Deck 1: Beginnings

Question 1

Where did the Sumerians first settle?

A) The Upper Nile
B) The Fertile Crescent
C) The Mediterranean Islands
D) Western Africa

Answer 1

B

Question 2

What are two Semitic languages?

A) Arabic and Hebrew
B) Urdu and Hindi
C) Persian and Arabic
D) Greek and Maltese

Answer 2

A

Question 3

During the Neolithic period, a major development in agriculture was the ability to:

A) accumulate and store grain
B) feed large numbers of livestock
C) build larger architectural structures
D) control bodies of water

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Where are some of the oldest paintings of humankind found?

A) Sub-Saharan Africa
B) Lascaux
C) Amarna
D) Egypt

Question 5

In general terms, what is most striking about the long history of Egyptian culture?

A) The evolution of its writing system
B) Its unity and consistency
C) Its ever-changing, highly diverse nature
D) Its isolation from all surrounding cultures

Question 6

What do archaeologists believe the Venus of Willendorf depicts?

A) a Greek goddess
B) a female fertility figure
C) a famous queen
D) a child

Question 7

Who became the most important deity during the New Kingdom of ancient Egypt?

A) Aton
B) Isis
C) Minos
D) Knossos

Question 8

Who discovered the civilization that predated the Mycenaeans?

A) Sir Arthur Evans
B) Lord Wilton Spiel
C) Heinrich Schliemann
D) Howard Carter

Question 9

According to legend, who dictated to King Hammurabi the laws that he would later include in the Law Code of Hammurabi ?

A) Enlil
B) Shamash
C) Aton
D) Osiris

Question 10

How did the art of Amarna differ from conventional Egyptian art?

A) It employed a stylized, artificial quality.
B) It was highly formal, apparently intended only for somber occasions.
C) It had greater lightness and naturalism.
D) It depicted female figures exclusively.

Question 11

What artifacts from Jericho are considered an indication that they practiced ancestor worship?

A) fertility figures
B) burial statues
C) restored skulls
D) stone shrines

Question 12

According to the text, what have archaeologists posited that Stonehenge was?

A) an ancient temple
B) a storage facility for weapons
C) a monument to a great leader
D) a solar calendar and observatory

Question 13

Who was the earliest great architect to appear in historical record?

A) Khafre
B) Djoser
C) Babur
D) Imhotep

Question 14

What civilization conquered the Babylonian Empire?

A) The Semites
B) The Persians
C) The Kassites
D) The Sumerians

Question 15

How have modern scholars typically divided the history of ancient Egypt?

A) into two major periods
B) into three major periods
C) into four major periods
D) i nto six major periods

Question 16

Which civilization succeeded in uniting Mesopotamia in about 1800 B.C.E.?

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

Question 17

What was Sumerian religion based upon?

A) animal worship
B) spirits of ancestors
C) natural phenomena
D) monotheism

Question 18

What was the first great literary work of ancient Mesopotamia?

A) Ashurbanipal
B) Book of the Dead
C) Epic of Gilgamesh
D) Tutankhamen's autobiography

Question 19

Which art form is particularly characteristic of the Cyclades islands?

A) Marble figurines
B) Pottery
C) Frescoes
D) Wood sculptures

Question 20

Who was the central deity in Minoan religion?

A) a being that is half-man and half-wolf
B) a river god
C) a sun god
D) there is not enough evidence to know

Question 21

How did the focus of Mycenaean art and architecture differ from that of the Minoans?

Question 22

The center of Minoan civilization was:

A) Thera
B) Knossos
C) Thebes
D) Mycenae

Question 23

An example of Sumerian architecture used for religious practices:

A) ziggurat
B) votive
C) pyramid
D) tholos

Question 24

Which family of languages includes Arabic, Aramaic, and Hebrew?

A) Indo-Iranian
B) Semitic
C) Omotic
D) Sumerian

Question 25

The vertical shafts running down through Minoan palaces are called:

A) columns
B) lintels
C) dromos
D) light wells

Question 26

Which is the correct name for a tomb chamber shaped like a beehive?

A) sarcophagus
B) dromos
C) tholos
D) mortuary temple

Question 27

Which Egyptian pharaoh built the Great Sphinx?

A) Imhotep
B) Ramses
C) Khafre
D) Tutankhamen

Question 28

What important archaeological discovery was made during the 1920s?

A) Kingdom of Knossos
B) Tomb of Tutankhamen
C) Royal Grave Circle
D) Altar to Osiris

Question 29

What is the Greek myth of the Minotaur and the Labyrinth?

Question 30

Which was a river in Mesopotamia?

A) Nile
B) Ganges
C) Euphrates
D) Arapitsa

Question 31

How was national unity maintained in ancient Egypt despite the differences between the regions of the Upper and Lower Nile?

Question 32

An upright stone slab decorated with relief carvings:

A) register
B) cuneiform
C) fresco
D) stele

Question 33

What are three universal themes touched upon in the Epic of Gilgamesh ?

Question 34

Who succeeded the Minoans?

A) the Sumerians
B) the Persians
C) the Mycenaeans
D) the Kassites

Question 35

Which war provided the background for Homer's Iliad and Odyssey ?

A) the Peloponnesian War
B) the Trojan War
C) the Persian War
D) the Babylonian War

Question 36

What city was buried beneath the Roman city of Ilium?

A) Attica
B) Sparta
C) Athens
D) Troy

Question 37

Which Egyptian god symbolized death and rebirth?

A) Osiris
B) Aton
C) Hatshepsut
D) Seth

Question 38

Who was an Assyrian king of ancient Mesopotamia?

A) Hammurabi
B) Ashurbanipal
C) Cyrus
D) Nergal

Question 39

What colossal sculpture stands next to the pyramids at Gizeh?

A) Statue of Amen-Re
B) The Great Sphinx
C) Statue of Khafre
D) Gilgamesh

Question 40

What are the six characteristics of civilized societies and of civilization mentioned in the textbook?