Deck 1: The First Civilizations

Question 1

The earliest known agricultural settlements are located in

A)the lower Tigris and Euphrates River area.
B)the Nile River delta.
C)southern Turkey and northern Iraq.
D)Palestine.
E)Lascaux.

Answer 1

southern Turkey and northern Iraq.

Question 2

Nebuchadnezzar is remembered for

A)destroying Jerusalem and the temple.
B)welcoming Jews fleeing the destruction of Jerusalem.
C)destroying the Hanging Gardens.
D)first recording the Indo-European language.
E)subduing the Neo-Babylonians.

Answer 2

destroying Jerusalem and the temple.

Question 3

People turned from hunting and gathering to food producing around

A)11,000 B.C.
B)1000 B.C.
C)35,000 B.C.
D)1000 A.D.
E)100,000 B.C.

Answer 3

11,000 B.C.

Question 4

In ancient Egyptian society, women

A)were confined to home and the fields.
B)could own and inherit property.
C)dominated the priesthood.
D)were unable to own property.
E)were married in elaborate formal ceremonies.

Question 5

The beginnings of the Bronze Age can be dated to

A)200 B.C.
B)30,000 B.C.
C)3000 B.C.
D)300,000 B.C.
E)2000 B.C.

Question 6

The Israelites were

A)a matriarchal society.
B)a patriarchal society.
C)a seafaring society.
D)a polytheistic society.
E)a hunting and gathering society.

Question 7

The satrapies subject to the authority of Darius

A)were delegated little authority.
B)enjoyed considerable independence.
C)administered independently except in matters of foreign policy.
D)were not permitted to collect revenue.
E)administered independently except in matters of justice.

Question 8

The Phoenicians' greatest contribution to Western culture was

A)the simplified alphabet.
B)purple cloth.
C)seafaring skills.
D)urban civilization.
E)monotheism.

Question 9

The Egyptian concept of maat

A)asserts that one should act correctly in order to go on to the afterlife.
B)asserts that a kind of cosmic harmonizing places all things in the right relationship.
C)argues that kings who disturb the natural order should be punished by their subjects.
D)was associated with the worship of Aton.
E)All these answers are correct.

Question 10

The religion of the Jewish people

A)was the first indisputably monotheistic religion.
B)required ritual observances but demanded little in terms of daily ethical behavior.
C)gave a prominent place to women as prophets and law-givers.
D)required Jewish missionaries to convert nonbelievers.
E)rejected the notion of a messiah.

Question 11

The Sumerians' pessimistic view of the human dependence on divine intervention derived from

A)the Epic of Gilgamesh.
B)the fertile soil and predictable rainfall of the plain between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers.
C)Sargon's brutal rule.
D)the lack of certainty due to the threat of floods.
E)Semitic invasions.

Question 12

The Assyrians successfully administered their empires through the following methods EXCEPT

A)militarism.
B)language.
C)art.
D)the deportation of troublesome peoples.
E)their brutality toward conquered peoples.

Question 13

Hammurabi's law code favored women and children by

A)requiring widowed fathers to spend their deceased wives' dowries on their sons.
B)requiring men to support their first wife, even if they remarried.
C)allowing women to keep their dowries if they left their husbands.
D)allowing widows to keep their dowries.
E)All these answers are correct.

Question 14

When Akhnaton reformed Egyptian religious practices, Egyptians

A)ceased to worship the pharaoh.
B)were forced to worship Amon-Re.
C)became monotheistic.
D)continued to worship the pharaoh.
E)were encouraged to worship Aton.

Question 15

The major accomplishment of the Assyrians was

A)monotheism.
B)the development of a law code.
C)the political unification of the ancient Near East.
D)the introduction of Semitic languages.
E)the establishment of patriarchy.

Question 16

Which was NOT an innovation of early agricultural life?

A)weaving
B)pottery
C)the mutually profitable exchange of goods
D)iron metal work
E)the wheel

Question 17

The Mesopotamians' advances in mathematics

A)were partly a product of their advanced commercial life.
B)used the number 60 as a main element.
C)included multiplication tables, exponents, and computations of interest.
D)laid the foundations for many conventional measurements today, such as the 60 minutes of an hour.
E)None of these answers is correct.

Question 18

The principal feature of Zoroastrianism was

A)the divine authority of the Persian king.
B)monotheism.
C)sacrifice of animals.
D)the idea of conflict between a god of good and a god of evil.
E)the divinity of Zoroaster.

Question 19

Which of the following languages are descended from the Indo-European language?

