Deck 3: Aegean Civilizations

Question 1

The destruction of Pylos is significant because

A)1200 Linear B clay tablets were preserved by the fire.
B)it cleared the way for Knossos to become the dominant power in Greece.
C)slaves freed from Pylos led Greece into a golden age.
D)several intact royal tombs have been found there.
E)it definitively ended the Minoan period in Greece.

Answer 1

1200 Linear B clay tablets were preserved by the fire.

Question 2

To whom did the Athenian politicians grant absolute authority in 594 b.c.e.?

A)Solon
B)Hippias
C)Cleisthenes
D)Peisistratus
E)Draco

Answer 2

Solon

Question 3

Which goods did the Egyptians import from the Minoans?

A)wood and olive oil
B)horses and cattle
C)gold and silver
D)stone and brick
E)wheat and barley

Answer 3

wood and olive oil

Question 4

To rank among Homer's aristoi,a man needed to

A)earn respect from his personal achievements.
B)have distinguished ancestors.
C)inherit wealth and power.
D)hoard his wealth carefully and look out only for himself.
E)kill a certain number of enemy soldiers.

Question 5

Historians surmise that tholoi served what function?

A)shrines for worship of royal ancestors
B)storehouses for grain
C)archives for written records
D)cisterns to store water
E)fortified residences

Question 6

During the Greek Dark Ages,

A)Greeks were forced to reinvent themselves.
B)civilization totally collapsed in the Aegean.
C)kings and royal households dominated politics and economics.
D)there were few,if any,technological innovations.
E)Aegean trade dominated the economy.

Question 7

What was the Athenian Areopagus?

A)a council of leaders from aristocratic families
B)a military tribunal formed to govern society
C)a school or university encouraging debate
D)an early league of nations developed to negotiate trade
E)a body of representatives from each of the city-states

Question 8

What is a hoplite?

A)an infantry soldier
B)a merchant
C)a disenfranchised citizen
D)a high-ranking commander
E)a sea captain

Question 9

Which Greek island forms the southern boundary of the Aegean?

A)Crete
B)Rhodes
C)Cyprus
D)Chios
E)Delos

Question 10

Troy was a particularly strategic city because it was

A)at the entrance to the Hellespont.
B)at the mouth of the Nile.
C)the largest settlement on Crete.
D)on an island in the central Aegean.
E)the most important Minoan palace center.

Question 11

Approximately what percentage of the Greek land could be worked by farmers?

A)18 percent
B)33 percent
C)44 percent
D)62 percent
E)52 percent

Question 12

The discovery in 1899 of a large palace structure at Knossos in Crete is the most significant architectural evidence of which civilization?

A)Minoan
B)Phoenician
C)Greek
D)Egyptian
E)Mycenaean

Question 13

Surviving Linear B tablets,such as those found at Pylos,are mainly

A)economic records.
B)religious texts.
C)historical accounts.
D)poetry.
E)copies of Mesopotamian myths.

Question 14

Greek colonies during the Archaic period were mainly located

A)at sites where they could maintain contact with the sea.
B)in North Africa.
C)in the Anatolian interior.
D)as far from the Greek homeland as possible.
E)in areas already occupied by other maritime peoples.

Question 15

The first true Greek civilization is known as

A)Mycenaean.
B)Minoan.
C)Hellenic.
D)Hellenistic.
E)Aegean.

Question 16

Minoan Linear A

A)cannot yet be read by scholars.
B)has been shown to be an early form of Greek.
C)is the main source for knowledge of Minoan religious beliefs.
D)is a version of cuneiform.
E)was written in ink on papyrus.

Question 17

Homer's Iliad and Odyssey

A)purport to narrate events of the Mycenaean war with Troy.
B)are accurate historical accounts of Minoan times.
C)are pure fiction with no basis in fact.
D)are history's oldest eyewitness accounts of events.
E)have been neither supported or disproved by archeology.

Question 18

The Spartans are best known for their

A)intimidating military power.
B)devotion to ancestors.
C)viable political and philosophical theories.
D)innovations in agriculture.
E)interest in literature and art.

Question 19

After the death of Darius,Xerxes

A)planned to avenge the defeat at Marathon by an assault on the Aegean.
B)returned Greek lands that had been seized during his father's reign.
C)retreated to Persia's original borders without further military action.
D)negotiated a lasting peace treaty with the Attica states.
E)went on to conquer Carthage and other North African cities.

Question 20

Which of the following leaders conquered Lydia and subdued Ionia?

