Deck 1: The Roots of Western Civilization: The Ancient Middle East to the Sixth Century B.C.E

Question 1

Human beings first appeared in

A) Sub-Saharan Africa
B) Southeast Asia
C) The Valleys of the Tigris and the Euphrates
D) Northern Europe

Answer 1

Sub-Saharan Africa

Question 2

From its very beginning, Western civilization benefited from crops and animals originating in

A) Africa
B) The Middle East
C) China
D) India

Answer 2

The Middle East

Question 3

The earliest stage of human history is called

A) The Iron Age
B) The Neolithic Age
C) The Paleolithic Age
D) The Egyptian Age

Answer 3

The Paleolithic Age

Question 4

The defining elements of civilization in the Neolithic period include all of the following except

A) Great stone pyramids
B) Developed agriculture
C) Permanent settlements
D) Domesticated animals

Question 5

During the Paleolithic Age, the basic lifestyle of human beings was primarily

A) Farming
B) Hunting and gathering
C) Fishing
D) Raising cattle and sheep

Question 6

During the Paleolithic and Neolithic Ages, human tools were made primarily of

A) Stone
B) Iron
C) Bronze
D) Copper

Question 7

The most important development of the Neolithic Age was

A) Iron weapons
B) Agriculture
C) Warfare
D) Fishing

Question 8

Agriculture was developed

A) In the Neolithic Age
B) In central Europe
C) In mountainous regions
D) In the Iron Age

Question 9

The chief rivers of ancient Mesopotamia were

A) The Nile and the Tigris
B) The Tigris and the Euphrates
C) The Nile and the Indus
D) The Euphrates and the Ganges

Question 10

The earliest known civilization of Mesopotamia was

A) Sumer
B) Greece
C) Egypt
D) Israel

Question 11

Which of the following was not true about Sumerian life?

A) Nomadic wandering, taking care of flocks
B) Irrigated agriculture
C) Centralized administration
D) Temples with priests and priestesses

Question 12

Sumerian religion

A) Was monotheistic
B) Proclaimed a joyous afterlife
C) Was noted for its pessimism
D) Was noted for its optimism

Question 13

The conqueror that invaded Sumer in about 2350 B.C.E. Was

A) Cyrus
B) Sargon of Akkad
C) Gilgamesh
D) Alexander the Great

Question 14

The great epic poem of ancient Sumer was

A) The Epic of Gilgamesh
B) The Iliad
C) Hamlet
D) Genesis

Question 15

The Sumerian system of writing

A) Was called hieroglyphics
B) Was called cuneiform
C) Was an alphabetic script
D) Was runic

Question 16

Hammurabi of Babylon was known for

A) Being the first ruler of Sumer and Akkad
B) His irrigation projects
C) His authorship of the Epic of Gilgamesh
D) His code of laws

Question 17

Which of the following is not true about Hammurabi's law code?

A) It opens a window into our understanding of ancient daily life
B) It prescribes different penalties for each of the three social orders in Babylon
C) Its stated purpose was to prevent the strong from oppressing the weak
D) It provided for trial by jury

Question 18

The Indo-Europeans

A) Provided the basis for almost all European languages
B) Often fought and moved on horseback
C) Established the Hittite kingdom in what is now modern Turkey
D) All of these options are correct

Question 19

The earliest important Indo-European people in the Near Eastern world were the

A) Hittites
B) Babylonians
C) Sumerians
D) Assyrians

Question 20

The chief river of Egypt is the

A) Euphrates
B) Nile
C) Tigris
D) Indus

Question 21

The Egyptian concept of truth, justice and order was expressed by the Egyptian word

A) Pharaoh
B) Hieroglyphic
C) Ma'at
D) Cuneiform

Question 22

The term hieroglyphics refers to

A) An early form of the alphabet
B) Wedge-shaped writing
C) The sacred writing of Egypt
D) Any written inscription on stone

Question 23

The great pyramids of Egypt

A) Were monuments to the Sumerian gods
B) Were built by colossal numbers of slaves
C) Were part of the Egyptian belief in the afterlife
D) Were built toward the end of Egyptian history

Question 24

The Middle Kingdom of Egypt

A) Saw an end to the anarchy of the First Intermediate Period
B) Saw the erection of the Great Pyramid
C) Saw the Egyptian conquest of Assyria
D) Was ended by the invasion of Alexander the Great

Question 25

On some occasions the ruler of Egypt was a woman. By far the most powerful of these was

A) Hatshepsut
B) Thutmose
C) Nefertiti
D) Amenhotep

Question 26

The New Kingdom pharaoh, Ahkenaten,

A) Was the last pharaoh of Egypt
B) Overthrew his stepmother, Hatshepsut
C) Conquered Israel
D) Introduced new ideas in art and religion

Question 27

The major cities of Phoenicia were

A) Uruk, Akkad and Ur
B) Sidon, Tyre and Byblos
C) Memphis, Cairo and Thebes
D) Sparta, Athens and Corinth

Question 28

The most important contribution of the Phoenicians to Western Civilization was

A) The development of monotheism
B) The development of irrigated agriculture
C) The alphabet
D) The art of building great stone monuments

Question 29

Which of the following statements about the Hebrews prior to the reign of Saul is not true?

