Deck 3: Religions of Late Antiquity

Question 1

When we consider religions of "antiquity" which of the following are we referring to?

A) specific philosophy
B) specific religion
C) specific culture
D) specific ethnic group
E) specific geographical area

Answer 1

A

Question 2

What are the two terms that identify the broad region associated with religions of antiquity?

A) Fertile Crescent and ancient Near East
B) Roman Empire and Middle East
C) North Africa and Middle East
D) Fertile Crescent and Europe
E) Europe and ancient Near East

Answer 2

A

Question 3

What tradition is perceived to be equated with "antiquity"?

A) Early Christian tradition
B) Greco-Roman pre-Christian tradition
C) Greek, Latin and Christian traditions
D) Rabbinic and Christian traditions
E) Hellenistic and Christian traditions

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Between what years is the famous Gobekli Tepe shrine dated?

A) 3000 to 2000 BCE
B) 1500 to 1000 BCE
C) 750 to 250 BCE
D) 9500 to 8000 BCE
E) 1200 to 1000 BCE

Question 5

What was the signature item found at Catalhoyuk?

A) seated large breasted female about to give birth flanked by two leopards
B) temple dedicated to goddesses of fertility
C) pyramids that served as a site for ritual practices
D) the first library with books on religious devotion
E) the first large scale altar devoted to animal sacrifices

Question 6

Who was Egypt's most widely adored deity?

A) Isis
B) Hathor
C) Nut
D) Horus
E) Atum

Question 7

Which of the following strongly characterized the religious character of antiquity?

A) Monotheism
B) Hedonism
C) Divine absence
D) Divine omnipresence
E) Scripturalism

Question 8

The Roman counterpart to the supreme Greek God Zeus is which of the following?

A) Juno
B) Jupiter
C) Venus
D) Mars
E) Neptune

Question 9

What type of writing is the Enuma Elish?

A) Greek epic hero narratives
B) Roman sacred poetry
C) Babylonian creation epic
D) Near eastern apocalyptic literature
E) Mystery cult literature

Question 10

One of the early Sumerian texts refers to how many gods?

A) 12
B) 777
C) 2,400
D) 3,600
E) 12,000

Question 11

Which one of the following was the supreme god of the Egyptians?

A) Amun-Ra
B) Horus
C) Geb
D) Nut
E) Set

Question 12

Which one of the following was a defining characteristic of gods in antiquity?

A) Love
B) Judgement
C) Accessibility
D) Detachment
E) Power

Question 13

Which one of the following was a defining characteristic of gods in antiquity?

A) Vengeful
B) Righteous
C) Mysterious
D) Immortality
E) Darkness

Question 14

Who were the two most important female deities in Egypt?

A) Anout and Anat
B) Anuket and Astarte
C) Bat and Eye of Ra
D) Hathor and Isis
E) Meret and Mut

Question 15

Which goddess gave birth to a brood of sea monsters?

A) Tiamat
B) Hathor
C) Isis
D) Bat
E) Anat

Question 16

Where are accounts of the creation of humans discovered in Egyptian antiquity?

A) Scriptures
B) Prayer Books
C) Letters
D) Coffin Texts
E) Pyramid Doors

Question 17

Which state best describes humanity within the classical myths, such as, in Ovid's Metamorphoses?

A) Enlightened
B) Angelic
C) Incomprehensible
D) Sinful
E) Flawed

Question 18

In what epic does Zeus remark that greed and folly doubled the suffering of humans?

A) Epic of Gilgamesh
B) Aeneid
C) Divine Comedy
D) Song of Roland
E) Odyssey

Question 19

Although the gods could be worshipped anywhere, where was the preferred place to give homage to the gods?

A) Sanctuaries
B) Caves
C) Homes
D) Mountaintops
E) Public Squares

Question 20

When did Mesopotamian and Egyptian temples first appear?

A) Tenth and ninth millennia BCE
B) First millennia BCE
C) Fifth and fourth millennia BCE
D) Second millennia BCE
E) Twelfth to eleventh millennia BCE

Question 21

Greek temples were based on which of the following models?

A) Babylonian
B) Assyrian
C) Roman
D) Mesopotamian
E) Egyptian

Question 22

Approximately, how many statues, images and votive offerings where held in the temples across the Roman Empire of antiquity?

