Hominids split off form the great apes around six million years ago in
Africa
Mesopotamian religion was
one in which no one god reigned supreme and deities were closely related to cities.
"The Epic of Gilgamesh" teaches that
human life is difficult and immortality is only for the gods.
The ruler of Akkad, who established the first empire in Sumer ca. 2340 B.C. was
Sargon
Unlike the rivers in Mesopotamia, the Nile River
never rises or falls, but flows steadily year-round.
The focal points and sources of life for the ancient Egyptians were the
Nile River and the pharaohs.
In comparison to Mesopotamian society, Egyptian society was
more rural.
Ancient Egyptian history is divided into _____ major periods.
three
The term Ma'at expresses the Egyptian belief in
truth, justice, and order in the universe.
For administration purposes in the Old Kingdom, Egypt was
divided into provinces called nomes and governed by nomarchs.
The Hyksos
were a Semitic-speaking people who infiltrated Egypt in the seventeenth century B.C.
The economy of ancient Egypt relied most heavily on
agriculture
Which of the following Egyptian gods was most closely associated with the mummification of the dead?
Osiris
Originally the Osiris cult was reserved for
the wealthy who could afford preservation of the body.
The Egyptian Pyramids were
conceived and built as tombs for a city of the dead.
Which of the following is NOT true of Egyptian social life?
Marriages were based on love and personal affection.
In general, during the imperialistic New Kingdom, Egyptian government changed by
a gradual lessening in the power of the pharaohs over their neighbors.
Growing appreciation of astronomy among European peoples after 4000 B.C. is best seen in
megalithic observatories.
The original Indo-Europeans possibly came from
the steppe region north of the Black Sea.
One of the oldest known agricultural villages, located in Palestine, was
Jericho.
The tradition of the Hebrews states that they were descendants of the patriarch _____ who had migrated from the Mesopotamia land to Palestine.
Abraham
The Hebrew prophets
were considered by the Hebrews to be the voice of Yahweh.
Which of the following was NOT part of the Hebrew religious tradition?
the revelation
The Phoenicians' contributions to the ancient Near East included all BUT
their defeat and destruction of the Hebrew's twelve tribes.
Scholars agree that between _____ and _____ B.C., the Israelites emerged as a distinct group of peoples who established a united kingdom known as Israel.
1200 and 1000
Assyrian kings organized their empire more effectively by
reducing the numbers of royal officials.
The principal economic basis of Assyrian society was
agriculture based on farming villages.
The Ishtar Gate sat outside the city of
Babylon.
The Persian Empire reached its largest territorial boundaries under
Darius.
The Persian King Cyrus the Great was succeeded by his son
Cambyses II
The weakening of the Persian Empire was largely attributed to
the kings' hoarding of wealth and over taxation of their subjects.
Which of the following statements about the Persian army is true?
By the time of Darius, the army had become professionalized.
Which of the following statements concerning Zoroastrianism is false?
it did not include a final judgment or a last judgment among its beliefs.
Zoroastrianism was
monotheist
The founder of the Kingdom of Israel (1000-970 B.C.) was the military hero
David
The decline of the Hittites and Egyptians around 1200 B.C.
created a power vacuum which allowed several small states to emerge and temporarily flourish.
The most tolerant and efficient of the Near Eastern empires was the
Persian.
The destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. and Babylonian Captivity of the Hebrews occurred at the hands of the
Chaldeans.
All of the following are true of the Hebrew conception of God EXCEPT
there was no room for personal relationships with him, as his word was law.
The Hebrew religion
was an ethical religion centered around the law of God.
The Sumerian government
came to view kings as agents of their gods.
Sumerian kings derived their authority from
the gods.
Gilgamesh was
the hero of a Sumerian epic poem.
According to Egyptian theology, the pharaoh derived his authority from
the fact that he was perceived as a divine instrument of order and harmony.
The term "civilization" refers to human societies which, amongst other features,
have an urban focus an a distinct religious structure.
All of the following were Assyrian kings EXCEPT for
Ashur
Assyrian art was primarily concerned with
glorifying the king, hunting, and war
Moses united the Israelites after the Egyptian bondage by putting them under the protection of a new national god named
Yahweh
In classical Athens, male homosexuality
was practiced and tolerated in part as a means by which mature men instructed young males about the masculine world of politics and patronage.
Which of the following is true of Greece from the eighth century B.C.?
The "polis" evolved into the central institution in Greek life.
The Greek "polis" put primary emphasis on
cooperation between its citizens for the common welfare.
Which Greek philosopher said, with regard to the polis, "We must rather regard every citizen as belonging to the state?"
Aristotle
The Spartans made the army the center of their society because
they feared an uprising by their helots.
In general, separate early Greek communities
became fierce rivals fighting so often as to threaten Greek civilization itself.
Spartan helots
a and b; a. farmed the land as sharecroppers; b. had war declared on them every year.
