Deck 10: The End of the Classical Era: World History in Transition, 200-700 Ce

Question 1

Which of the following was a common problem for all three of the Eurasian classical civilizations?

A) Total loss of all elements of civilization
B) Outside invasions by nomadic pastoralists
C) Failure of the agricultural systems
D) Internal rebellions of peasants

Answer 1

Outside invasions by nomadic pastoralists

Question 2

Which of the following people contributed to the decline in Roman civilization?

A) Attila the Hun
B) Hannibal
C) Pompey
D) Gupta

Answer 2

Attila the Hun

Question 3

Which classical civilization was the first to decline?

A) Han China
B) Rome
C) Gupta India
D) They all declined at the same time.

Answer 3

Han China

Question 4

What was the cause of the deteriorating condition of the peasantry in later Han China?

A) A lengthy drought that caused failure of the crops
B) The growth of slavery following the introduction of Buddhism
C) The growing power of the great landholders to tax leading to growing serfdom
D) Confucian acceptance of the enslavement of the small farmers

Question 5

The Yellow Turbans were

A) Confucian administrators in the empire of the later Han.
B) Buddhist missionaries following the fall of the Han.
C) leading members of the scholar-gentry in Han China.
D) Daoist leaders of a peasant revolution against the Han.

Question 6

Which of the following developments did NOT occur following the fall of the Han dynasty?

A) China was ruled for several centuries by the landowning class who operated private armies.
B) Southern and northern China pulled apart with greater prosperity in southern China.
C) A Hsiung-nu dynasty was established in northern China.
D) Buddhism entered China.

Question 7

Which of the following statements about early Buddhism in China is most accurate?

A) The Chinese imposed some of their own values on Buddhism such as the importance of maintaining families and political loyalty to the state.
B) The Indian Buddhist who entered China separated themselves from Chinese traditions and established regional communities that remained independent of the Chinese state.
C) Chinese Buddhism bore no resemblance to Indian Buddhism.
D) Daoists saw the emergence of Chinese Buddhism as an opportunity to overthrow the fundamental trend in China toward Confucianism.

Question 8

How did the emergence of Buddhism in China affect Daoism?

A) Daoism merged with Buddhism to create a single religious movement.
B) Daoism rapidly disappeared following the appearance of Buddhism.
C) The appearance of Buddhism led to greater formalization of Daoist doctrine and more efforts to reach the common people.
D) Daoism became an illegal religion and the Chinese state moved rapidly to suppress various Daoist rituals, particularly those dealing with magic and healing.

Question 9

What dynasty succeeded the Han?

A) Tang
B) Song
C) Sui
D) Qin

Question 10

What was the cause of the demise of the Sui dynasty?

A) Rebellions by the Yellow Turbans
B) Financial collapse caused by expansion into Korea and central Asia
C) Overthrow by a combination of landholders and Buddhist monks
D) Invasion from southeast Asia

Question 11

What group was responsible for the disruption of the Gupta empire?

A) Aryans
B) Tamils
C) Germans
D) Huns

Question 12

The imperial structure of India was briefly restored in 506 C.E. during the reign of

A) Chandragupta II.
B) Harsha.
C) Chandrasankar.
D) Devi.

Question 13

The name given to the regional princes who governed much of India after the imperial period was

A) emir.
B) Dolmut.
C) Bhoona.
D) Rajput.

Question 14

What was the status of Buddhism in India following the fall of the Gupta empire?

A) It continued to decline in the face of the Gupta preference for Hinduism and the dislike of the succeeding military rulers for Buddhist principles.
B) Buddhism declined, but retained a presence in India as it was adopted by the Hunnic invaders.
C) Buddhism was resurrected as a major religion in India because it was adopted by many of the regional leaders who sought to buttress their authority.
D) Buddhism replaced Hinduism as the primary religion of the Indian population, although it was outlawed by the ruling military princes.

Question 15

The cult of what Hindu divinity gained greater popularity following the fall of the Gupta empire?

A) Shiva
B) Devi
C) Kali
D) Mandala

Question 16

What was the impact of the reassertion of Hinduism on the caste system of India?

A) The caste system was abolished.
B) The caste system remained important and unchanged.
C) The caste system was restricted to northern India.
D) The caste system became more complex.

Question 17

During what century did the Arabic armies representing Islam reach northwestern India?

A) 4th
B) 6th
C) 7th
D) 8th

Question 18

Which statement about India?s economic activity in the wake of the collapse of the Gupta dynasty is NOT true?

