Deck 10: CLEP: Western Civilization

Question 1

Ancient Greece
-What was the Greek War fought between the city-state Athens and the Peloponnesian League led by the state of Sparta in 431 to 404 BC, which defeated Athens and devastated the city-state for many years?

A)Marathon War
B)Peloponnesian War
C)Spartan War
D)Theban War
E)Athenian War

Answer 1

B
The Peloponnesian War was a series of wars fought by the Athens city-states against the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta. It transformed the ancient Greek world through the conquest of Athens, which meant that the prosperous city-state lived in stark poverty, never able to regain its former economic glory. The distrust of those city-states in power increased the number of civil wars around Greece. The Peloponnesian War devastated Greece in such a way that it was unable to recover.

Question 2

Ancient Greece
-What is the mass military formation used by Alexander the Great of Macedonia through his conquest of Asia? Hint: This formation utilized shields and long spears called saris as, and enabled the infantry to make great strides to push through enemy soldiers.

A)Phalanx
B)Herringbone
C)Shield wall
D)Testudo
E)Echelon

Answer 2

A
The phalanx was the formation heavily favored by the Greeks. Originally the Greek word for finger, the phalanx formation incorporates full body armor, a shield, a sword, or a spear. Alexander the Great preferred to use a sarissa, a longer spear that required two hands to use, during his campaign through Asia. Because of its efficacy, the Greeks easily crushed their enemies as they marched through Asia Minor.

Question 3

Ancient Greece
-The geography of Greece is characterized by:

A)Islands and deserts
B)Mountains and islands
C)Mountains and forests
D)Islands and vast plains
E)Lakes and mountains

Answer 3

B
Geographically, Greece is characterized by mountains and islands. Hills and rivers are also prominent in the landscape, and all of the aforementioned features played pivotal roles in the formation of early government in Greece. The numerous geographical divisions within Greece caused each city to govern itself as a city-state. However, the physical barriers did not separate the city-states enough as to keep them from battling each other on an ongoing basis.

Question 4

Ancient Greece
-Which of the following does not accurately describe the Greek polis?

A)Each polis was dominated by agriculture, with farmers making up much of the ruling body.
B)Each polis had its own religious celebrations and local deities.
C)Each polis maintained a large standing army.
D)Many of the citizens of a polis actually lived outside of its city center (like Athens or Sparta).
E)Each polis minted its own coinage.

Question 5

Ancient Greece
-The center of an ancient Greek city-state was the:

A)Metic
B)Acropolis
C)Forum
D)Agora
E)Polis

Question 6

Ancient Greece
-Archaic Period Greek city-states operated under this political power structure:

A)Autocracy
B)Democracy
C)Monarchy
D)Theocracy
E)Oligarchy

Question 7

Ancient Greece
-What Athenian legislator created the Western World's first body of written laws, many of which established death as punishment for crimes?

A)Socrates
B)Archimedes
C)Draco
D)Aristarchus
E)Pericles

Question 8

Ancient Greece
-The two most prosperous crops in ancient Greece were which of the following?

A)Grapes and almonds
B)Olives and citrus fruits
C)Herbs and olives
D)Olives and grapes
E)Citrus fruits and herbs

Question 9

Ancient Greece
-Pythagoras was one of the earliest Greek scholars of:

A)Poetry
B)History
C)Astronomy
D)Anatomy
E)Mathematics

Question 10

Ancient Greece
-What set of plays by Greek dramatist Aeschylus is the only surviving collective work from the ancient period that was presented in trilogy format?

A)Oedipus the King
B)Antigone
C)Oresteia
E)Medea

Question 11

Ancient Greece
-Around 479 BCE, what two rival alliances did the Greek city-states divide into?

A)Corinthian League and Peloponnesian League
B)Delian League and Athenian League
C)Peloponnesian League and Athenian League
D)Athenian League and Corinthian League
E)Delian League and Peloponnesian League

Question 12

Ancient Greece
-What was the name for the armistice between the warring Greek city-states following the first phase of the Peloponnesian War?

