Deck 5: Classical Civilization in the Eastern Mediterranean: Persia and Greece

Question 1

What was the Greek word for city-state government?

A) Minoan
B) Achaean
C) Polis
D) Mycenae

Answer 1

Polis

Question 2

What does ?Hellenism? mean?

A) derived from the Greek
B) imperial government
C) Greek philosophy
D) city-state

Answer 2

derived from the Greek

Question 3

How did Greek and Chinese civilization differ?

A) The Chinese forms of political organization were generally less centralized than those of Greek civilization.
B) The Chinese were unable to develop sophisticated philosophical systems of thought.
C) The Greeks were unable to develop sophisticated philosophical systems of thought.
D) The Greek forms of political organization were generally less ?tidy? than those of Chinese civilization.

Answer 3

The Greek forms of political organization were generally less ?tidy? than those of Chinese civilization.

Question 4

The person responsible for the creation of the unified Persian empire around 550 B.C. was

A) Hammurabi.
B) Alexander the Great.
C) Xerxes.
D) Cyrus the Great.

Question 5

Which of the following statements is NOT true concerning the Persian religion of Zoroastrianism?

A) it was an polytheistic
B) it featured a pantheon of male and female deities who acted very much like humans
C) the righteous lived on after death in the ?House of Song?
D) Zoroaster saw life as a struggle between two cosmic forces of good and evil

Question 6

Which of the following descriptions of Greek politics after 800 B.C.E. is NOT accurate?

A) Greek politics was usually localized
B) rule by aristocrats was most characteristic, but periods of tyranny were also important
C) during much of its formative period, Greece was dominated by the Persians
D) the Greeks sketched a dynamic version of democracy

Question 7

Which of the following was not a Greek city state?

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

Question 8

Who seems to have written the Iliad and the Odyssey?

A) Solon
B) Plato
C) Cirus the Great
D) Homer

Question 9

The Greek alphabet was adapted from the

A) Egyptians.
B) Macedonians.
C) Chalcedonians.
D) Phoenicians.

Question 10

The mythos of Greek culture was established by the wide acceptance of two great poems, the

A) Gilgamesh and the Art of War.
B) Analects and the Aeneid.
C) Iliad and the Odyssey.
D) Metamorphoses and the Odyssey.

Question 11

The Greek governments of the period immediately after 800 B.C.E. largely consisted of

A) regional kingdoms.
B) a unified empire under a single ruler.
C) city-states.
D) feudal vassals loosely controlled by a single ruler.

Question 12

In the earliest stages of city-state development, the poleis were largely ruled by

A) tyrants.
B) aristocrats.
C) small farmers.
D) kings.

Question 13

What were the causes for the disputes that arose after 700 B.C. in the city -states of Greece?

A) a series of foreign invasions
B) commercial expansion and the problems of small landowners in the new economy
C) a decrease in the number of available slaves due to economic reverses
D) the imposition of a universal income tax on all Greeks

Question 14

Which of the following statements best describes the political change that took place in many, but not all, Greek city-states by 500 B.C.?

A) Most abandoned aristocratic government in favor of centralized monarchies.
B) There was no observable change, as the institutions and personnel of government remained much as they were in 800 B.C.
C) There was a growing spirit of loyalty to the community rather than to individuals, democratization of military service, and a greater commitment to public service.
D) All poleis banned the aristocracy from further participation in the affairs of the city-states and initiated truly democratic governments.

Question 15

Which of the following groups were NOT excluded from participation in the Athenian democracy of the fifth century B.C.?

A) women
B) foreigners
C) slaves
D) aristocrats

Question 16

The Athenian practice of exiling potential threats to the democratic structure of the city-state was called

A) ostracism.
B) treason.
C) banal lordship.
D) cynicism.

Question 17

Which of the following statements accurately describes a difference between classical Chinese approach to politics and the approach of Hellenic Greece to politics?

A) China placed less emphasis on hierarchy and obedience to authority than did the Greeks.
B) Greek politics emphasized a single, centralized system of authority.
C) The Greeks placed more emphasis on participation and less on bureaucracy.
D) The Chinese lacked the bureaucracy that made democratic government in Greece possible.

Question 18

What was the name of the war between Sparta and Athens?

A) the Peloponnesian Wars
B) the Persian Wars
C) the Olympic Games
D) the oracle at Delphi

Question 19

The Athenian empire of the fifth century B.C. grew from an alliance of city-states called the

A) Peloponnesian League.
B) League of Corinth.
C) Lombard League.
D) Delian League.