A)German and English
B)Russian
C)languages spoken in India, Pakistan, and Iran
D)Romance languages
E)All these answers are correct.

Question 20

The greatest feats of engineering in the ancient world, the pyramids, were built approximately

A)between 2600 and 2400 B.C.
B)in 1500 B.C.
C)between 1000 and 900 B.C.
D)in 500 B.C.
E)ca.3100 B.C.

Question 21

What physical and topographical aspects of Mesopotamia and Egypt contributed to their respective religions?

Question 22

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Bronze Age.

Question 23

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Paleolithic Age.

Question 24

How is Gilgamesh portrayed in a heroic light in the relief contained in this chapter?

Question 25

Artifacts shown on various pages in this chapter all depict subjugated peoples paying homage to their conquerors.What message do these monuments convey about the governance of conquered peoples in these ancient societies?

Question 26

Discuss the role of law codes in the development of ancient Near Eastern, Egyptian, and Hebrew civilizations.

Question 27

How did the ancient Near Eastern cultures contribute to the formation of Western civilization?

Question 28

How is Queen Hatshepsut portrayed in the sphinx shown in this chapter? Why did the historical circumstances necessitate such a portrayal?

Question 29

Review the "Jeremiah Reproaches Israel" feature in this chapter.To what historical events does this passage refer?

Question 30

Review the "Hammurabi's Law Code" feature in this chapter.How would you characterize the punishments meted out for various crimes discussed in these excerpts? What do these crimes and their punishments reveal about the values of this society?

Question 31

Review the feature entitled "The Salvation of Israel" in this chapter.What kind of a relationship does the passage reveal between God and the people of Israel?

Question 32

As societies become increasingly complex, do their religious and ethical ideas also become more complicated? What evidence do you find in the chapter to support or refute this view?

Question 33

Review the "Jeremiah Reproaches Israel" feature in this chapter.How does this passage illustrate that monotheism took hold slowly? How did political and historical circumstances complicate the emergence of monotheism?

Question 34

Review the "Hammurabi's Law Code" feature in this chapter.What is the relationship between Marduk and Hammurabi, and what are the wider implications of this relationship for the king and for Babylonian law and society?

Question 35

In reviewing the history of the ancient Near East from 3000 to 500
B.C., summarize the reasons for the wars fought by the cultures you have studied.What were the motives of the expansionist powers? What did they gain if they were successful? Be sure to use specific examples from the reading.Answers will vary

Question 36

Compare the Hebrew religion with the other religions of the ancient Near East in terms of deities, priesthoods, social orders, prophets, and attitudes toward women.

Question 37

There are strong similarities among sections of the Old Testament, Hammurabi's Law Code, and the creation stories of the Sumerians, Egyptians, and Hebrews.Given the historical time frames, could these cultures have "borrowed" myths and legends from one another, or is it more likely that each culture developed its creation stories independently?

Question 38

How might the monumental architecture of the ziggurat seen in this chapter reflect the fusion of government and religion in Mesopotamia?

Question 39

Review the feature entitled "The Salvation of Israel" in this chapter.What kind of a god does this passage describe? How different is this religious figure from the gods of Egypt or Mesopotamia?

Question 40

What do we know about the lives of women in the early civilizations studied in this chapter? What are our sources of information on this subject?

Question 41

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Assyrians.

Question 42

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Marduk.

Question 43

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Hatshepsut.

Question 44

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: New Kingdom.

Question 45

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: monotheism.

Question 46

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: messiah.

Question 47

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Old Testament.

Question 48

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: the prophets.

Question 49

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Aton.

Question 50

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Osiris.

Question 51

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Judah.

Question 52

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Phoenicians.

Question 53

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: hieroglyphs.

Question 54

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Hammurabi.

Question 55

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Rosetta stone.

Question 56

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Ten Commandments.

Question 57

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: ziggurat.

Question 58

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Third Dynasty of Ur.

Question 59

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Moses.

Question 60

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Sargon.

Question 61

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Jacob.

Question 62

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Nineveh.

Question 63

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Akhnaton.

Question 64

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Gilgamesh.

Question 65

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Sumer.

Question 66

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Zoroaster.

Question 67

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Giza.

Question 68

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Semites.

Question 69

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Babylon.

Question 70

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Neolithic Revolution.

Question 71

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Palestine.

Question 72

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: cuneiform.

Question 73

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Ramses II.

Question 74

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Darius.

Question 75

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: pharaoh.

Question 76

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Yahweh.

Question 77

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: the Hyksos.

Question 78

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: papyrus.

Question 79

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: maat.

Question 80

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Indo-Europeans.