A)Treaty of States
B)Common Peace
C)Corinthian League
D)Great Truce
E)Athenian Democracy

Question 13

Ancient Greece
-In which play did Sophocles write: "Anarchy- show me a greater crime in all the earth! She, she destroys cities, rips up houses, breaks the ranks of spearmen into headlong rout... Therefore we must defend the men who live by law, never let some woman triumph over us. Better to fall from power, if fall we must, at the hands of man- never be rated inferior to a woman, never."

A)Oedipus the King
B)The Libation Bearers
C)Antigone
D)Oedipus at Colonus
E)Iliad

Question 14

Ancient Greece
-Which of the following statesmen presided over the Golden Age of Athens?

A)Cleisthenes
B)Archimedes
C)Aristotle
D)Pericles
E)Socrates

Question 15

Ancient Greece
-Which of the following summaries most likely describes a literary work by Greek author Herodotus?

A)A political philosophy on the nature of justice in the city-state
B)A trilogy of tragic plays that reflect on the nature of evil in religious terms
C)A collection of postulates and proofs for the principles of geometry
D)A code of ethics describing the proper practices of medical doctors
E)A history detailing the Greco-Persian Wars as a conflict about slavery versus freedom

Question 16

Ancient Greece
-This illustration depicts what ancient Greek architectural work?

A)Parthenon
B)Acropolis
C)Temple of Zeus
D)Erechtheion
E)Pantheon

Question 17

Ancient Greece
-Which of the following phrases relates to the Hippocratic Oath?

A)"See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil."
B)"Do no harm."
C)"I will uphold the principles of democracy."
D)"I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth."
E)"I take thee to be my lawful wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better and for worse, for richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health, to honor and obey, until death do us part."

Question 18

Ancient Greece
-Who was Socrates to Plato?

A)Socrates was Plato's father.
B)Socrates and Plato's rival.
C)Socrates was Plato's teacher.
D)Socrates was Plato's student.
E)Socrates was Plato's grandson.

Question 19

Ancient Greece
-Which Greek philosopher wrote in Rhetoric that a woman's happiness was equally important as a man's happiness?

A)Socrates
B)Heraclitus
C)Plato
D)Euripides
E)Aristotle

Question 20

Ancient Greece
-This queen of the Greek gods and goddesses was also the goddess of marriage:

A)Diana
B)Hera
C)Hestia
D)Juno
E)Artemis

Question 21

Ancient Greece
-Athena was the Greek goddess of:

A)Love and beauty
B)Marriage and family
C)Wisdom and warfare
D)The hunt and virginity
E)Fertility and agriculture

Question 22

Ancient Greece
-The classical Greek gods and goddesses lived in or on:

A)The sky
B)Temple of Zeus
C)Mount Sinai
D)The Athenian Acropolis
E)Mount Olympus

Question 23

Ancient Greece
-Which of the following statements is not true of the Greek hero Heracles?

A)He rescued the Greek demigoddess Persephone from the underworld.
B)He was the son of Zeus and the mortal woman Alcmene.
C)He was forced to complete 12 labors to earn absolution for a sin.
D)He was driven to insanity by Hera, which led him to murder his own children.
E)He was considered the classical symbol of masculinity and heroism.

Question 24

Ancient Greece
-Which of the following art forms was the most common in Ancient Greece?

A)Paintings
B)Statues
C)Sketches
D)Frescoes
E)Mosaics

Question 25

Ancient Greece
-To which architectural order does the building above belong?

A)Doric
B)Spartan
C)Ionic
D)Athenian
E)Corinthian

Question 26

Ancient Greece
-What leader united the Greek city-states under uniform rule?

A)Pericles
B)Alexander the Great
C)Cyrus the Great
D)Philip II
E)Julius Caesar

Question 27

Ancient Greece
-Where was Alexander the Great from?

A)Persia
B)Babylon
C)Byzantium
D)Thebes
E)Macedon

Question 28

Ancient Greece
-In 331 BCE Alexander the Great achieved his greatest military feat when he conquered this empire:

A)Achaemenid
B)Greek
C)Egyptian
D)Indian
E)Byzantine

Question 29

Ancient Greece
-What stopped Alexander the Great in 327 BCE from expanding his empire to include all of India?

A)He was assassinated.
B)His army mutinied.
C)He died of natural causes.
D)He lost interest in acquiring India.
E)He was defeated by an opposing army.