A) 500,000
B) Several million
C) Between 200,000 to 300,000
D) Between 500,000 to one million
E) Million

Question 23

In the most important of Egyptian daily rituals, what were the statues offered?

A) incense
B) prayers
C) candles
D) food
E) money

Question 24

Which of the following was NOT typically part of a festival in antiquity?

A) a speech by the emperor
B) hymns to the deity
C) games or competitions
D) a procession
E) a sacrificial ritual

Question 25

Who were the Roman priestesses that were chosen as young girls to serve for 30 years.

A) Six Vestals
B) Six Dominas
C) Six Sisters
D) Six Abbesses
E) Six Prima Donnas

Question 26

Which Egyptian deity was ruler of the underworld?

A) Hathor
B) Isis
C) Osiris
D) Anuket
E) Bat

Question 27

What was another name for Enuma Elish?

A) Epic of Origins
B) Epic of Beginnings
C) Epic of Construction
D) Epic of Creation
E) Epic of the Cycles of Birth

Question 28

What theme does the Epic of Erra explore?

A) Consequences of god's omnipresence
B) Consequences of god's creation
C) Consequences of god's love
D) Consequences of god's abandonment
E) Consequences of god's vengeance

Question 29

The Ludlul Bel Nemeqi ("I Will Praise the Lord of Wisdom") portrays Marduk simultaneously as which of the following two options?

A) wrathful and merciful
B) absent and present
C) one and many
D) revealed and hidden
E) spirt and matter

Question 30

What was an ancient Egyptian's greatest wish?

A) to be feared
B) to be loved
C) to be remembered
D) to be martyred
E) to be rich

Question 31

The Egyptian ruler Akhenaten is most widely known for which of the following?

A) reviving traditional religions
B) spreading traditional religions
C) preserving traditional religions
D) overturning traditional religions
E) amplifying traditional religions

Question 32

Who is the author of the Greek epic the Iliad?

A) Virgil
B) Hesiod
C) Plato
D) Herodotus
E) Homer

Question 33

Where was the most famous site for the rites of the mystery cults in Greece?

A) Athens
B) Eleusis
C) Sparta
D) Syracuse
E) Rhodes

Question 34

Which of the following Greek teachings did Heraclitus and Xenophanes reject?

A) anthropomorphic view of the divine
B) incorruptibility of souls
C) creation of world from pre-existent matter
D) transcendence of the divine
E) moral absolutism

Question 35

Who was the most influential Greek philosopher to reflect upon the divine nature?

A) Plato
B) Heraclitus
C) Xenophanes
D) Aristotle
E) Dionysus

Question 36

Which one of the following was Rome's defining characteristic?

A) Justice
B) Patronage
C) Democracy
D) Power
E) Adaptability

Question 37

Who is Aeneas as depicted within Vergil's Aeneid?

A) a just ruler who was considered divine
B) a heroic warrior whose mother was a priestess
C) a refugee who was the son of human father and divine mother
D) a peasant who led a revolt against the civil magistrates
E) an influential poet who fell in love with a goddess

Question 38

In Human and Divine Antiquities, what did Varro effectively make a subject of study?

A) Roman philosophy
B) Roman poetry
C) Greek religion
D) Roman religion
E) Greek philosophy

Question 39

What was the approximate population of the Roman Empire during the reign of Augustus?

A) 50 million
B) 5 million
C) 15 million
D) 3 million
E) 25 million

Question 40

The most significant source for our knowledge of Zoroastrianism comes from which of the following?

A) Bible
B) Vedas
C) Tripitaka
D) Agam Sutras
E) Avesta

Question 41

Which of the following best describes hagiographies?

A) reliable historical accounts of saints
B) idealized biographies of spiritual figures
C) synonymous with the sacred scriptures
D) epic poetry on fictitious figures
E) romanticized narratives of political leaders

Question 42

What is the name of the "Evil Spirit" created by Ahura Mazda?

A) Asha
B) Angra Mainyu
C) Spenta Mainyu
D) Drui Mazda
E) Yasna Gathas

Question 43

What title was given to the priests sponsored by the Arsacid royal family?

A) Magus
B) Asha
C) Lama
D) Rector
E) Curate

Question 44

The termination of the Achaemendi Empire by Alexander initiated which Age?

