Deck 5: Worlds Turned Inside Out, 1000-350 Bce

Question 1

The notion that people are primarily evil and require moral education and authoritarian control is characteristic of which branch of Chinese thought?

A) Confucianism
B) Daoism
C) Mohism
D) Legalism

Answer 1

Legalism

Question 2

In South Asia, what happened as cities grew around 500 BCE?

A) Civic authorities showed interest in issues of sanitation.
B) Carefully organized city planning emerged.
C) They served primarily as administrative and ritual centers.
D) They were quickly abandoned, as local agriculture could not produce sufficient surplus to support large-scale urban life.

Answer 2

Civic authorities showed interest in issues of sanitation.

Question 3

Which of the following accurately characterizes economic changes in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods in China?

A) Peasants participated in a market economy, using minted coins to buy and sell products and services.
B) A declining population led to a higher standard of living for massive numbers of Chinese peasants.
C) Peasants' productivity decreased, as peasants could now enjoy the benefits of their own labor.
D) Public projects, such as draining swamps and improving irrigation and canals, opened more acreage for agriculture.

Answer 3

Public projects, such as draining swamps and improving irrigation and canals, opened more acreage for agriculture.

Question 4

What distinguished governments in the Warring States period from other Afro-Eurasian political systems at the time?

A) political fragmentation
B) the bonds that rulers forged with their scholarly elites
C) the strong city-state
D) philosopher kings

Question 5

What happened in the new cities in South Asia around 500 BCE?

A) Rulers reserved to themselves the right to mint coins.
B) Accounting and financial record keeping had not yet emerged, which limited the growth of financial transactions.
C) City dwellers, compared to rural peasants, had more material wealth but lived more uncertain lives.
D) Traders found that kings were able to disrupt their activities, as kings made decisions about warfare without considering the concerns of the traders.

Question 6

In South Asia, what were specialized subcastes that maintained a communal structure by marrying within their own group called?

A) Jati
B) Shudras
C) varna
D) Vaishyas

Question 7

Which of the following is true about Confucius?

A) He believed that scholars were corrupted by government work and should establish themselves as moral spokespersons removed from political activity.
B) He taught that strong, coercive laws and punishments were needed to maintain moral order in society.
C) He set forth a new moral framework stressing correct performance of ritual, responsibility, loyalty to the family, and perfection of moral character.
D) He only accepted individuals of noble background as his students, as he believed commoners were too crude for moral contemplation.

Question 8

Which of the following about Siddhartha Gautama, known as the Buddha, is correct?

A) He lived part of his life with ascetics.
B) He criticized the Brahmans for having abandoned their rituals and sacrifices.
C) He sought funding for his teachings by supporting royal power throughout South Asia.
D) He came from a family of poor peasants.

Question 9

Which of the following best describes the relationship of Mahavira and the Buddha with Brahman spiritual authority?

A) Both Mahavira and the Buddha accepted the elaborate cosmology of Brahman scholars.
B) Both Mahavira and the Buddha received most of their support from rural farmers.
C) Both Mahavira and the Buddha objected to the ritual sacrifices of animals by the Brahmans.
D) Both Mahavira and the Buddha relied upon the oral transmission of their teachings, whereas the Brahmans relied upon writing down their teachings in order to spread their knowledge widely.

Question 10

Which of the following about the Warring States period in China is correct?

A) Social relations became more fluid as commoners were able to gain more economic power.
B) Bureaucratic officials were replaced with loyal family members.
C) Peasants were permitted to travel broadly in order to obtain the best price for their crops.
D) Gender relations became more flexible as the economic value of women increased due to their work in the fields.

Question 11

What happened during the Warring States period of the Eastern Zhou dynasty?

A) The territorial states sought to maintain a balance of power and would re-form coalitions if one state became too powerful.
B) The Zhou king lost all formal authority over the territorial states.
C) The warfare among the territorial states remained small in comparison with that in Southwest Asia.
D) Power became concentrated in the major states' rulers.

Question 12

Which of the following characterized the new cities in South Asia around 500 BCE?

A) New cities such as Taxila had well-planned streets and water drainage similar to that of Mohenjo Daro.
B) The rigidity of the caste system prevented social mobility.
C) Individuals who did the dirtiest jobs became outcastes known as Brahmans.
D) An elaborate division of labor suggested high degrees of specialization and commercialization.

Question 13

What is the purpose of Buddhism's Eightfold Path?

A) to enforce the practice of extreme asceticism
B) to create a trancelike state by following eight distinct rituals
C) to embrace desire as the key to reaching a state of contentment
D) to rid oneself of desire and to reach nirvana

Question 14

Which of the following emerged from the rampant destruction during the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States periods?