A)Cyrus
B)Darius
C)Xerxes
D)Miltiades
E)Cleisthenes

Question 21

In what area were the Minoans most like later Greeks?

A)reliance on seafaring and trade
B)farming and herding practices
C)political organization
D)art,literature,and music
E)temple and tomb architecture

Question 22

Who was the first non-aristocrat to rise to prominence in the young Athenian democracy?

A)Themistocles
B)Draco
C)Solon
D)Lycurgus
E)Miltiades

Question 23

The Battle of Marathon took place during the

A)Persian Wars.
B)Trojan War.
C)Peloponnesian War.
D)Macedonian conquest of Greece.
E)Greek Dark Ages.

Question 24

During the Hellenic period,Greek women

A)were mainly responsible for perpetuating their husbands' households.
B)shared political power equally with men.
C)became full citizens after they married.
D)fully shared in social life with their husbands.
E)married late and had few children.

Question 25

What role did the environment play in Mycenaean Greece?

A)Geography hampered political unification.
B)The scarcity of resources kept the Mycenaeans poor and weak.
C)Land transportation was cheaper and easier than sea travel.
D)Lack of stone limited large-scale building.
E)The rich soil supported highly productive agriculture.

Question 26

The text compares the place of Homer's works within the society to the place of what book in Christian societies?

A)the Bible
B)works of Chaucer
C)works of Shakespeare
D)the Koran
E)the works of the classicists

Question 27

Hesiod's poem Works and Days demonstrates that he was highly familiar with

A)farm life.
B)the life of scribes.
C)Homer's myths.
D)urban life.
E)forestry.

Question 28

Sparta was unusual in being the only major Greek polis

A)with a large area of productive farm land.
B)with a large navy.
C)to embrace political democracy.
D)founded by the Myceaneans.
E)that relied mainly on trade for its wealth.

Question 29

Herodotus elevated the reason for Greek success against the Persians by reporting it as a victory of

A)freedom over autocracy.
B)autocracy over democracy.
C)democracy over oligarchy.
D)aristocrats over peasants.
E)free men over slaves.

Question 30

The Minoans had a trading advantage over the Egyptians because they were skilled in

A)maritime navigation.
B)river navigation.
C)bartering and bargaining.
D)using the compass.
E)sailing three-masted ships.

Question 31

The Greek term for a city-state is

A)polis.
B)agora.
C)phalanx.
D)oikos.
E)helot.

Question 32

The work of Hesiod dates from the same period as

A)the Iliad and the Odyssey.
B)Herodotus's histories.
C)Plutarch's work.
D)Cyrus the Great.
E)Darius the Great.

Question 33

The main reason historians call the Greek Dark Ages "dark" is because

A)literacy disappeared,leaving no written records.
B)civilization deteriorated and all but disappeared.
C)they disapproved of Greek religion and morals of the period.
D)no significant cultural achievements occurred.
E)there is no way of knowing what was happening during the period.

Question 34

Unlike the Minoans,the Mycenaeans appear to have been

A)intensely militaristic.
B)excellent sailors.
C)Semitic rather than Indo-European.
D)unable to develop a written language.
E)armed with iron weapons.

Question 35

The most important source of information on the Minoan world is likely

A)frescoes decorating walls of homes and palaces.
B)Linear A tablets.
C)Homer's poems.
D)Egyptian accounts of their contacts with the Minoans.
E)historical accounts preserved by later Greeks.

Question 36

Why did Darius punish the rebellion of Miletus so harshly?

A)He hoped to frighten other city-states into submission.
B)The Miletus warriors had stolen his queen.
C)The Pan-Hellenic League had attacked Persepolis.
D)He was avenging the defeat of his father.
E)He conquered the Aegean island by island.

Question 37

Although there is purported to be accounts of the Trojan War,the social world described in Homer's poems is of what time period?

A)the Greek Dark Ages
B)Mycenaean
C)Minoan
D)the Archaic period
E)the Persian Wars

Question 38

The battle of Marathon was significant because

A)a tiny Greek polis defeated a great world power almost singlehandedly.
B)all of the Greek poleis came together in a single state.
C)the Persian divide-and-conquer strategy proved successful.
D)the Greeks won with superior sea power.
E)Persia gave up trying to conquer Greece after its defeat.

Question 39

In contrast with Homer,Hesiod considered the aristoi of his society to be

A)hardworking common people.
B)the bravest warriors.
C)those who elevated love over all else.
D)the hereditary aristocrats.
E)those with the most wealth.

Question 40

Which event seemed to confirm the Greek belief that their institutions were superior to all others?

