Deck 4: Greece and Iran, 1000-30 Bce

Question 1

The founder of the Achaemenid Persian Empire in 550 B.C.E. was:

A) Cyrus.
B) Xerxes.
C) Darius.
D) Herodotus.
E) Cambyses.

Answer 1

Cyrus.

Question 2

Which of the following most directly contributed to the interconnectedness of the Persian Empire under Darius?

A) Harsh punishment of subject peoples for disobeying the imperial laws.
B) Well-maintained and patrolled roads.
C) A strong navy in the western Mediterranean Sea.
D) A strong alliance with the Greeks.

Answer 2

Well-maintained and patrolled roads.

Question 3

Though Greek sources depict elite Persian women as political pawns, recent findings suggest that Persian women of the elite class

A) owned property and had political influence.
B) wrote the great works of Persian literature.
C) were completely submissive.
D) managed the textile and marble-cutting industry.
E) were responsible for religious festivals.

Answer 3

owned property and had political influence.

Question 4

Irrigation in Iran was different than other areas because of the large desert plain. How did they compensate for this?

A) digging long canals to the few interior lakes for transportation of water to crops.
B) vertical shafts provided access to underground irrigation.
C) construction of the earliest known water wheels moved irrigation across long distances.
D) they had no agriculture but relied solely on mineral resources.
E) they built dams and reservoirs to capture the mid-summer monsoonal rains.

Question 5

Cyrus and his son ruled their empire by following a practical approach of

A) threatening the people with gross injustices.
B) first marrying into the local nobility.
C) murdering local priests and nobles.
D) respecting local priests and native traditions.
E) outlawing local traditions and strictly enforcing Persian laws.

Question 6

Iran's mineral resources, though exploited on a limited scale in antiquity, included which of the following?

A) copper
B) iron
C) gold
D) silver
E) all of the above

Question 7

The Medes were the first Iranian people to

A) begin settled agriculture in the region.
B) reach a complex level of political organization.
C) establish a unique Persian culture.
D) start a state-sponsored religion.
E) use maritime sea trade to form the basis for the economy.

Question 8

Early Iranian social organization was

A) matrilinear
B) patriarchal
C) oligarchal.
D) plebian
E) democratic

Question 9

Which of the following is not a tenet of Zoroastrianism?

A) Belief in one supreme deity
B) Belief that humans would be rewarded or punished in the afterlife for their deeds
C) Belief that the world was created by Ahuramazda
D) The triumph of good over evil
E) Belief in reincarnation of the dead

Question 10

Persia, under the rule of Darius, was divided into 20 provinces and administered by:

A) direct control from the king.
B) utilizing native rulers loyal to the king.
C) satraps or hereditary provincial governors.
D) large occupying armies and harsh discipline.
E) boyars, or a priestly class.

Question 11

Which of the following best describes the geography and resources of Ancient Greece?

A) numerous islands
B) limited arable land
C) many natural harbors
D) plentiful olives, grapes and barley
E) all of the above

Question 12

Which was not a method by which the Persians strengthened their empire?

A) Giving autonomy to provincial administrators
B) Promoting religious toleration
C) Using technology and learning from other cultures
D) Building roads and highways to connect the far-flung reaches of the empire
E) Using a unified, comprehensive law code like Hammurabi's

Question 13

Despite the adoption of their alphabet system from the Phoenicians, literacy in Greece

A) was limited only to the priests.
B) remained elusive for several centuries, relying on oral traditions.
C) was reserved for business transactions.
D) was undermined by the diversity of languages in the Greek islands.
E) divided between Phoenician and Linear B.

Question 14

After uniting Media, Anatolia, Lydia, and Persia, Cyrus conquered:

A) Egypt.
B) Israel.
C) Babylon.
D) Greece.
E) Armenia.

Question 15

After emergence from the Dark Ages, the population of Greece increased as much as five-fold. Which of the following was NOT a reason for the population increase?

A) increased prosperity due to trade and importation.
B) change to increased agriculture instead of pastoralism.
C) dramatic increases in agriculture needed more labor sources.
D) change of diet to bread and vegetables.
E) development of specialized craft skills.

Question 16

Although Greece is described as "resource poor" in the chapter, it economically prospered

A) through a brisk trade in slaves.
B) because of successful manufacturing.
C) by using a large population as a large "service" sector.
D) through access to foreign resources, markets, and ideas.
E) by frequently raiding its neighbors.

Question 17

Greece was organized into city-states called

A) satrapies.
B) poleis.
C) nomes.
D) shires.
E) they had no cities.

Question 18

Who would not have traveled with the emperor's entourage in Persia?

