Deck 5: Rebuilding the World: Recoveries, New Initiatives, and Their Limits

Question 1

Wall paintings from Etruscan tombs present a society that was seemingly

A) austere and sexually repressed.
B) segregated with regard to gender.
C) sexually open.
D) simple, and that rarely depicted the human form.

Answer 1

sexually open.

Question 2

Much of what we know about early Illyrian and Thracian culture comes from

A) archaeology.
B) their own writings.
C) Roman historians.
D) the Phoenicians.

Answer 2

archaeology.

Question 3

Most of the history of the Zhou dynasty may be characterized as

A) a period filled with war.
B) a period of peaceful expansion.
C) a period without new schools of thought.
D) a period when China developed into a centralized state.

Answer 3

a period filled with war.

Question 4

A key element in the belief system of the Upanishads is the idea of

A) paradise for the righteous.
B) eternal torment for the wicked.
C) reincarnation of an eternal soul.
D) divination of the future through sacrifice.

Question 5

The supreme god in the Upanishads is

A) Brahman.
B) Ganges.
C) Maduru Oya.
D) Veda.

Question 6

The legacy and influence of Greek culture can be found in the modern world in all of the following ways EXCEPT:

A) in buildings in Europe and America that imitate the "classical" form of the Parthenon.
B) in the style of the Disney Corporation's headquarters in Burbank, California.
C) in the White House in Washington, D.C.
D) in the design of I.M. Pei's glass pyramid in front of the Louvre in Paris.

Question 7

One of the benefits of political instability in China was

A) increased trade.
B) greater agricultural output.
C) new philosophies.
D) greater political centralization.

Question 8

A colony that would later become an imperial power itself was

A) Acre.
B) Carthage.
C) Rome.
D) Tarentum.

Question 9

Following the collapse of Assyria, all of the following are true of the city of Babylon EXCEPT:

A) Its monuments served as a focal point of Nebuchadnezzar's attempt to rebuild city walls and ziggurats across Mesopotamia.
B) The city became a vital center for linguistic study that endured for three centuries.
C) After 539 B.C.E. it became a provincial center ruled by foreigners.
D) It became home to the famous "hanging gardens" known as one of the wonders of the classical world.

Question 10

Phoenicia was located in

A) the Americas.
B) Mesopotamia.
C) the Eastern Mediterranean.
D) Sub-Saharan Africa.

Question 11

Greece around 600 B.C.E. enjoyed economic success throughout the Mediterranean because:

A) its colonists were mostly outcasts, exiles, and criminals who sought to reproduce Greek culture in their new environments.
B) most Greeks concentrated on farming and local markets in order to get rich.
C) other kingdoms preferred to give up their lands to Greek colonists.
D) Greece sent its most experienced and respected figures to build its commercial colonies.

Question 12

Assyria's empire was held together by

A) fear.
B) love.
C) generosity.
D) good government.

Question 13

In Greek democracies,

A) all males were citizens.
B) only privileged males could vote.
C) privileged women had some political rights.
D) women and slaves could only vote when the men were away at war.

Question 14

The basis for the alphabet developed by the Greeks came from

A) Egypt.
B) Phoenicia.
C) Mesopotamia.
D) the Greeks themselves.

Question 15

Aristotle said that cities originated from

A) families.
B) warfare.
C) religious associations.
D) trade.

Question 16

The Garamantes lived in

A) the Adriatic region.
B) the Aegean region.
C) the Iberian peninsula.
D) the Sahara desert.

Question 17

Which of the following most accurately describes the status of ordinary women in early Greece?

A) Husbands and wives were considered equal partners.
B) Women delayed marriage until their early twenties to study philosophy and domestic skills.
C) In most families, wives and daughters rarely appeared in public.
D) The families of Spartan women who died in childbirth were banished.

Question 18

Which of the famous Seven Wonders of the ancient world was located in Babylon?

A) Pyramids
B) Colossus
C) Mausoleum
D) Hanging Gardens

Question 19

What are two factors that caused Greece and Phoenicia to create overseas colonies?

A) seafaring and slavery
B) warfare and trade
C) religion and agriculture
D) trade and seafaring

Question 20

Aside from their dominance in warfare, the Assyrians were also remarkable

A) poets.
B) builders.
C) philosophers.
D) scientists.

Question 21

A primary trade product of the early state of Yemen was

A) textiles.
B) agricultural products.
C) slaves.
D) incense.

Question 22

The decline of the Egyptian kingdom affected what sub-Saharan civilization the most?

A) Nubia
B) Niger
C) Bantu
D) Garamantes

Question 23

From 1000 to 500 B.C.E., the peoples of which parts of the world most regularly exchanged ideas and goods with each other?

