Deck 1: Early Civilizations

Question 1

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

A) rural life.
B) city life.
C) religious life.
D) the Ice Age.
E) nomadic life.

Answer 1

city life.

Question 2

Jericho,one of the world's oldest villages,emerged as a seasonal settlement around:

A) 11,500 B.C.E.
B) 6800 B.C.E.
C) 7500 B.C.E.
D) 5500 B.C.E.
E) 3500 B.C.E.

Answer 2

6800 B.C.E.

Question 3

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) all of these

Answer 3

made most of their tools out of stone.

Question 4

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 chance of accident,smoke inhalation from fires,and 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) all of these

Question 5

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 6

Although early writing was produced using pointed sticks,Sumerian scribes c.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 7

Temples were central to Sumerian city life because:

A) they controlled a large proportion of land.
B) they employed the largest number of men,women,and children.
C) they dominated local and foreign trade.
D) they controlled the economy through ownership of warehouses.
E) all of these

Question 8

The earliest ancestors of human beings who used stone to make tools originated in Africa approximately _________ years ago.

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

Question 9

Although many prehistoric settlements are known,one of the earliest of these in modern-day Turkey is:

A) Jericho.
B) Ur.
C) Çatalhöyük.
D) Memphis.
E) Lagash.

Question 10

Although hominid existence extends back millennia,the advent of writing began around:

A) 13,000 B.C.E.
B) 8000 B.C.E.
C) 5000 B.C.E.
D) 3300 B.C.E.
E) 1000 B.C.E.

Question 11

The initial shift from village to city inhabitation took place in Mesopotamia,known to the Greeks as "the Land between Rivers" and to modern historians as:

A) Israel.
B) Akkad.
C) Jericho.
D) Egypt.
E) Sumer.

Question 12

Why was Mesopotamia an uninviting environment for the first cities?

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

Question 13

Although the Neolithic Revolution occurred over a period of several thousand years,it represents a revolutionary shift in the way human beings:

A) conceived of and constructed their art.
B) migrated between the Near East and southern Europe.
C) disposed of their dead.
D) built religious shrines and worshiped their gods.
E) acquired the food necessary for their survival.

Question 14

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 establishment of first local,and then long-distance,trade routes throughout the Near East
E) the emergence of hereditary kingship

Question 15

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) all of these

Question 16

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

A) a stratified society.
B) permanent settlement.
C) language as well as religious and artistic ideas.
D) a priestly class.
E) an artistic class.

Question 17

Slavery in Sumerian society was:

A) based on the color of a person's skin.
B) strictly forbidden by the Code of Hammurabi.
C) unknown.
D) perpetual,with no chance for the slaves to gain their freedom.
E) usually the result of capture during war and limited in some ways.

Question 18

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 19

Tens of thousands of Sumerian clay tablets have survived:

A) but unfortunately the key to the language has not.
B) documenting the United Sumerian empire,which lasted from 2900 to 2500 B.C.E.
C) telling us more about Sumer than we know about any other human society at the time.
D) probably because the Sumerians kept them in special underground archives.
E) but all deal with priestly class and reveal nothing about Sumerian society.

Question 20

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 the gathering.
D) nomadic,moving incessantly in search of limited food.
E) settled in agricultural communities.

Question 21

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 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 method of numbering Egyptian dynasties begins with the _________ Dynasty:

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

Question 24

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

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 25

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 laborers,including peasants and artisans.
C) was dependent on a large and heavily oppressed slave class.
D) was a powerful patriarchy in which women had little participation.
E) was a matriarchal society as evidenced by powerful queens.

Question 26

Ur grew in power under Shulgi,who expanded all of the following except:

A) continued military conquests.
B) continued development of commerce.
C) increasing the amount of tribute to be paid by newly subject peoples.
D) centralizing governmental functions.
E) the establishment of a center for artistic development in Akkad.

Question 27

The Law Code of Hammurabi:

A) used religious language to unite the disparate provinces of Hammurabi's empire.
B) included every member of Babylonian society.
C) had most of its laws aimed at free commoners.
D) created a classless society in Babylonia,freeing talented people from all walks of life to advance the economy.
E) was the world's first codification of commercial law.

