Deck 2: Temples and Palaces: Birth of the City 5000-1200 B.C.E.

Question 1

Scholars speculate that residents of the Fertile Crescent saw the potential of nearby arid areas after visiting those areas to

A) hunt
B) trade with other towns
C) graze herds
D) farm barley

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Organization and cooperation were required to successfully implement

A) irrigation farming
B) date cultivation
C) vegetable gardening
D) fishing

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Key evidence of social hierarchy in the earlier cities comes from

A) varying quantity and quality of grave goods
B) housing location near or farther from irrigation sites
C) the written record
D) foundation size

Answer 3

A

Question 4

The need to exchange goods with others, which was a major stimulus to the development of cities, was created by

A) irrigation farming
B) social hierarchy
C) specialization of labor
D) centralized authority

Question 5

Archaeological research shows that

A) irrigation depends on a strong central authority to coordinate its construction, use, and maintenance
B) centralized authority and irrigation farming developed together
C) centralized authority developed only long after irrigation projects had begun
D) centralized authority was essential to the initial spread of irrigation techniques

Question 6

A crucial element in the definition of a city is that it

A) separated from the surrounding countryside by a wall or other clear boundary
B) has a larger population than the surrounding countryside
C) serves communities in the surrounding countryside and that these communities provide goods to people in the city
D) is home to a civilization's elites, while the working classes reside in the surrounding countryside

Question 7

The first true city was

A) Ur
B) Umma
C) Nippur
D) Uruk

Question 8

In the center of Uruk was

A) a gigantic temple complex
B) a military training ground
C) a trading forum
D) the building that housed the legislature

Question 9

Uruk's main goddess was

A) An
B) Inanna
C) Nanna
D) Ashnan

Question 10

The staff of Uruk's temple also administered its

A) military
B) municipal services
C) representative government
D) economy

Question 11

Cities had the collective resources to coordinate the import of ingredients from two separate distant sources, allowing for the creation of

A) copper
B) bronze
C) tin
D) steel

Question 12

The basis of power in cities began to shift from religion to the military around 3000 BCE, when

A) art began to show the priest-kings in battle or inspecting bound prisoners
B) kings began claiming that the gods had chosen them to lead their city
C) multiple urban centers emerged alongside Uruk
D) rulers began demanding attendants and soldiers accompany them in the afterlife

Question 13

Beginning with the reign of Hammurabi, the base of power in Mesopotamia fundamentally shifted to the

A) city-state
B) nation state
C) territorial state
D) ethnic state

Question 14

In early Mesopotamian society, every person who depended on the central institutions received predetermined amounts of

A) wheat, oil, and clothing
B) fish, barley, and bronze
C) wool, fish, and dates
D) barley, oil, and wool

Question 15

A central part of the ideology of power in Hammurabi's Babylon was the idea that

A) kings should protect the weak
B) this was a society of equals
C) all people should support the king
D) residents were their neighbors' keepers

Question 16

In Mesopotamian society, writing and reading were

A) common across all social classes
B) limited to a group of trained specialists
C) restricted to royalty and the priesthood
D) unknown

Question 17

Sumerians developed writing to

A) record the law and make it known across the territory
B) keep track of income and expenditures and review transactions that involved large quantities of goods
C) preserve and spread religious texts
D) honor the king

Question 18

In the earliest stage of writing, each sign represented

A) one word
B) one sound
C) one syllable
D) one letter

Question 19

An important benefit of the increasing flexibility of cuneiform as it developed was

A) it could be used to write languages other than Sumerian
B) decreasing potential for confusion, with one sign for each word
C) ease of use, allowing the common people to read are write widely
D) the ability to correspond with other cultures with writing systems, such as China

Question 20

An early form of the Epic of Gilgamesh has been dated to the early second millennium B.C.E., marking the beginnings of Akkadian

A) mathematics
B) religion
C) astronomy
D) literature

Question 21

In a territorial state, the primary focus of political loyalty was

A) the city
B) the gods
C) the ruler
D) the state

Question 22

Scholars believe that warfare played a small role in Minoan society due to

A) the clearly ceremonial nature of their weaponry
B) a lack of any reference to warfare in the culture's art or literature
C) a lack of defensive structures around their palaces
D) the poor quality of the weaponry and armor found in grave sites

Question 23

Around 1600 BCE, warfare in Southwest Asia was fundamentally changed by the introduction of

A) the horse-drawn chariot
B) diplomacy
C) bronze
D) writing

Question 24

The heads of the leading states were like members of a club and they referred to themselves as

A) "Great Kings"
B) "Mighty Rulers"
C) "Divine Rulers"
D) "Supreme Kings"

Question 25

The collapse of the international system around 1200 B.C.E. may have been caused primarily by

A) attacks by the "Sea Persons"
B) the inequality that characterized it
C) incessant warfare
D) famine

Question 26

The earliest unit of social and political organization in Southwest Asia was the

A) family
B) city
C) religion
D) state

Question 27

From the very beginning, Egypt was

A) a popular tourist destination
B) reliant on irrigation farming
C) very similar to the civilizations of Mesopotamia
D) a territorial state

Question 28

The center of political life and cultural development in Egypt was

A) the city
B) the state
C) the temple
D) the king

Question 29

The Egyptian king was considered the earthly embodiment of the god

A) Osiris
B) Re
C) Horus
D) Geb

Question 30

The term Egyptians used for their king, pharaoh, came from their word for

A) the Nile River
B) palace
C) god
D) abundance