A) India remained economically strong
B) The decades after the fall of the Guptas saw new outreach in trade
C) Trade collapsed, and India was economically devastated
D) By the 8th century, Islamic competition began to affect India?s economic position

Question 19

How does the decline and fall of the Roman empire compare chronologically to the collapse of the Han and the Gupta empires?

A) The Roman empire collapsed before either of the other two.
B) The Roman empire collapsed after both of the other two.
C) The Roman empire collapsed after the Han but before the Gupta.
D) The Roman empire collapsed after the Gupta but before the Han.

Question 20

What aspect of Rome?s population size was a sign of its decline?

A) Declining population as birth rates no longer kept pace with death rates
B) Rising population as Roman expansion led to increasing number of slaves
C) Declining population as religious conversion led to many males choosing celibacy as a way of life
D) Rising population leading to food shortages, particularly acute in the eastern half of the empire

Question 21

Which of the following was NOT a symptom of Rome?s decline?

A) The brutality and arbitrariness of many later Roman emperors
B) The increasing difficulty of tax collecting
C) A growing sense of despair among Roman citizens
D) The catastrophic effects of continuing expansion

Question 22

After what date did the signs of decline become evident within the Roman empire?

A) 88 C.E.
B) 180 C.E.
C) 250 C.E.
D) 476 C.E.

Question 23

What impact did the end of Roman expansion have on the economy of the empire?

A) It permitted the empire to focus its resources over a smaller territory and reduced the strain on the imperial economy.
B) The primary result was the restriction of Roman commerce to trade with sub-Saharan Africa.
C) The economy suffered as the Romans lost control over the trade of the Indian Ocean.
D) The end of expansion led to a labor shortage as the Roman economy depended on a steady supply of slave labor.

Question 24

What was the greatest weakness in the political constitution of the Roman Empire?

A) The Roman army depended entirely on small farmers as conscripts.
B) There was no established principle of succession to the office of emperor.
C) The Romans had no established legal system.
D) The aristocratic Senate completely dominated the imperial constitution.

Question 25

Which of the following was NOT a problem in the process of decline within the Roman Empire?

A) A series of plagues
B) Lead poisoning
C) Rising population leading to food shortages
D) Increasing burdens on the state?s budget leading to greater taxation

Question 26

What was the nature of the cultural life of the Roman empire during the period of decline?

A) Despite the worsening political situation, the period of decline was one of the most productive cultural periods in Roman history.
B) There was a total disappearance of any cultural creativity in the later Roman Empire.
C) Roman scholars in the later empire were innovative in the fields of science, mathematics, and technology.
D) The sole area of creativity in later Roman culture was in Christian theology.

Question 27

Which of the following statements concerning the Roman upper class at the end of the empire is most accurate?

A) The Roman upper class valiantly attempted to halt the decline of the empire, but was overwhelmed.
B) Because the Roman upper class made up the bulk of the officer corps of the Roman armies, their decline was particularly critical.
C) Rome?s upper classes became steadily more pleasure-seeking and individualistic, turning away from the political devotion that had characterized the republic.
D) Alone among the Roman social groups, the elite was able to increase their numbers and thus became more dominant in the political structure.

Question 28

How did the plagues that swept over the Roman empire in the 2nd century C.E. contribute to the empire?s decline?

A) The plagues killed the last emperor.
B) The plagues decimated the population and severely disrupted economic life.
C) The plagues led to war with Han China.
D) The plagues completely wiped out the population of Rome.

Question 29

What occurred within the agricultural system at the end of the Roman empire?

A) The decline of slave labor resulted in the return to primarily small independent farmsteads.
B) The incidence of plagues drove people from the cities into the countryside and resulted in an intensification of the agricultural economy of the later Roman empire.
C) As life became more precarious, many farmers surrendered full control of their estates and clustered around the protection of large landlords.
D) The state undertook control of the agricultural economy and established state farms staffed by slaves.

Question 30

How did the change in the agricultural economy affect the balance of political power at the end of the Roman empire?

A) It gave political power to the landlords but weakened the hold of the emperor.
B) Small independent farmers were able to restore their political influence at the expense of the central government.
C) The emperors were able to establish almost absolute political control because of the failure of the large landholders.
D) The reduction in the number of slaves weakened the large landholders who lost political influence to both the central government and the small independent farmers.

Question 31

What Roman emperor attempted to reverse the decline of the empire by administrative reform and improvement in the system of tax collection?