A) new smelting techniques, allowing the development of bronze battle axes
B) new political institutions and ideologies
C) an increase in the number of political entities
D) an increase in population

Question 15

Which of the following most accurately describes Jainist beliefs?

A) The good life involves enjoying moderation in all things.
B) Prayer rituals to the gods must be strictly observed so that the gods will intercede in the universe to aid the believer.
C) Peasants were the most numerous followers of Mahavira.
D) Every living creature has a soul and must not be harmed.

Question 16

Which of the following accurately compares Chinese territorial states and Mediterranean city-states?

A) Mediterranean city-states developed siege warfare and defensive walls, but the Chinese territorial states fought only on open plains where their chariots were free to maneuver.
B) Both relied on nobles fighting from chariots.
C) Both relied heavily on the navy to win battles.
D) Chinese territorial states could produce armies of up to 1 million men, while Athens could produce only 20,000.

Question 17

Qin government minister Shang Yang implemented which key political reform?

A) solidifying direct rule of regions under the sovereign
B) rewarding or punishing nobles for their military achievements or lack thereof)
C) decreasing the power of the state in favor of locally elected councils
D) creating a lenient legal code that stressed rewards for good behavior rather than punishments for crimes

Question 18

Which of the following is correct about Daoism?

A) It criticized Confucianism for teaching an unnatural social equality.
B) It taught that the best way to live was to follow the natural order of things.
C) It established a ritualized system of meditation as the foundation of controlling events in one's life.
D) It believed that its followers had a responsibility to enter government service in order to promote moral behavior.

Question 19

What did Confucius set out in search of?

A) the secret to everlasting life
B) fame
C) wealth
D) an enlightened ruler

Question 20

Which of the following accurately reflects Confucius's belief concerning why people behave ethically?

A) It is a human characteristic to do so.
B) in order to achieve a place in heaven
C) out of respect for the teachings of scholars
D) for fear of punishment

Question 21

Which of the following best describes Olmec culture in Mesoamerica?

A) It forged a network for the exchange of sacred ritual objects.
B) It emerged from the large cities where most people lived.
C) It was built upon the previous cultures/societies of South America.
D) It lacked a common language or religious life.

Question 22

Which of the following played a critical role in the historical development of Africa in the first millennium BCE?

A) the lush agricultural promise of the rain forests
B) the opportunities for hunting big game in the savanna
C) the continuing drying out of the region and the expansion of the deserts
D) the Sahel receiving more rainfall and becoming more densely populated

Question 23

What was the purpose behind Plato's creation of The Republic?

A) He wanted to create a model city-state where democracy allowed the participation of all citizens in the government.
B) He described his vision of a perfect city ruled by an oligarchy.
C) He thought that if humans would imitate his model, the Greek cities would be less susceptible to the decline that he saw in his own time.
D) He hoped that he could achieve a wider audience by having Euripides turn the dialogue into a drama.

Question 24

Historians today recognize the peoples of Nubia

A) as a society that borrowed its culture exclusively from Egypt.
B) as a culture deeply influenced by Egypt and the cultures of sub-Saharan Africa.
C) as a society that completely shunned Egyptian ideas.
D) as a "first-generation" society, developing its own culture in isolation.

Question 25

Which of the following about Chavín society is correct?

A) It established devotional cults focused on astronomical events and the movement of stars and planets.
B) It established a spiritual center in caves on the coast of Peru that echoed with "divine voices."
C) It had priests who took hallucinogenic drugs that they believed would turn them into jaguars.
D) It collapsed suddenly and left little imprint on later culture/societies.

Question 26

Which of the following about most city-states in the Mediterranean basin is correct?

A) The small family unit was the most important social unit.
B) The social equality of the household was seen as a model for social equality in public life.
C) Adult women were recognized as the public voice of the concerns of the family.
D) Women were allowed to hold property.

Question 27

Which of the following statements about philosophy in the Greek city-states is correct?

A) It focused on humans and their place in society.
B) It was always presented through written texts.
C) It sought to create systems of thought in which the identity of the thinker was not relevant.
D) It was practiced freely by society, including women and slaves who participated in public debates.

Question 28

Olmec cities included substantial spaces dedicated to what?

A) stages for theatrical presentations
B) ball courts for athletic competition
C) amphitheaters for musical competitions
D) ponds for swimming competitions

Question 29

Which of the following about Olmec cities is correct?

A) They served as political centers from which kings established their authority.
B) They evidenced little planning or organization in their construction.
C) They lacked a clearly developed artistic or iconographic tradition.
D) They were devotional centers featuring massive earthen mounds, platforms, palaces, and plazas.

Question 30

In the Mediterranean city-states, what was at the center of the city?

A) temple to the city's god
B) palace of the king
C) administrative offices of the city officials
D) marketplace

Question 31

During the Spring and Autumn period of the Eastern Zhou dynasty, China experienced levels of anarchic violence unseen for generations.