A) North and South America
B) Europe and Asia
C) Africa and Asia
D) Europe and North America

Question 24

What is most striking and new about the religious concepts developed by the people of the Ganges Valley? For example, how do their beliefs contrast with those of Zhou China or the Assyrians?

Question 25

The Mahavamsa is

A) a factual account.
B) a moral fable.
C) a social commentary.
D) an entirely fictional story.

Question 26

A key technological development that began around 500 B.C.E. in sub-Saharan Africa was

A) yam cultivation.
B) iron smelting.
C) aqueduct construction.
D) writing.

Question 27

Trade connected civilizations as disparate as the Etruscans, Thracians, Illyrians, and the tribes of Spain. What types of goods did these peoples exchange, and how were the Greeks and Phoenicians involved in these trade relationships?

Question 28

Civilization in the Americas and sub-Saharan Africa was isolated from Eurasia mostly because of

A) culture.
B) geography.
C) language.
D) lack of trade goods.

Question 29

One of the most distinguishing features of Native American societies in the Mississippi River Valley was the building of

A) pyramids.
B) a network of complex irrigation systems.
C) mounds.
D) ziggurats and temples.

Question 30

How did trade affect the realities and expressions of power in different civilizations? Did more trade always create stronger states?

Question 31

What are the essential elements that led the Phoenicians and Greeks to become civilizations based on colonization and trade?

Question 32

What common characteristics did the empires of Assyria and Babylon share? What factors caused their decline?

Question 33

Communication between peoples in Africa and the Americas was hindered by

A) differences in climatic zones.
B) the failure of people to develop the wheel.
C) the lack of seaborne transport.
D) the lack of written languages.

Question 34

Compare the resurgence of civilization in the Greek world with the new empires of Assyria and Babylon. What are the most important differences and why?

Question 35

The area most isolated from the rest of the world during the first millennium B.C.E. was

A) China.
B) India.
C) North America.
D) Africa.

Question 36

The types of crops grown by the peoples of the American Southwest included

A) yams.
B) potatoes.
C) sugar.
D) squash.

Question 37

Monsoon winds provided navigational links for

A) southern Asia.
B) northern Asia.
C) the Caribbean.
D) the Mediterranean.

Question 38

What were the key factors that led to instability during the period of the Warring States in Zhou China? Which of these factors were most significant, and why?

Question 39

The chief reason that we know less about many American or African cultures than many of those in Eurasia is

A) their lack of an archaeological record.
B) their lack of a written record.
C) the prejudice of modern historians.
D) our own lack of interest in the subject.

Question 40

Political instability between competing states during the period from 1000 to 500 B.C.E. led to

A) a decrease in trade.
B) advances in technology.
C) fewer opportunities for new ideas about society.
D) a decline in new religious practices.

Question 41

What difference did Africa's connections to Asia make in its development in this period as compared to American developments?
In Perspective

Question 42

How did new civilizations arise in Africa and the Americas from 1000 to 500 B.C.E.? What were their similarities and differences?

Question 43

In addition to the advantages Eurasian civilizations gained from greater connections to each other, what dangers or challenges did greater connectivity pose for them? Conversely, what advantages did American and African civilizations gain from relative isolation?

Question 44

In what ways did both the religious concepts of the Ganges Valley and the philosophies of Warring States China attempt to address problems of social and political stability?

Question 45

Explain why most historians consider the era around 1000 B.C.E. to have been both destructive and transformative for most major world civilizations. Your answer should draw on examples from Greece, India, Mesopotamia and China.

Question 46

What are two possible reasons for the differences in development that may be seen in Eurasia as compared with Africa and the Americas? What is significant about these differences in development?

Question 47

What new types of technology were developed by the peoples of Africa from 1000-500 B.C.E., and what effects did these developments have on their lives?

Question 48

How did the interplay of cultures in the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean basins in the first millennium B.C.E. affect the development of civilization in those areas? How did the isolation characteristic of cultures in the Americas affect the development of civilizations there?

Question 49

What are the two most significant areas of cultural development that arose across Eurasia during the period from 1000 to 500 B.C.E.? What advantages do you think those developments provided to those civilizations?

Question 50

How did the reemergence of civilization in China compare with the new societies that developed in the Greek world?

Question 51

How does the revival of culture and society in the Ganges Valley and in Sri Lanka compare with the active spread of Greek culture through colonization? Discuss how it may be possible that some civilizations emerged spontaneously while others depended on active colonization.

Question 52

Compare the Phoenicians and Greeks with the Assyrians and Babylonians. What did scattered colonizing peoples gain compared to imperial states? What did they give up in exchange?

Question 53

What new types of technology were developed by the peoples of North America from
1000-500 B.C.E., and what effects did these developments have on their lives?