A) Constantine
B) Commodus
C) Septimius Severus
D) Diocletian

Question 32

Under what emperor did Christianity receive official toleration of the state?

A) Constantine
B) Commodus
C) Septimius Severus
D) Diocletian

Question 33

When was the last Roman emperor in the western half of the empire deposed?

A) 180 C.E.
B) 240 C.E.
C) 384 C.E.
D) 476 C.E.

Question 34

Which peoples established kingdoms in many parts of the Roman empire by 425?

A) Huns
B) Slavs
C) Germans
D) Hans

Question 35

What was the primary result of the fall of the Roman empire?

A) Despite the collapse of classical Mediterranean civilization, the basic cultural unity of the region was retained.
B) The collapse of the Roman empire led to cultural regression throughout the region of Mediterranean civilization.
C) Rome?s fall split the unity of the Mediterranean lands that had been won through Hellenistic culture and then the Roman empire.
D) Rome?s fall was devastating in its eastern half, but the culture of the western regions was fundamentally unaffected.

Question 36

Which of the following was NOT a successor within the boundaries of the former Roman empire?

A) Byzantine empire
B) Sassanid empire
C) Small kingdoms in northern Africa
D) Germanic kingdoms in northwestern Europe

Question 37

In what region was the culture of the Roman empire most continuous?

A) Byzantine empire
B) Sassanid empire
C) Small kingdoms of northern Africa
D) Germanic kingdoms of northern Europe

Question 38

In what region was Roman culture most seriously eroded?

A) Byzantine empire
B) Sassanid empire
C) Small kingdoms of northern Africa
D) Western Europe

Question 39

What was the impact of the decline of classical civilizations on the major religions?

A) The major religions became more regionalized in specific civilizations.
B) Aside from the emergence of Islam, the other major religions suffered decline.
C) The major world religions actually spread to new areas in which beliefs and cultural allegiances took on new territorial patterns.
D) Hinduism and Daoism shared in the general decline of animist religions during the fall of the major civilizations.

Question 40

Which of the following is NOT a similarity between Christianity and Buddhism?

A) Both developed an important monastic movement.
B) Both stressed the possibility of an afterlife.
C) Both accepted the existence of holy men who built up spiritual merits that could be tapped by other believers.
D) Both placed great emphasis on church organization and structure.

Question 41

Which of the following represents a significant difference between Buddhism and Christianity?

A) Existence of holy men
B) Monasticism
C) Emphasis on possession of exclusive truth
D) Emphasis on possibility of afterlife

Question 42

The word for Buddhist holy men is

A) buddhas.
B) bodhisattvas.
C) mahayanas.
D) monks.

Question 43

The leader under whose guidance Christians began to see themselves as part of a new religion was

A) Christ.
B) Peter.
C) Augustine.
D) Paul.

Question 44

What percentage of the Roman population had converted to Christianity by the time of imperial acceptance of the religion?

A) Five
B) 10
C) 25
D) 40

Question 45

Why was the organization of the Christian church stronger in the western half of the Roman Empire?

A) There were many more Christians there than in the eastern half of the empire.
B) Christianity began and enjoyed its initial success in the western half of the empire.
C) The western emperors were more enthusiastic in their support of early Christianity.
D) The Church was more centralized in the west, eventually in the person of the pope.

Question 46

The complex doctrine of the Trinity was considered at the Council of

A) Constantinople.
B) Ephesus.
C) Nicaea.
D) Rome.

Question 47

Who was responsible for the development of Christian monasticism in the western half of the Roman empire?

A) Benedict of Nursia
B) St. Basil
C) Monomachus of Syria
D) Augustine

Question 48

In what year was Islam founded?

A) 476 C.E.
B) 542 C.E.
C) 610 C.E.
D) 724 C.E.

Question 49

Which of the following was a general tendency during the spread of the world?s great religions at the end of the classical period?

A) The adoption of pantheons of gods
B) The abandonment of formal theology
C) Disbelief in the existence of an afterlife
D) Concentration of a single divine force as opposed to a host of divine spirits

Question 50

What, according to the authors, defines the end of a historical period and the beginning of a new period? How does the end of the classical period fit this definition?

Question 51

Compare and contrast the fall of Han China with that of Gupta India.

Question 52

What are the causes of the decline and fall of the Roman empire?

Question 53

What was the impact of the fall of the Roman empire on the integrity of Mediterranean classical civilization?

Question 54

Compare and contrast Buddhism and Christianity.