Deck 1: Early Civilizations

Question 1

The first form of writing in the Near East was used to:

A) write religious texts.
B) write wills.
C) record economic transactions.
D) record significant historical events.
E) record births and deaths.

Answer 1

record economic transactions.

Question 2

Why was life expectancy in early cities shorter than among nomadic hunter-gatherer peoples?

A) The carbohydrate-rich diet was less nutritious, and cramped housing in the cities resulted in increased exposure to infectious diseases.
B) The success of the cities and their stored supplies of food attracted attack from outside, chiefly by nomadic peoples.
C) The process of in-home burial led to an increase in contagious disease.
D) Food was often portioned out according to social class and sex, resulting in an inadequate diet for women and the poor.
E) People in early cities exercised less and ate more than people who lived in traditional hunter-gatherer societies.

Answer 2

The carbohydrate-rich diet was less nutritious, and cramped housing in the cities resulted in increased exposure to infectious diseases.

Question 3

Social relationships in the ancient city of Çatalhöyük were largely:

A) hierarchical.
B) egalitarian.
C) based on a caste system.
D) managed by religious officials.
E) based on the example of their gods.

Answer 3

hierarchical.

Question 4

The Neolithic Revolution allowed women to:

A) participate fully in social and political governance.
B) become the primary laborers in the growing of crops.
C) have fewer children and devote less time to child care.
D) have more children and devote more time to child care.
E) become the religious leaders of communities.

Question 5

Cave paintings,such as those found in Lascaux,France,are likely evidence of development of:

A) a stratified society.
B) permanent settlement.
C) language.
D) a priestly class.
E) an artistic class.

Question 6

Which of the following was an important element in the development of early settlements?

A) The development of coinage to make the exchange of goods easier.
B) The standardization of burial practices throughout the Near and Middle East.
C) The discovery made during the last "Little Ice Age" of freezing to preserve food.
D) The rapid expansion of trade routes.
E) The emergence of hereditary kingship.

Question 7

Why was Sumer an uninviting environment for the first cities?

A) The area has no natural defenses.
B) The soil was sandy and the rivers flooded unpredictably.
C) The marshy land between the rivers was fertile breeding ground for malaria and other deadly diseases.
D) The rivers were largely unnavigable during long periods of the year, making trade difficult.
E) The region had no forests for timber or usable stone to quarry for building materials.

Question 8

Slavery in Sumerian society was:

A) based on the color of a person's skin.
B) strictly forbidden.
C) based on gender.
D) perpetual, with no chance for the slaves to gain their freedom.
E) usually the result of capture during war.

Question 9

Before 11,000 B.C.E.,virtually all human societies were:

A) engaged in settled agriculture to produce crop surpluses for the gods.
B) able to use metal tools for arts, crafts, and building.
C) using men to do the hunting and women to do the gathering.
D) nomadic, moving incessantly in search of limited food.
E) settled in agricultural communities.

Question 10

The Paleolithic Age begins with the earliest ancestors of modern human beings,who used stone tools,approximately _________ years ago.

A) 7 million
B) 5 million
C) 2 million
D) 750,000
E) 200,000

Question 11

The switch from subsistence by food gathering to food production:

A) required people to give up their faith in storm and wind gods.
B) was a momentous revolution that made stable settlements possible.
C) meant that women were no longer part of the labor force.
D) prohibited raising domestic animals as livestock.
E) required seasonal movement, allowing for summer and winter settlements.

Question 12

One of the earliest civilizations,Sumer,flourished in what the Greeks called Mesopotamia,between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in modern-day:

A) Egypt.
B) Iran.
C) Saudi Arabia.
D) Ethiopia.
E) Iraq.

Question 13

Human cultures down to the fourth millennium B.C.E.are referred to as belonging to the Stone Age because they:

A) made most of their tools out of stone.
B) built urban structures primarily with stone.
C) used rocks and stones as weapons.
D) lived in caves.
E) communicated primarily through messages carved in stone.

Question 14

While ancient Sumerians shared a common religion,warfare was frequent because:

A) priests were also warriors.
B) the common religion taught that war was necessary and good.
C) most ancient Sumerians did not believe in the peaceful teachings of the common religion.
D) residents of each city believed themselves to be the servants of different gods.
E) residents of each city competed against each other for the honor of serving in the temples.