Question 32

Which of the following describes both the Olmecs and the Vedic people during the first millennium BCE?

A) Domesticated animals permitted long-distance trade networks to become very active.
B) Cultural cohesion was achieved through tiered social ranks.
C) The absence of monumental cities indicated a lack of wealth.
D) Frequent long-distance communication allowed various societies to share technology.

Question 33

Which of the following is an accurate comparison of Plato and Aristotle?

A) Plato was concerned with analyzing politics and governance; Aristotle was only concerned with poetry and science.
B) Aristotle believed that the path to knowledge was through close study of things in the natural world to discover underlying patterns, but Plato thought that things in the natural world were merely flawed copies of ideal forms in a thought world.
C) Aristotle analyzed more than 150 city-states; Plato based his research only on Sparta.
D) Plato believed that water was the substance from which all other things were derived, while Aristotle believed that substances were composed of small, indivisible particles called atoma.

Question 34

Which of the following is the most likely reason for the loss of Olmec urban centers in the middle of the first millennium BCE?

A) The Olmec population dropped drastically, because of a prolonged drought.
B) The Olmecs were invaded and conquered by the Toltecs, as seen by the destruction of many ritual centers.
C) The machinery for bringing resources to the Olmec capitals failed, leading to the collapse of the social and cultural hierarchy.
D) The Olmec rulers claimed to descend from divine ancestors, angering the priestly class.

Question 35

What is the most spectacular evidence of the economic growth of the Mediterranean city-states?

A) population growth
B) the speed with which they established colonies throughout the Mediterranean
C) the rapid urbanization in their growing cities
D) the extensive use of coinage as a method to exchange value

Question 36

Which of the following was a reason for the rise of chattel slavery in the Mediterranean city-states after 500 BCE?

A) Individuals voluntarily became slaves for a specified time as an act of religious devotion.
B) The inhabitants of frontier communities in the north militarily overwhelmed the city-states, creating a new volume of slaves.
C) The explosion of money-based market economies led to an ethos in which everything, even human beings, acquired a monetary value.
D) Following an economic collapse, many people were so impoverished that they sold themselves into slavery to pay their debts.

Question 37

Which of the following about the Sudanic peoples of sub-Saharan Africa is correct?

A) They shared few cultural traits since they spread across a region some 4,000 miles from west to east.
B) They adhered to a cosmology in which there were no gods but only natural spirits.
C) They did not domesticate large animals such as horses and cattle, although this enabled them to travel over longer distances.
D) They had polities led by sacred kings.

Question 38

Which of the Mediterranean city-states was LEAST likely to experience internal strife?

A) Athens
B) Thebes
C) Sparta
D) Olympia

Question 39

Which of the following characterized the borderland societies of the eastern Mediterranean around 1000 BCE?

A) They became dominated by large regional states such as Persia.
B) Because of their geographic location on the Mediterranean Sea, new ideas such as the alphabet and use of money spread rapidly.
C) Several territorial states arose in the western Mediterranean and then invaded the eastern Mediterranean in a search for raw materials.
D) Because these societies were insular, there was little reason for warfare between them.

Question 40

Which of the following is an accurate comparison between the Sudanic people and the Olmecs in the first millennium BCE?

A) Bronze tools were created by both groups in this period.
B) Neither group developed the ability to smelt iron.
C) The Olmecs, but not the Sudanic peoples, relied extensively on trade.
D) The Sudanic people, unlike the Olmecs, had domesticated several large animals, including cattle and some horses.

Question 41

What changes in political and social structure occurred in East Asia, South Asia, and the Mediterranean basin during the first millennium BCE? How did these innovations encourage reflection about the nature and purpose of government and society?

Question 42

Compare and contrast Buddhist and Confucian philosophies. How did each seek to respond to different sets of issues?

Question 43

The Chavín trade in painted textiles, ceramics, and gold objects spanned the region from the Pacific coast on the west to the watershed of the Amazon basin on the east.

Question 44

How did South Asia and the Mediterranean basin develop economically in the first millennium BCE? How did these economic developments affect the growth of urban society and the emerging ideas of thinkers and philosophers in these societies?

Question 45

In Zhou China, a tradition developed of scholar-bureaucrats participating in debate over how to create a stable and harmonious government.

Question 46

Both Siddhartha Gautama, known as the Buddha, and Mahavira came from outside the Vedic tradition.

Question 47

Why was the period from 800 to 200 BCE in Afro-Eurasia known as the "Axial Age"?

Question 48

One difference between sub-Saharan Africa and Eurasia was that sub-Saharan African farmers did not develop plow agriculture.

Question 49

Compare how the societies in Mesoamerica, South America, and sub-Saharan Africa were affected by the connections that they had or failed to have with other societies. How did these societies structure their broad social relations?