Question 30

Ancient Greece
-What was the most significant result of Alexander the Great's reign?

A)The unification of the Greek city-states.
B)Judaism became the most prominent religion in the world.
C)The spread of Greek culture through Northern Africa, Persia and into central Asia.
D)The inclusion of Hellenistic artistic and academic styles in Western European culture.
E)The end of the Ptolemaic reign in Egypt.

Question 31

Ancient Greece
-What historical period began in Ancient Greece in the same year that Alexander the Great died?

A)Hellenic Period
B)Classical Period
C)Archaic Period
D)Hellenistic Period
E)Roman Period

Question 32

Ancient Greece
-The public teaching of a philosophy based on civic virtue is most closely associated with which of the following?

A)Stoicism
B)Aristotelianism
C)Platonism
D)Epicureanism
E)Skepticism

Question 33

Ancient Greece
-Which of the following schools of philosophy is most closely associated with pleasure-seeking?

A)Eclecticism
B)Epicureanism
C)Pluralism
D)Cynicism
E)Stoicism

Question 34

Ancient Greece
-Aristarchus of Samos devised this astronomical model, which stated that the sun is at the center of the solar system:

A)Soleiliocentric
B)Geocentric
C)Heliocentric
D)Monocentric
E)Lunacentric

Question 35

Ancient Greece
-Which Greek scientist and mathematician once made the following statement: "Give me a place to stand, and I shall move the world."

A)Pythagoras
B)Aristarchus of Samoa
C)Euclid
D)Hippocrates
E)Archimedes of Syracuse

Question 36

Ancient Greece
-Physicians from the Dogmatic school of medicine primarily:

A)Dissected corpses
B)Conducted experiments
C)Studied pharmacology
D)Practiced prayer as medicine
E)Focused on cures rather than causes

Question 37

Ancient Greece
-Which of the following statements best describes the Diadochi?

A)The statues that decorated Greek temples
B)The successors to Alexander the Great
C)The rules taught in Aristotle's school of philosophy
D)The Roman generals who assumed power in Greece
E)A religious cult in Ancient Greece

Question 38

Ancient Near East
-Who is the Ptolemaic Queen who was the final pharaoh of Egypt? Her dalliances with powerful leaders are as well-known as her beauty and she committed suicide by means of an asp bite on August 12, 30 BCE after the Battle of Actium.

A)Isis
B)Nefertiti
C)Cleopatra
D)Iaret
E)Takhat

Question 39

Ancient Near East
-What is the method of Egyptian burial which ensured that the body would be available for the afterlife? This process involved removing the internal organs, wrapping the body in linen, and burying it in a rectangular stone sarcophagus.

A)Mummification
B)Desiccation
C)Cremation
D)Embalming
E)Exhumation

Question 40

Ancient Near East
-Who was the 6th king of Babylon who ruled from 1795 - 1750 BC and was known for the first written code of laws in human history?

A)Hammurabi
B)Mentuhotep II
C)Darius
D)Cyrus
E)Sekhmet

Question 41

Ancient Near East
-Situated in the middle of the Silk Road between China and the Roman Empire, what was the ancient dynasty which defeated Alexander of Macedonia's Empire through conquering Mede a and Mesopotamia?

A)Seleucid Empire
B)Median Empire
C)Achaemenid Empire
D)Abbasid Caliphate
E)Parthian Empire

Question 42

Ancient Near East
-Where was the supposed capital of Astyages, which was at the bottom of Mount Alvandm, the summer residence of Cyrus the Great? This location later became the Parthian Empire's capital, where money such as drachm, tetradrachm, and other denominations were minted.

A)Sogdia
B)Samarkand
C)Ecbatana
D)Lydia
E)Media

Question 43

Ancient Near East
-The ancient period of the Near East occurred during these two historical ages:

A)Bronze Age and Iron Age
B)Mesopotamian and Sumerian
C)Old Kingdom and New Kingdom
D)Copper Age and Bronze Age
E)Prehistory and antiquity

Question 44

Ancient Near East
-Agricultural development in Mesopotamia was possible due to the creation of a system for:

A)Slave labor
B)Crop rotation
C)Irrigation
D)Seasonal calendars
E)Plowing

Question 45

Ancient Near East
-The earliest known multiplication tables were written by the:

A)Persians
B)Greeks
C)Egyptians
D)Mesopotamians
E)Romans

Question 46

Ancient Near East
-Which of the following scientific fields was studied the most in Ancient Near Eastern cultures?