Question 15

Agricultural surpluses and permanent settlements allowed for the unequal accumulation of wealth and thus the emergence of:

A) primitive communism.
B) a socially, economically, and politically stratified society.
C) charities dedicated to feeding the poor.
D) religious rituals dedicated to increasing agricultural production.
E) the earliest banks and trust companies.

Question 16

The common religion of the Sumerians:

A) was an early form of monotheism that influenced other peoples.
B) required city-states to settle their differences peacefully.
C) guaranteed free food for the poorest members of society.
D) included many gods, with a different god worshiped in each city-state.
E) was the only aspect of Sumerian society that survived the society's collapse.

Question 17

Since human beings in the Paleolithic Period had no domestic animals:

A) great disparities developed in individual wealth.
B) they could be easily ruled by tribal kings.
C) they practiced a policy of "divide, defeat, and conquer."
D) they had no significant wealth beyond what they could carry.
E) they used wild animals as beasts of burden.

Question 18

To the peoples of the ancient world,the characteristic manifestations of civilization-government,literature,science,and art-were necessarily products of:

A) rural life.
B) city life.
C) religion.
D) warfare.
E) nomadic life.

Question 19

To foster greater understanding of the prehistoric period,scholars began to use scientific data from the discipline of:

A) paleontology.
B) archaeology.
C) anthropology.
D) climatology.
E) history.

Question 20

Although early writing was produced using pointed sticks,Sumerian scribes circa 3100 B.C.E.advanced writing with durable reeds that:

A) almost anyone could use to produce simple documents.
B) allowed the production of clay tablets without costly baking.
C) were exclusively used by the priest class.
D) produced wedge-like script called cuneiform.
E) could be used to eat with as well as write.

Question 21

_________ was the first king to launch wars of aggression in the name of his primary god.

A) Sargon
B) Ur-Nammu
C) Hammurabi
D) Djoser
E) Narmer

Question 22

The Akkadian rulers of Sargon and Naram-Sin:

A) presided over the "Dark Age," when foreigners dominated Akkad.
B) were glorified bandits who had little interest in culture.
C) wiped out the Sumerian religion and replaced it with their own.
D) led their country to a series of disastrous defeats ending in the destruction of Akkad.
E) ruled from cities and kept their empires through conquest and commerce.

Question 23

The penalties in Hammurabi's Law Code:

A) were equal for all.
B) only applied to slaves.
C) were different depending on the class of an individual.
D) were different depending on whether an individual was a citizen or not.
E) were different depending on the age of the individual.

Question 24

The Epic of Gilgamesh:

A) exists today in the exact version in which it was read in ancient Sumer.
B) relates the adventures of a lugal of Uruk in ancient Sumer.
C) tells us more about ancient Persian society than it does about ancient Sumer.
D) is largely derived from stories in the Hebrew Bible.
E) tells the story of a simple Akkadian farmer.

Question 25

Due to recent research,the method of numbering Egyptian Dynasties now begins with the _________ dynasty.

A) Zero
B) First
C) Initial
D) Primary
E) Scorpion

Question 26

Hieroglyphs were most commonly used:

A) for the everyday business of government.
B) on monuments and other stone tablets.
C) in contracts.
D) on papyrus.
E) for accounting purposes.

Question 27

Sumerian city-states were vulnerable to conquest from the North because:

A) they used tools made of copper rather than the stronger metal, bronze.
B) they did not make use of chariots in warfare as the Akkadians to the North did.
C) they refused to adopt technological innovations from other societies.
D) their armies were composed of only slaves.
E) no military leader ever attempted to centralize power across city-states.

Question 28

Following the decline in Akkad,a new dynasty under the leadership of _________ arose in the Sumerian city of Ur.

A) Ur-Narmer
B) Ur-Nammu
C) Ur-Engar
D) Ur-Enkidu
E) Gilgamesh

Question 29

The Egyptian system of hieroglyphics was:

A) deciphered by Champollion using the Rosetta Stone.
B) a popular version of the more complex cuneiform.
C) used until the invention of printing with movable type.
D) not written on papyrus because it was too expensive.
E) a phonetic system of writing based on the Ubaid language.

