopotamians. Explain why beliefs systems of the two civilizations developed differently.

Question 80

Key Terms Instructions: Please define the following key terms. Show Who? What? Where? When? Why Important?
Egypt