A) Israelite texts claim several clans were enslaved by the Egyptians
B) Early Israel was led by charismatic leaders known as judges, who helped unite them against the threats of their neighbors
C) The Scriptures give a precise historical, rather than religious, record of the time
D) Archaeological investigation of this period has been unable to shed any important light on this ancient phase of Hebrew religion

Question 30

The kingdom of Israel reached its peak under the temple-building King

A) Solomon
B) David
C) Saul
D) Ahab

Question 31

After the death of Solomon,

A) Israel was destroyed by the Phoenicians
B) The judges again ruled Israel
C) His kingdom split in two, the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah
D) The prophet Isaiah seized the throne

Question 32

In addition to preaching monotheism, the Jewish prophets also

A) Declared that the essence of faith was making the proper sacrifices at the Temple in Jerusalem
B) Preached that religion was not merely ritual, but also ethical behavior
C) Argued that all Jews should abandon Jerusalem for Babylon
D) Announced that God was indifferent to human behavior

Question 33

Among the Hebrew beliefs that have had an important impact on Western Civilization was

A) The creation of the world at a specific time
B) The concept of ethical monotheism
C) That history was a purposeful, morally significant event
D) All of these options are correct

Question 34

The new metal that transformed ancient warfare after 1200 B.C.E. Was

A) Tin
B) Bronze
C) Iron
D) Copper

Question 35

The great empire that dominated the Middle East through a combination of iron weapons and ruthless terror was the

A) Assyrian
B) Persian
C) Roman
D) Phoenician

Question 36

The success of the Assyrian empire was based on

A) The use of iron weaponry and systematic brutality
B) Skilled administration and the spread of the Aramaic language
C) Skilled military engineers and a trained officer corps
D) All of these options are correct

Question 37

The great ruler of the Neo-Babylonian empire was

A) Sargon
B) Nebuchadnezzar
C) Alexander
D) Cyrus

Question 38

The Neo-Babylonian Empire

A) Was ruled by Alexander the Great
B) Rejected the Assyrian idea of bloody conquests
C) Saw the decline of Mesopotamian astronomy
D) All of these options are incorrect

Question 39

The Persian Empire under Cyrus was held together by

A) A policy of terror exceeding that of the Assyrians
B) The mandatory worship of Ahura Mazda by all peoples
C) An administrative system which curbed the abuse of power by officials
D) Benign neglect of local politics

Question 40

The great Persian religious prophet was

A) Moses
B) Cyrus
C) Akhenaten
D) Zoroaster

Question 41

The text argues that the Persians adopted many things from older civilizations, but the adoption that had the greatest long-term impact was

A) The reassertion of religious polytheism
B) The mandatory veiling of women
C) Coinage, a Lydian invention
D) The use of bronze weapons

Question 42

Zoroaster's religious beliefs had a similarity to Jewish ideas in all the following areas except

A) The need to live an ethical life
B) The need to observe strict dietary laws
C) The ultimate prevalence of the forces of good over the forces of evil
D) The revelation of the will of God to man

Question 43

In the Paleolithic Period, humans lived in small bands of about 20-30 people

Question 44

The ancient Middle East had fewer domesticated grains and animals than the Americas

Question 45

Sumerians viewed their gods as benign, predictable beings who always worked for their city's welfare.

Question 46

By 2800 B.C.E., a sophisticated writing system had been developed in Sumer.

Question 47

In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh triumphs over death.

Question 48

Hammurabi's law code included "eye for an eye" types of punishments.

Question 49

Indo-European peoples have been so labeled because their language is the basis for a great many European languages, such as German, Finnish, Hungarian and Basque.

Question 50

Ma'at for ancient Egyptians meant a divinely ordered concept of truth and justice.

Question 51

The Great Pyramid was built in the New Kingdom by Amenhotep IV.

Question 52

Akhenaten was the last powerful pharaoh of Egypt.

Question 53

The ancient Phoenicians sailed the Mediterranean from the Near East to Spain and even into the Atlantic.

Question 54

The Hebrews invented the alphabet.

Question 55

The great Temple of Jerusalem was erected by Solomon, David's successor.

Question 56

Ashurbanipal, king of Assyria, was contemptuous of Sumerian culture.

Question 57

The Assyrians used skilled administrators as well as terror to maintain their empire.

Question 58

During the Neo-Babylonian era, Babylonian scholars rejected astrology as superstition.

Question 59

Ahura Mazda was the great prophet of the Persian religion.

Question 60

The earliest period of human development is called the ________.

Question 61

The period from 10,000-3000 B.C.E. Is referred to as the ________.

Question 62

The most important development during the later Neolithic Period was ________.

Question 63

The broad curve of land that stretched from the Persian Gulf to the shores of the Mediterranean is known as the ________.

Question 64

The two major rivers of Mesopotamia are the Tigris and the ________.

Question 65

The Akkadian ruler who invaded Sumer in about 2350 B.C.E. Was ________.

Question 66

The chief character of the great Sumerian epic poem was ________.

Question 67

________, meaning wedge-shaped, was the form of Sumerian writing.

Question 68

The famous Babylonian king noted for his code of laws was ________.

Question 69

The ________ were the Indo-European people who established a kingdom in what is now Turkey, in about 1650 B.C.E.

Question 70

The major river in Egypt is the ________.

Question 71

The earliest period of Egyptian history is called the ________.

Question 72

The word ________ symbolized Egyptian ideas of truth, justice and order.

Question 73

The sacred writing of Egypt is referred to as ________.

Question 74

The great stone monuments of ancient Egypt are called the ________.

Question 75

In Egyptian chronology, the Old Kingdom collapsed and was followed by an anarchic era called the First Intermediate Period, then by a revival of royal authority termed the ________.

Question 76

The greatest Egyptian expansion occurred during the period called the ________.

Question 77

Thutmose II, of the New Kingdom, was succeeded by his queen, ________.

Question 78

Amenhotep IV changed his name to ________ when he began to worship the solar disk as the sole god.

Question 79

The Phoenicians' great contribution to western culture was the ________.

Question 80

________, king of Israel and successor of Saul, fixed his capital at Jerusalem.