Question 30

The important administrator of the pharaoh Djoser who initiated pyramid building in the "step" style was:

A) Imhotep.
B) Khufu.
C) Cheops.
D) Khafre.
E) Narmer.

Question 31

Enkidu's death in the Epic of Gilgamesh and Gilgamesh's inability to revive him illustrates that Sumerians believed that:

A) a powerful lugal owes no allegiance to the gods.
B) rural life is superior to urban life and "civilization."
C) human effort was futile to stop the forces of nature.
D) the Sumerians believed that the gods would reward those who did their bidding.
E) some Sumerians did not believe in gods and goddesses.

Question 32

Hammurabi's empire was founded on:

A) a policy of terror.
B) constant warfare.
C) complex trade networks.
D) political strategy and diplomacy.
E) the loyalty of his blood kin.

Question 33

An individual who successfully led a Sumerian city-state's army in battles was:

A) known as a tyrant and feared by freedom-loving citizens.
B) able to acquire prestige and power as a lugal.
C) associated with distant countries where the gods supposedly lived.
D) declared a god-king by his city's priests.
E) allowed by the gods to carouse with the wives and daughters of the nobles.

Question 34

Sargon of Akkad (c.2350 B.C.E.)is significant because he:0

A) was the first lugal to conquer neighboring city-states.
B) subdued Sumer and exerted influence from Ethiopia to the Indus Valley.
C) built observatories and introduced the more accurate Akkadian calendar.
D) sent ambassadors to distant lands ranging from Ethiopia to Europe.
E) was the first ruler in history to take the title of "emperor."

Question 35

The civilization that emerged in ancient Egypt arose:

A) as a part of the Old Babylonian Empire.
B) at the same time as that of ancient Sumer.
C) significantly later than that of ancient Sumer.
D) significantly earlier than that of ancient Sumer.
E) as a result of Akkadian colonization.

Question 36

Shortly before 3000 B.C.E.,people in the Near East discovered that bronze could be produced by:

A) applying advances in Sumerian mathematics and astronomy.
B) heating copper to extremely high temperatures in pottery furnaces.
C) combining copper with iron.
D) combining copper with arsenic or tin.
E) combining iron with tin or arsenic.

Question 37

The word pharaoh means:

A) great king.
B) god-king.
C) high priest.
D) great household.
E) son of Osiris.

Question 38

The great Pyramids of Giza,built in the Fourth Dynasty,were:

A) used for athletic events, concerts, and political rallies.
B) lost in the desert sands and unknown to the Greeks.
C) a good supply of building stone for Rome and Carthage.
D) temples used for worship by the priestly class.
E) constructed by thousands of peasant workers who were not slaves.

Question 39

Sumerian divided time by units of:

A) 5.
B) 11.
C) 33.
D) 45.
E) 60.

Question 40

Historians typically divide ancient Egyptian history into _________ to facilitate the discussion of Egyptian politics and culture.

A) Intermediate eras
B) Predynastic societies
C) Pharaohs
D) Kingdoms and periods
E) Primary and secondary eras

Question 41

Ma'at:

A) or "size," meant that temples and palaces had to be very large.
B) is equivalent to the English "human rights."
C) was a male god who made the universe move forward in time.
D) refers to ideals of order, justice, and truth.
E) refers to the Egyptian belief in reincarnation.

Question 42

Which period saw Egypt expand its borders,abandon its isolationism,and change its ideal of pharaoh from a god to a "good shepherd"?

A) The Old Kingdom
B) The Middle Kingdom
C) The First Intermediate Period
D) The Second Intermediate Period
E) The New Kingdom

Question 43

Labor among Paleolithic peoples was strictly divided along gender lines,as men did the hunting and women the gathering.

Question 44

Which of the following is NOT true regarding women in Egyptian society during the Pharaonic Period?

A) They could assume pharaonic authority.
B) They could own property.
C) They could stand before the courts as individuals without male representation.
D) They could practice sexual freedom.
E) They were recognized as persons in their own right.