Question 20

The victor in the Peloponnesian War was

A) Athens.
B) Sparta.
C) Persia.
D) Thebes.

Question 21

In the aftermath of the Peloponnesian War, by 355 B.C. the political structure of Greece

A) was completely dominated by Sparta.
B) fell under the control of Athens and a renewed Athenian Empire.
C) had become a kingdom ruled by Philip of Macedon.
D) had returned to a setting of independent, disorganized city-states.

Question 22

Which of the following statements about the kingdom of Macedon is NOT true?

A) Macedon lay north of Greece, but its inhabitants did speak Greek and were interested in Greek culture.
B) Macedonia, like mainland Greece, was divided into numerous city-states.
C) Macedon possessed a stronger military force after the reign of King Philip II (359 - 336 B.C.)
D) Philip II began a series of military campaigns against the city-states of the Greek mainland.

Question 23

The person responsible for the conquest of the Persian empire was

A) Philip II.
B) Pericles of Athens.
C) Agesilaus of Sparta.
D) Alexander the Great.

Question 24

Which of the following statements most accurately reflects Alexander?s plans for his new empire?

A) He planned to transplant Greek culture in Persia while at the same time wiping out all traces of eastern culture.
B) He planned to transplant Asian cultural and political institutions to Greece while at the same time wiping out all traces of Hellenic culture.
C) As a Macedonian, Alexander disdained both Greek and Asian culture as effeminate and planned to impose Macedonian cultural values in all his domains.
D) Alexander wanted to combine Greek culture with Asian culture to create a new, Hellenistic culture.

Question 25

Which of the following was NOT one of the regional dynasties that were established after Alexander?s death?

A) Ptolemies
B) Antigonids
C) Abbassids
D) Seleucids

Question 26

With Alexander?s death, the Greek influence within the regional dynasties

A) waned as Greeks increasingly returned to the Greek mainland.
B) waned as Greeks were expelled from positions in the government and commerce and were reduced to slavery.
C) continued as Greeks moved into government jobs and merchant positions.
D) grew greater as Greeks monopolized all important political posts.

Question 27

One of the major political differences between Hellenic Greece and Hellenistic kingdoms was that

A) city-states ceased to exist in the dynastic kingdoms.
B) Hellenistic government centered on military empires rather than city-states, even though the latter continued to exist.
C) there had been no kings in Hellenic Greece, but they dominated the Hellenistic successor states.
D) the Hellenistic kingdoms produced more enduring political principles.

Question 28

Which of the following statements most accurately compares the Greek religion to that of the Indian and Chinese civilizations?

A) Greek religion was a vastly more sophisticated belief based on moral precepts and a strong attachment to an afterlife.
B) Greek religion was more strongly spiritual than either the Indian or Chinese religions.
C) The Greeks failed to develop a religion of any kind.
D) Greek religion was derived from a belief in the spirits of nature elevated into a complex set of gods.

Question 29

The authors suggest that the mystery religions of Greece which offered a more spiritual approach to religion paralleled the role of what philosophical approach in China?

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

Question 30

Which of the following was NOT a Greek philosopher?

A) Plato
B) Socrates
C) Aristophanes
D) Aristotle

Question 31

Which of the following statements best describes the function of philosophy in Greek culture?

A) it sought to devise a system of rewards and punishments in the afterworld
B) it established ethical systems based on rational definitions of right and wrong
C) it set up ethical systems based on the struggle between the cosmic forces of good and evil
D) philosophy was largely ignored in Hellenic society

Question 32

Plato believed that true wisdom could only come from an understanding of the

A) perfect forms.
B) Analects.
C) material world.
D) proper workings of democracy.

Question 33

Which of the following statements most accurately describes the Greek contribution to science?

A) The Greeks were unable to make any advances over the Middle Eastern civilizations.
B) The Greeks strongly emphasized empirical research in science, and most of their contributions were the result of empirical evidence.
C) The Greeks were able to make advances in medicine and science, but not in mathematics and geometry.
D) The Greeks were primarily interested in creating sweeping theories based on a belief in the inherent rationalism of the cosmos.

Question 34

In drama, the Greeks placed greatest emphasis on

A) tragedy.
B) comedy.
C) romance.
D) the epic.

Question 35

Which of the following dramatists wrote dramatic comedy?

A) Aeschylus
B) Sophocles
C) Aristophanes
D) Euripides

Question 36

Which of the following statements most accurately describes Greek architecture?

A) Greek architecture lacked almost entirely any monumental building.
B) Most Greek monumental building was executed in bricks of standardized form with little, if any, decoration.
C) Greek monumental architecture was almost entirely decorative and had no utilitarian purpose.
D) Greek monumental architecture, often square or rectangular in shape and decorated with columns, was intended for a variety of public uses.