A) sons of noblemen
B) administrators.
C) slaves
D) magi
E) royal bodyguards

Question 19

Darius established the administrative center of his empire in Susa, however, he began an imperial and ceremonial center for the empire in:

A) Persepolis.
B) Caro.
C) Babylon.
D) wherever he was in the empire, traveling with his entourage.
E) Parsa.

Question 20

The most profitable product for Cyrene was

A) grapes
B) olives
C) pottery
D) gold
E) medicinal herbs.

Question 21

The Archaic period in Greece began

A) because of renewed contacts with Phoenicia.
B) with the development of communication technologies.
C) with the end of the Greek civil wars.
D) with the translation of Linear B.
E) when Alexander took over.

Question 22

An oligarchy is a society in which

A) all landowners participate politically.
B) all adult males are allowed to vote.
C) a hereditary elite controls the power.
D) a monarch has total control.
E) the wealthy members of society have political power.

Question 23

The Greeks believed that their gods gave advice through

A) their sacred literary texts.
B) oracles.
C) the king, who was directly related to God.
D) shamans.
E) movements of the stars and planets.

Question 24

The term the Greeks used to describe someone who seized and held power in violation of political norms of the community was called a .

A) oligarch
B) tyrant
C) elite
D) Hellenist
E) none of the above

Question 25

The father of history in the Western tradition is

A) Pericles.
B) Herodotus.
C) Theseus.
D) Prometheus.
E) Darius.

Question 26

Spartan foreign policy was

A) cautious and isolated
B) xenophobic.
C) diverse and tolerant.
D) devoted to maintaining peace with their neighbors.
E) none of these.

Question 27

Which change inaugurated the advent of the Greek Archaic Period around 800 B.C.E.?

A) The cure of various infectious diseases.
B) When Phoenician ships started visiting the Aegean Sea.
C) Improved diet.
D) Growth of urban centers.
E) Specialization of labor.

Question 28

Coins were significant in all of the following ways except

A) they allowed easy exchange of goods and services.
B) they allowed for easy recordkeeping.
C) they were used to pay the professional soldiers.
D) they allowed for rapid transactions.
E) they allowed for easy storage of wealth.

Question 29

The Archaic Greek development of humanism, a lasting feature of Western civilization, was

A) a valuing of the uniqueness, rights, and talents of individuals.
B) a short-lived attempt to treat humans as God.
C) the political concept that the king was designated by God.
D) the subjugation of individuals' rights and will for the good of the state.
E) the idea that humans descended from primate ancestors.

Question 30

The emerging middle classes in Greece were constituted by which group of people?

A) debt slaves and peasant farmers
B) craftsmen and merchants
C) hoplites and teachers.
D) slave traders and fishermen
E) none of these

Question 31

The Greek Dark Age was a period of

A) dark atmospheric conditions due to the eruptions of Mount Vesuvius.
B) commercial growth due to the use of dark-colored dyes in fabric.
C) intellectual and commercial vitality.
D) frequent disruption due to invasions.
E) poverty, isolation, and depopulation.

Question 32

The fortified high point of the polis which offered refuge in an emergency was the____________ .

A) acropolis
B) stoa
C) Parthenon
D) agora
E) amphitheatre

Question 33

One of the primary internal rivals to Athenian power in the Greek Empire was:

A) Sparta
B) Persia
C) Rome
D) Carthage
E) Egypt

Question 34

An example of the sophistication of the Greek thinkers was the development of the theory that the world is composed of

A) ether.
B) humours.
C) elements.
D) vapors.
E) atoms.

Question 35

The Greek gods and goddesses were seen as

A) distant and removed from the affairs of humankind.
B) frightening and greedy for harsh sacrifices.
C) superhuman and immortal, but otherwise anthropomorphic.
D) role models of wisdom and morality.
E) purely fictitious, as the Greeks relied on natural philosophy.

Question 36

Which of the following is not true of the Greek poleis or city-states?

A) Some were oligarchic and some were democratic.
B) They featured an acropolis and an agora.
C) They had fortified walls.
D) Many people living inside the fortified walls worked on nearby farms outside the walls.
E) All of the above.

Question 37

Worship and sacrifice to the Greek gods was done in the hope of:

A) a bestowal of favors in return.
B) proving personal piety.
C) fulfilling a requirement of good citizens.
D) venerating one's ancestors.
E) strengthening the democratic process.

Question 38

The Greek concept of democracy included political participation by all free, native-born, adult males and this group:

A) All Athenians.
B) Elite women.
C) Military officers only.
D) A council of priests.
E) None of the above.