A)Geology
B)Physics
C)Chemistry
D)Biology
E)Astronomy

Question 47

Ancient Near East
-The best known work of literature created in the Ancient Near East is the Epic of:

A)Hammurabi
B)Gilgamesh
C)Tutankhamen
D)Abraham
E)Amenhotep

Question 48

Ancient Near East
-This Babylonian king is remembered for establishing a unified code of law:

A)Cyrus
B)Minos
C)Hammurabi
D)Gilgamesh
E)Thutmose

Question 49

Ancient Near East
-The Valley of the Kings is closest to this body of water:

A)Euphrates River
B)Tigris River
C)Sea of Jordan
D)Nile River
E)Mediterranean Sea

Question 50

Ancient Near East
-Why was the Phoenician alphabet so pivotal in the development of written language?

A)It was the first writing system adopted in a region outside of the one in which it was developed.
B)It was the preferred syllabry of kings and was subsequently the first language taught to the people of every social class.
C)It was the syllabry in which most early religious texts were written.
D)It was the most extensive ancient language and it contained hundreds more glyphs than hieroglyphics or cuneiform.
E)It was the first written system in which the glyphs represented consonant sounds in a word rather than a whole word.

Question 51

Ancient Near East
-Most early Mesopotamian governments were characterized by this organizational power structure:

A)Sovereign democracy
B)City-state
C)Colony
D)Empire
E)Municipality

Question 52

Ancient Near East
-Human civilization began following the development of:

A)Written language
B)Government
C)Organized religion
D)Trade
E)Agriculture

Question 53

Ancient Near East
-Around 720 BCE, the Ten Lost Tribes were expelled from their homeland by the:

A)Assyrians
B)Egyptians
C)Hebrews
D)Babylonians
E)Persians

Question 54

Ancient Near East
-The civilized states in the Ancient Near East became part of the Achaemenid (or Persian) Empire when it was led by:

A)Hammurabi
B)Cyrus the Great
C)Abraham
D)Sargon
E)Alexander the Great

Question 55

Ancient Near East
-The ancient period of the Near East ended when this empire unified Mesopotamia:

A)Phoenician
B)Neo-Babylonian
C)Achaemenid
D)Roman
E)Greek

Question 56

Ancient Near East
-The land once known as Persia is primarily located in this present-day country:

A)Saudi Arabia
B)Turkey
C)Syria
D)Iran
E)Iraq

Question 57

Ancient Near East
-The Phoenicians were known as traders in:

A)Gold
B)Green
C)Red
D)Blue
E)Purple

Question 58

Ancient Near East
-The final Egyptian pharaoh was:

A)Cleopatra VII
B)Tutankhamen
C)Ramses III
D)Ptolemy V
E)Amenhotep III

Question 59

Ancient Near East
-The first people to commonly use coin currency were:

A)Sumerians
B)Lydians
C)Phoenicians
D)Greek
E)Persians

Question 60

Ancient Near East
-What culture bridged the ancient period of the Near East with ancient Greece on the island of Crete?

A)Byzantine
B)Akkadian
C)Assyrian
D)Lydian
E)Minoan

Question 61

Ancient Rome
-Which Egyptian library, under the patronage of the Ptolemaic Dynasty, did Julius Caesar burn? This library contained some of the most important books from antiquity.

A)­Library of Baghdad
B)Library of Constantinople
C)Library of Athens
D)Library of Alexandria
E)Library of Cairo

Question 62

Ancient Rome
-In the sixth century BCE, which group of people from Ancient Tuscany did the Romans fight?

A)Gauls
B)Byzantines
C)Cambrians
D)Goths
E)Etruscans

Question 63

Ancient Rome
-In 509 BCE, the Roman absolute monarchy was overthrown and the city became a:

A)Republic
B)Dictatorship
C)Theocracy
D)Plutocracy
E)Constitutional monarchy

Question 64

Ancient Rome
-What was the highest government office in the Roman Republic?