Question 45

Agricultural surplus made it possible for early societies to become more stable and to expand in population,yet also kept early societies socially stagnant as all labor was focused on the land and the cultivation of more grain.

Question 46

The weakening power of the Fifth and Sixth Dynasties resulted in:

A) a wider distribution of wealth in Egyptian society.
B) a decline in cultural production.
C) a contraction of court culture to Memphis.
D) priests refusing to crown pharaohs.
E) a decline in the general quality of life in Egypt.

Question 47

The Sumerians' adversarial relationship with their surroundings and general distrust of nature were paralyzing to their culture as they lacked motivation to make significant advances in science,technology,and trade.

Question 48

Egyptian coffin books or books of the dead contained:

A) lists of prominent persons who died each year.
B) funeral regulations for members of the royal family.
C) instructions about preserving bodies after death.
D) instructions for traveling through the underworld.
E) lamentations and consoling writings to aid the bereaved in their time of sorrow.

Question 49

Although the Akkadians were the predominant people of central Mesopotamia,they adopted Sumerian script,culture,war techniques,and language.

Question 50

Myths can be considered an early form of history.

Question 51

The two gods most fundamental to Egyptian religious belief were:

A) Seth and Osiris.
B) Isis and Osiris.
C) Seth and Isis.
D) Isis and Anubis.
E) Anubis and Horus.

Question 52

The Nile River served as a natural division for the regions of Egypt.

Question 53

Hammurabi's Law Code accorded no rights to women.

Question 54

The Egyptians made notable advances in:

A) mathematics.
B) science.
C) military technology.
D) philosophy.
E) measuring time.

Question 55

Which comparison between Egypt and Mesopotamian civilizations is NOT true?

A) They underwent a melding of religious and political leadership.
B) They engaged in massive building projects.
C) They developed a technique of writing, which helped them expand their influence.
D) They enjoyed significant political and cultural interactions with each other.
E) They underwent a process of political consolidation in the third millennium B.C.E.

Question 56

Before entering an enjoyable afterlife,the deceased Egyptian supposedly:

A) would be judged by Osiris and other divine judges.
B) confessed all sins.
C) had to buy access to heaven with offerings to the gods.
D) had to build a pyramid, large or small, according to social status.
E) had to find his soul in the Duat.

Question 57

Hammurabi's Law Code is the first law code that exacted equal punishment for crimes across the social spectrum.

Question 58

Egyptian society:

A) was highly stratified, with an influential middle class.
B) consisted of a tiny minority of royalty and nobility and a majority class of the poor, including peasants and most artisans.
C) was dependent on a large and heavily oppressed slave class.
D) was a powerful patriarchy in which women had no participation.
E) was a matriarchal society as evidenced by powerful queens.

Question 59

The early pharaohs had difficulty establishing their rule over all Egypt due to the power of local civic and religious authorities.

Question 60

Hierarchical structures of leadership were uncommon in early hunter-gatherer societies.

Question 61

What innovations characterize the Neolithic Revolution,and how did these innovations impact Neolithic society?

Question 62

How can the Epic of Gilgamesh help historians better understand Sumerian society?

Question 63

What factors contributed to the fall of the Old Kingdom?

Question 64

Egypt in the Old and Middle Kingdoms was maintained chiefly through conquest.

Question 65

The vast majority of Egyptians who built the pyramids were slaves.

Question 66

How did Sumerian advances in technology help shape society in the Fertile Crescent?

Question 67

How did the Ubaid culture contribute to the development of urban civilization in Mesopotamia?

Question 68

The First Intermediate Period refers to a period in which Egypt ceased to be unified.

Question 69

Egyptian and Mesopotamian hieroglyphic writing developed independently of one another.

Question 70

Compare and contrast Sumerian and Egyptian forms of religion.

Question 71

How did the geography of Mesopotamia and Egypt shape their cultures?

Question 72

How did the image of the pharaoh change from the Archaic Period to the Middle Kingdom?

Question 73

In what ways can Hammurabi's rule be described as innovative?

Question 74

During the Middle Kingdom,Egypt turned inward and lessened its trade and diplomatic contacts.

Question 75

Why is the "capacity to produce beer a sure sign of civilization?"