Question 37

Which of the following was NOT a Greek architectural style?

A) Corinthian
B) Doric
C) Theban
D) Ionian

Question 38

Which Greek scientist suggested that the earth was at the center of the universe?

A) Socrates.
B) Plato.
C) Ptolemy.
D) Sophocles.

Question 39

Which of the following statements most accurately describes the cultural gap between educated elite and the masses in Hellenic and Hellenistic culture?

A) There was less gap between elites and the masses in terms of a unified culture than in either Chinese or Indian civilization.
B) There were a greater number of shared assumptions between various levels of Hellenic and Hellenistic societies than in either China or India.
C) Though plays and other art forms were widely shared, the emphasis on philosophy, and the fact that philosophy was closed to most ordinary people, created a tension between the elite and the masses.
D) The rise of the kingdoms after Alexander?s death served to modify the failure of the city-states to create a national cultural system based on shared cultural attributes.

Question 40

How did the literary production of Hellenistic Greek culture compare to that of the Hellenic period?

A) While histories ceased to be written and the epic declined, Hellenistic Greece saw the zenith of dramatic production.
B) For the first time since the Homeric period, new Greek epics were widely disseminated.
C) Levels of literacy fell throughout the Greek world, and most of the Hellenic works were lost.
D) Historical information was elaborated, and historical biography came into its own.

Question 41

Which of the following statement most accurately describes the nature of scientific achievement during the Hellenistic period?

A) Scientific advance was most pronounced in astronomy and geography.
B) Scientific study was not supported by the regional dynasties after Alexander?s death and generally declined.
C) In the fields of biology and medicine, many new advances were made.
D) After the third century B.C., there was a renaissance of Hellenistic scientific advance that set new standards for empirical research.

Question 42

Which of the following represents a difference between the economy of Greece and China?

A) China was not an agricultural economy.
B) Greece depended more on slave labor than did China.
C) China?s economy paid less attention to improving manufacturing technology.
D) Greece failed to colonize as did China during the classical period.

Question 43

The bulk of the Greek population

A) lived in the major urban centers and were dependent on imported food.
B) were merchants who had limited connections with the rural countryside.
C) were artisans who lived in small villages spread throughout the countryside.
D) was rural and lived in farming villages spread throughout the countryside.

Question 44

Which of the following statements concerning classical Greek slavery is NOT true?

A) Slaves were mainly acquired as a result of war.
B) Between 80,000 and 100,000 people in Athens in the 5th century were slaves.
C) Slavery was an important ingredient of the economy.
D) Slavery was based on race.

Question 45

In Greek civilization, women

A) were considered the full equals of males, despite the patriarchal nature of the household.
B) were probably not as oppressed as Chinese women, but were clearly regarded as inferior to males.
C) could hold public office, own property, and conduct business in their own names.
D) were regarded as equal in terms of the law, but were regarded as inferior culturally.

Question 46

Which of the following statements about homosexuality in Greek culture is most accurate?

A) Homosexuality in Greek culture was strictly forbidden as a societal taboo.
B) Homosexual relationships often appeared between young people and their mentors, particularly among males.
C) Homosexuality was so widely practiced among the Greeks that it detracted from their devotion to marriage and the household.
D) Homosexuality was permitted in most parts of Greek society except among the Spartans where it was strictly forbidden among the military citizens.

Question 47

How did attitudes toward women in Hellenistic Greece compare with those in Hellenic Greece?

A) There was little or no change in attitudes toward women.
B) The position of women in Hellenistic Greece deteriorated under the regional dynasties.
C) Women in Hellenistic Greece achieved full parity with males.
D) Conditions for women in Hellenistic Greece improved somewhat, although they failed to achieve equality.

Question 48

Who was the mother of a Hellenistic king in Sparta who willingly served as a hostage to help form an alliance with a more powerful state?

A) Cratesiclea
B) Portia.
C) Calpurnia
D) Thesmophoria

Question 49

Of the approximately 270,000 people in fifth century Athens, about how many were slaves?

A) 80,000 to 100,000
B) 250,000
C) 30,000 to 70,000
D) fewer than 10,000

Question 50

Describe Greek classical civilization?

Question 51

What was the polis? What was its most common early format?

Question 52

In what ways were the fragmented city-states of Greece able to work together?

Question 53

How did the political structure of Hellenistic Greece contrast with that of Hellenic Greece?

Question 54

How was Greek politics different from China?