A)Patrician
B)Consul
C)Senate
D)Censor
E)Tribute

Question 65

Ancient Rome
-What was the primary difference between the plebeians and patricians of Ancient Rome?

A)Plebeians were slaves and patricians were citizens.
B)Plebeians were citizens and patricians were slaves.
C)Plebeians were the common people and patricians were the aristocracy.
D)Plebeians were the aristocracy and patricians were the common people.
E)Plebeians were slaves and patricians were male citizens.

Question 66

Ancient Rome
-In the Roman Republic, what government official was responsible for supervising morality, maintaining records about the people, and administrating funds?

A)Registrar
B)Tribute
C)Senator
D)Censor
E)Consul

Question 67

Ancient Rome
-From 264 to 241 BCE, Rome fought the First Punic War against:

A)Troy
B)Athens
C)Milan
D)Tuscany
E)Carthage

Question 68

Ancient Rome
-Hannibal's legendary crossing of the Alps occurred during the:

A)Second Punic War
B)Third Macedonian War
C)First Punic War
D)First Macedonian War
E)Pyrrhic War

Question 69

Ancient Rome
-In 146 BCE, the Roman Republic annexed which of the following provinces?

A)Greece and Egypt
B)Macedon and Africa
C)Persia and Africa
D)Greece and Gaul
E)Macedon and Gaul

Question 70

Ancient Rome
-Who was the Roman god of the seas and earthquakes?

A)Vulcan
B)Poseidon
C)Neptune
D)Hephaestus
E)Jupiter

Question 71

Ancient Rome
-A 15th-century painting by Sandro Botticelli depicts a naked woman rising rom the ocean in a giant sea shell. This work depicts which ancient Roman goddess?

A)Cupid
B)Aphrodite
C)Grace
D)Venus
E)Diana

Question 72

Ancient Rome
-Following the first Roman civil war in 83/82 BCE, which man became dictator of Rome?

A)Augustus
B)Cicero
C)Hannibal
D)Julius Caesar
E)Sulla

Question 73

Ancient Rome
-Which of the following individuals was a leader in a slave uprising against the Roman Republic?

A)Spartacus
B)Claudius
C)Augustus
D)Julius Caesar
E)Plutarch

Question 74

Ancient Rome
-What seminal city did Pompey the Great capture in 63 BCE?

A)Athens
B)Jerusalem
C)Carthage
D)Alexandria
E)Babylon

Question 75

Ancient Rome
-Which of the following quotations was not spoken by Cicero?

A)"True law is right reason in agreement with nature."
B)"While there's life, there's hope."
C)"Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears..."
D)"Let the punishment match the offense."
E)"To each his own."

Question 76

Ancient Rome
-In 60 BCE, Julius Caesar, Marcus Crassus and Pompey the Great formed which body to govern the Roman Republic?

A)Second Triumvirate
B)Comitia Tributa
C)Pax Romana
D)First Triumvirate
E)Roman Senate

Question 77

Ancient Rome
-Julius Caesar began the second Roman civil war when he:

A)Orchestrated the Second Triumvirate
B)Sacked Rome
C)Orchestrated an overthrow of the Optimates in the Roman Senate
D)Assassinated Pompey the Great
E)Crossed the Rubicon

Question 78

Ancient Rome
-Julius Caesar was assassinated on the floor of the Roman Senate on a day later remembered as which of the following?

A)Ides of March
B)Black Friday
C)Black Monday
D)April Fool's Day
E)All Hallow's Eve

Question 79

Ancient Rome
-During the third Roman civil war, Julius Caesar's heirs, Marc Antony and Octavian, fought against Julius Caesar's assassins. Who led Julius Caesar's assassins?

A)Brutus and Caesarion
B)Cassius and Brutus
C)Augustus Caesar and Cassius
D)Brutus and Marcus Aurelius
E)Caesarion and Marcus Aurelius

Question 80

Ancient Rome
-When the Second Triumvirate between Octavian and Marc Antony fell apart, Antony was allied with which foreign leader?

A)Justinian I
B)Hannibal
C)Cleopatra VII
D)Pompey the Great
E)Julius Caesar