Question 39

Close-formed ranks of soldiers, called up in times of war, were called

A) hyksos.
B) phalanx.
C) hoplites.
D) helots.
E) phrateries.

Question 40

Greek philosophers emphasized which perspective of viewing the world?

A) Devotion to nature-based gods who were not anthropomorphic.
B) Rejection of polytheism.
C) Rational explanations for the world around them rather than reliance on religious conceptions.
D) A skeptical view of science as the exclusive answers to all questions.
E) Complete atheism.

Question 41

Which of the following were not "cosmopolitan" features of Hellenistic societies?

A) Libraries and universities
B) The cultivation of new scholarship
C) The cultivation of art and literature
D) Scientific discoveries
E) Homogeneous societies

Question 42

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Ahuramazda

Question 43

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Delian League

Question 44

The Greek leader who led Athens to a full participatory democracy for all males was .

A) Pisistratus
B) Pericles
C) Solon
D) Cyrus
E) Draco

Question 45

When Alexander the Great died, his vast empire broke into three Macedonian dynasties: the Seleucid, the Antigonid, and the _____.

A) Persian
B) Afghani
C) Levantine
D) Ptolemaic
E) Anatolian

Question 46

The final battle of the Persian wars that defeated Xerxes was at which site?

A) Thermopylae
B) Marathon
C) Ionia
D) Plataea
E) Salamis

Question 47

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
paradayadam

Question 48

How does the Peloponnesian War reveal an inherent flaw in Greek society?

A) The hoplites were unreliable because of their exclusion from politics.
B) The independent poleis fostered rivalry and mistrust among neighbors.
C) The poor in Greece suffered more severe hardship than in other world societies.
D) The Greeks refused to abandon their policy of nonviolence.
E) The rivalry between helots and hoplites caused a breakdown of democracy.

Question 49

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Cyrus

Question 50

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Darius I

Question 51

The Seleucid kingdom, after the death of Alexander, retained which portion of the empire?

A) Persian
B) Macedonian
C) Egyptian
D) Greek
E) Indian

Question 52

Which of the following is not among the policies used by Alexander the Great to control his vast empire?

A) He encouraged intermarriage to foreign women.
B) He maintained the framework of Persian administration.
C) He adopted Persian customs.
D) He established Greek-style cities.
E) He promoted local militias.

Question 53

Philip II planned to invade which area before his untimely death?

A) Carthage
B) Assyria
C) Israel
D) Persia
E) Rome

Question 54

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Thucydides

Question 55

What was the primary instrument of Athenian naval success?

A) The gunboat
B) The trireme
C) The astrolabe
D) The rowers
E) The lateen sail

Question 56

The Thesmophoria was___________ .

A) the staple drink of Greek elites
B) the site of the last battle of the Peloponnesian War
C) a three day festival of Athenian women
D) a special vase for drinking beer and wine

Question 57

The Persian defeat in the wars with Greece was due to all of the following except

A) difficulty supplying the army from Persia.
B) allowing the Persian navy to be drawn into the narrow waters off Salamis.
C) domestic political turmoil.
D) the rout of Persian forces at the Battle of Plataea.
E) the Persian underestimation of the Greeks' will to fight for their homeland.

Question 58

The transition to a literary, rather than orally based, culture is notable in the works of

A) Socrates.
B) Aristophanes.
C) Plato.
D) Euripides.
E) Aristotle.

Question 59

The first of the three Greek classical philosophers and the one whose actions lead to his trial and execution was ____.

A) Eurypides
B) Diogenes
C) Aristotle
D) Plato
E) Socrates

Question 60

The term Hellenistic Age refers to the

A) influence of Asian culture on Greece.
B) political and cultural influence of Greece over foreign subjects in North Africa and western Asia.
C) Macedonian Empire during Alexander's reign.
D) peaceful period within Greece itself.
E) successful rule of Helen of Troy.

Question 61

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
hoplite

Question 62

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Persian Wars

Question 63

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
tyrant

Question 64

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Hellenistic Age

Question 65

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Pericles

Question 66

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Persepolis

Question 67

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
satrap

Question 68

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
democracy

Question 69

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Socrates

Question 70

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Alexandria

Question 71

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
trireme

Question 72

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Alexander

Question 73

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Zoroastrianism

Question 74

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Herodotus

Question 75

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
polis

Question 76

Describe the relationship between the hoplite and agriculture.

Question 77

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
sacrifice

Question 78

How did geography and natural resources influence the creation of the Persian Empire?

Question 79

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Ptolemies

Question 80

Instructions: Identify the following term(s).
Peloponnesian War