Typical of Greek culture in the archaic age was
lyric poetry as found in the works of Sappho.
Hesiod's famous poem about the pleasures of ordinary work is titled
"Works and Days"
The narrow pass when 9000 Greek hoplites held a Persian army of over 150,000 men for three days was
Thermopylae
The Delian League was organized in 478-477 B.C. to
keep Sparta isolated in the Peloponnesus.
During the Age of Pericles
Athenians became deeply attached to their democratic system.
The Peloponnesian War resulted in
the defeat of Athens and the collapse of its empire.
The Greek Parthenon
is considered the greatest example of classical Greek temple architecture.
The Sophists
were professional teachers who seemingly questioned the traditional values of their societies.
Socrates was condemned to death for
corrupting the youth of Athens
"The unexamined life is not worth living" is a cornerstone of the philosophy of
Socrates
Plato, in "The Republic", imagines a perfect society ruled by
philosopher-kings
What were the characteristics of the Greek Dark Age?
It was a period of migrations and declining food production.
Homer's "Iliad" points out the
honor and courage Greek aristocratic heroes in battle.
Mycenaen kings used the title
wanax.
The "polis" was the Greek name for
city-state
The development of the polis had a negative impact on Greek society by
dividing Greece into fiercely competitive states.
Tyranny in the Greek polis arose as
a reaction to aristocratic power and a widening gulf between the rich and the poor.
The Lycurgan reforms resulted in
the establishment of a permanent military state in Sparta.
Cleisthenes' constitution established the Athenian government as
a democracy.
The "strategoi" in Athens
was a board of ten generals
The immediate cause of the Persian Wars was
a revolt of the Ionian Greek colonies in Asia Minor.
The English archaeologist ______ uncovered the Bronze Age Minoan civilization on Crete.
Sir Arthur Evans
Greek comedy was
used to express political views as evidenced by Aristophanes
The civilization of Minoan Crete
a and c; a. enjoyed great prosperity due to extensive sea trade and commerce; c. developed elaborate skills in art and architecture, visible in their great palaces.
A popular Minoan sport was
bull jumping.
The basic unit of early Mesopotamian civilization was the
city-state
In the thirteenth century the Egyptians were driven out of Palestine and back to their original frontiers by the
"Sea Peoples"
Akhenaten is best known for his unsuccessful attempt to reform Egypt's
religion
One of the few female pharaohs was
Hatshepsut
The Hittites were
A AND D a. an Indo-European speaking peoples d.
made iron weapons of war.
In ancient civilizations, bronze would replace copper because
bronze was harder and more durable.
The Hittites played an important role in the history of the Middle East because they
transmitted Mesopotamian culture to the west, especially to the Mycenaean Greeks
The ancient city of Catal Huyuk was
a Neolithic walled community sustained by food surpluses.
In agrarian societies, an economic surplus is food which is
used to support a non-laboring elite.
Many scholars today
doubt that the early books of the Hebrew Bible reflects the true history of the Israelites
The greatest international sea traders of the ancient Near East were the
Phoenicians.
The relationship between the Assyrian king and his officials was based on
loyalty
Nebuchadnezzar II accomplished all of the following except
the revision of the Persian law code
The Persian Empire's system of satrapies allowed for
a sensible system of collecting tribute based on an area's productive capacity.
The central, sacred text of Zoroastrianism is the
Zend Avesta
The sun god, who became a helper of Ahuramazda and later, in Roman times, the source of another religion, was
Mithra
Which one of the following is not considered part of the Judeo-Christian heritage in West Civilization?
revenge
Solomon's most revered contribution to the Hebrew society was to
construct the Temple, the symbolic center of the Hebrew religion and society.
The Hebrew religion
was an ethical religion centered around the law of God
Mesopotamia is located in the valley of the
Tigris and Euphrates rivers
The written script of Sumer is known as
cuneiform
Punishments for crimes under the Code of Hammurabi
were more severe for the lower classes.
Amenhotep IV is best known for
the temporary installation of the god of the sun disk in Egyptian culture
The most famous of the megalithic constructions of Europe is
Stonehenge.
The early Neolithic era saw
a slow transition from hunting and gathering to an agricultural society.
All of the following are correct about Byblos except:
It was an Egyptian commercial center.
The Assyrians are important in history for their innovations in
empire building
The Assyrians' use of terror tactics and atrocities
especially targeted inhabitants of the empire who rebelled against Assyrian rule
Assyrian society was well known for its
assimilation of other cultures and development of a polyglot society.
The founder of the Persian Empire, who defeated Babylon and freed the Jews from captivity in 539 B.C., was
Cyrus the Great.
The elite infantry of the Persian army were known as the?
Immortals
After the death of Solomon, tensions between the northern and southern tribes led to the establishment of two kingdoms, the kingdom of ____ and the kingdom of ____.
Israel and Judah
Which of the following is true of Greece from the eighth century B.C.?
The polis evolved into the central institution in Greek life.