Question 28

The Sumerian rulers may be viewed as the first rulers in history to claim to rule by:

A) force of personality.
B) common consent of the ruled.
C) right of conquest.
D) election.
E) divine right.

Question 29

An individual who successfully led the 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 ("big man").
C) associated with distant countries where the gods supposedly lived.
D) watched by priests to see if he had magical powers of government.
E) allowed by the gods to carouse with the wives and daughters of the nobles.

Question 30

_________ 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 31

The Epic of Gilgamesh is considered the world's first great literary masterpiece,and:

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

Question 32

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

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

Question 33

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 34

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 35

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 metal with arsenic or tin.
E) combining iron and tin or arsenic.

Question 36

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 37

The Epic of Gilgamesh,the dramatic confrontation between Gilgamesh and Enkidu and its aftermath,illustrates that:

A) a powerful lugal owes no allegiance to the gods.
B) rural life is superior to urban life and "civilization."
C) the forces of nature cannot be overcome by civilization and death is inevitable.
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 38

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 39

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 40

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 41

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

Question 42

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

Question 43

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 44

Which comparison between Egypt and Mesopotamian civilizations is FALSE?

A) Both underwent a melding of religious and political leadership.
B) Both engaged in massive building projects.
C) Both enjoyed significant political and cultural interactions.
D) Both civilizations developed an inward focus,resulting in relative isolation.
E) all of these

Question 45

By 2160 B.C.E.,the rivalry in Egypt between _________ had become extreme,and each area had its own political organizations and religious preferences.

A) city and country
B) ocean and desert
C) Egypt and Nubia
D) Egypt and Sumer
E) upper and lower kingdoms

Question 46

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 47

The Egyptians were the first historical,as opposed to prehistoric,society.

Question 48

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) all of these

Question 49

The Egyptian concept of 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) includes ideas of order,justice,and truth.
E) referred to the Egyptian belief in reincarnation.

Question 50

By the end of the Second Dynasty,the pharaoh was considered more than just the ruler of Egypt: he was considered to be Egypt.

Question 51

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

Question 52

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 53

The Egyptians developed elaborate tombs and burial techniques:

A) to preserve their sacred cats in the harsh desert climate.
B) following the example of the Hebrews and other nomadic people.
C) because they believed deceased people would be reincarnated as animals.
D) to provide the dead with all they would need in the afterlife.
E) to demonstrate their great respect for their ancestors.

Question 54

The Egyptian "Book of the Dead" contains:

A) lists of prominent persons who died each year.
B) funeral regulations for members of the royal family.
C) evidence of the culture's obsession with gloom and doom and death.
D) magic spells,formulas,and incantations needed in the afterlife.
E) lamentations and consoling writings to aid the bereaved in their time of sorrow.

Question 55

Sumerian pessimism,as illustrated in their religion,was paralyzing to their culture as they lacked motivation to make significant advances in science,technology,and trade.

Question 56

Hierarchical structures of leadership were uncommon in early societies.

Question 57

The Egyptian book _________ is an example of "wisdom literature" offering advice to those in public life.

A) The Instruction of Ptah-Hotep
B) Instruction of Amenemhet
C) The Prince
D) The Prophecies of Neferty
E) The Coffin Book

Question 58

Literacy in Old Kingdom Egypt was widespread and rested primarily in the hands of a broadly based priestly class.

Question 59

The Egyptians made notable advances in:

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

Question 60

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

Question 61

Is the concept of ma'at exclusive to Egyptian ideals of rulership?

Question 62

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

Question 63

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

Question 64

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

Question 65

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

Question 66

What factors contributed to the fall of the Old Kingdom?

Question 67

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

Question 68

Egyptian and Mesopotamian hieroglyphic writing developed independently of one another.

Question 69

What role did the temples play in Sumerian society?

Question 70

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

Question 71

Both Mesopotamian and Egyptian society relied heavily on slave labor for agricultural and building work.

Question 72

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

Question 73

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