A) Hellenistic Age
B) Golden Age
C) Trojan Age
D) Roman Age
E) Imperial Age

Question 45

The term "apocalypse" normally refers to which of the following?

A) New beginning of the world
B) Cataclysmic ending of the world
C) Revelation associated with new religions
D) Vindication associated with new political orders
E) Restoration of the world

Question 46

What is the Denkard?

A) Evil demons in the Zoroastrian tradition
B) Zoroastrian concept that means holiness
C) Influential Zoroastrian priest
D) A later Zoroastrian literary work
E) The oldest biography of Zoroaster

Question 47

When did Zoroastrianism suffer a major blow?

A) In the first century CE when Christianity made inroads into Persia
B) In the fourth century BCE during the reign of Alexander the Great
C) In the seventh century when the Sasanian ruler surrendered to Arab Muslims
D) In the first century BCE when the Sasanian ruler was defeated by Augustus
E) In the third century CE when Mani's teachings supplanted Zoroastrianism

Question 48

Which of the following secrets was revealed to Mani?

A) Secrets of the Mystery Cults
B) Mystery of the Apostles
C) Mystery of the Religious Traditions
D) Secrets of Truth
E) Mystery of the Gods

Question 49

Mani was obsessed with which of the following concepts?

A) Origin of evil
B) Origin of love
C) Origin of free will
D) Question of eternity
E) Question of determinism

Question 50

Which Roman emperor ordered Manichean leaders to be burned alive?

A) Augustus
B) Constantine
C) Julian
D) Diocletian
E) Decius

Question 51

Most religious traditions of antiquity recognized hundreds of gods.

Question 52

When considering religions of "antiquity" we could be referring to any part of the world.

Question 53

Manichaeism emerged in Western Europe in the third century CE.

Question 54

Fourth century Christian used the term "antiquity" to disparage the Greco-Roman traditions.

Question 55

The supreme Mesopotamian god Enil was later supplanted by Marduk.

Question 56

We have only one complete version of the Epic of Gilgamesh.

Question 57

The doctrine of creation ex nihilo (out of nothing) was a common teaching antiquity.

Question 58

Egyptians, Greeks, and Mesopotamians envisioned a tripartite cosmos: heaven, earth, and netherworld.

Question 59

Isis's life-saving intercession figured prominently on a type of small stela called a cippus.

Question 60

Most Egyptian rituals were performed before the public in open squares.

Question 61

Except during public festivals, ritual was the exclusive prerogative of priests.

Question 62

The Egyptians saw death as a transition, that is, a passage into another world.

Question 63

The Epic of Gilgamesh discusses many topics but ignores any discussion of death.

Question 64

The Egyptian word Ma'at had several overlapping meanings-order, truth, justice-and in essence meant an omnipresent goodness or rightness.

Question 65

The limbs of Osiris were taken on a procession during the pan-Egyptian festival of Khoiak.

Question 66

Herodotus asserted that Plato and Aristotle were the first to describe the typical behaviors of the Greek gods.

Question 67

Plutarch was an Alexandrian priest who taught the gods were beyond our human imitation.

Question 68

One of the three maxims placed above the entrance to Apollo's temple is "know thyself."

Question 69

The Thesmophoria was most important female-centered festival throughout Greece.

Question 70

The Greeks held to one singular understanding of fate as that which was spun and assigned.

Question 71

Xenophanes was a major proponent of an anthropomorphic view of the divine.

Question 72

The Roman rejection of foreign gods reached its apex during the Second Carthaginian War (218-202 BCE).

Question 73

Worship of the Magna Mater ("Great Mother") had a short and troubled history in Rome.

Question 74

Ovid's Metamorphoses challenged Augustus's legitimation myth and Rome's imperial cult.

Question 75

Human and Divine Antiquities is a 41-book compilation of Roman religious practices.

Question 76

Cicero rejected the idea of assigning any value to traditional civic religion.

Question 77

During the reign of Augustus, the city of Rome regulated and restricted religious expression.

Question 78

The majority of traditional religions in Rome were thriving throughout the fourth century until Constantine came into power.

Question 79

The majority of the Avesta is the Yasna ("worship").

Question 80

Hagiographies provide the most accurate historical accounts of political leaders in antiquity.