A)their victory over the Persians
B)the fall of Troy
C)the Pan-Hellenic games
D)the establishment of the oracle at Delphi
E)the birth of Greek drama

Question 41

Odysseus' visit to Achilles in the underworld shows the importance the Greeks placed on

A)individual achievement in this world.
B)lasting fame.
C)individual salvation.
D)the success of their polis.
E)serving the gods rather than themselves.

Question 42

What type of entity was the polis?

A)a social experiment to create model citizens
B)an oligarchy headed by a tyrant
C)social engineering to create a military state
D)a bureaucratic form of aristocracy
E)a failed experiment in social engineering

Question 43

What belief did Hesiod unknowingly share with Hebrew prophets of his day?

A)The moral order of the universe applied to governmental rulers.
B)The authority of rulers was the embodiment of God on Earth.
C)Man should appease the gods through sacrifice and ceremonies.
D)Although physically superior,men are morally inferior to women.
E)Authorities who accept bribes will have stillborn children.

Question 44

In what way was the Mycenaean civilization similar to that of sixth-century b.c.e.Greece?

A)Maritime trade was crucial to the economy.
B)Leaders of both civilizations were warrior-chiefs.
C)The people were warlike and engaged in conquest.
D)Both were ruled by centralized bureaucracies.
E)Their leaders lived in fortresses.

Question 45

The term "draconian" is derived from the harsh methods of Draco.Paradoxically,Draco's intent was to

A)publish legal codes to make state officials enforce them more responsibly.
B)publish the constitution so that corrupt judges would be prosecuted.
C)reform Athens' harshest laws to improve the administration of justice.
D)impose a graduated system of punishments for criminals.
E)establish a council of elders to create and monitor the city-state.

Question 46

In what type of society is a tyrannical ruler most likely to gain power?

A)those with wide gaps between the rich and poor
B)those in which prosperous traders force aristocrats to share power
C)societies that absorb all their men into a single class
D)those which publicize the decrees of rulers to keep citizens informed
E)those that support their citizens and force slaves to perform labor

Question 47

What impact did Cylon have on Greek society?

A)His revolt was put down,but his acts were influential.
B)He was shunned by the populace because of his physical limitations.
C)The Spartan masses supported and fostered his ideas.
D)The governing authorities decided to clamp down harder on citizens.
E)He turned the army into a band of mercenaries.

Question 48

What characterized the colonies that were sponsored by the mother states in the Hellenic era?

A)They were independent and self-governing.
B)They were tightly controlled by the city-states.
C)They were economically exploitive and abusive.
D)They were dependent on the city-states for defense.
E)They were settlements situated on river banks.

Question 49

In hoplite culture,women were considered to be unfit for public service because they

A)lacked upper-body strength.
B)lacked education.
C)were seen as too emotional.
D)were too valuable to risk in battle.
E)could not be trusted to serve.

Question 50

When you compare the role of women in the Homeric society with their counterparts in hoplite culture,you can say that women

A)were more respected and influential in Homeric society.
B)were more respected and influential in hoplite society.
C)enjoyed more freedoms in Homeric than in hoplite society.
D)enjoyed more freedoms in hoplite than in Homeric society.
E)were not honored in either society as much as in Mycenaean times.

Question 51

Pan-Hellenic shrines and festivals

A)served to maintain ties among colonists and spread Hellenism.
B)helped to galvanize foreign resistance to Greek cultural influence.
C)were the cause of Greek decline because of their expense.
D)had little influence on Greek culture or civilization.
E)helped alien cultures influence the Greek model of society.

Question 52

How did hoplites fighting in a phalanx use weight to gain advantage in battle?

A)The soldiers in the rear ranks pushed the front ranks for momentum.
B)The strongest,heaviest soldiers were placed in the front ranks.
C)The soldiers used the weight of their horses to shoulder through enemies.
D)The phalanx formed a circle in defense and pushed outward with their shields.
E)The hoplites used arrows weighted with heavy tips for effective penetration.

Question 53

In an oligarchy,government in is in the hands of

A)the rich.
B)well-born aristocrats.
C)an individual who seizes power.
D)bureaucratic committees.
E)all citizens equally.

Question 54

In what way was Greek civilization in the Hellenic period humanistic?

A)Philosophers maintained that the world was a rational place.
B)Society was seen as incompatible with the polis.
C)Citizens were encouraged to look toward the state for protection.
D)Individuals were regarded as eternal and godlike.
E)Humans were seen as the mediator between order and chaos.