Ancient Civ Final Study Guide

Question 1

What are the basic principles of Islam

Answer 1

Founded by Muhammad
Main focus of worship is Allah (God), the Qur’an (book) and Umma (people of God’s will.)
Main practices are prayer and acts of service.
Followed the Five Pillars of Islam*

Question 2

What are the five pillars of Islam

Answer 2

1. You must do regular prayer 5 times a day.
2. You must have absolute faith in God and Muhammad
3. You must fast during Ramadan.
4. You must make a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime.
5. Give 10% charity to the poor. (Give Alms)

Question 3

What are the basic principles of Christianity

Answer 3

Main idea is the devotion to God and Jesus as his son. Loving everybody.
Main practice is reading scripture, praying and taking communion.

Question 4

What are the basic principles of Buddhism

Answer 4

The main idea of Buddhism is following the Eightfold Path* and reaching a state of mind to reach enlightenment.

Question 5

What are the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism

Answer 5

Suffering is real. (This is an unchangeable fact and it is your fate to suffer.)
The strength of your desires creates suffering (The more you want, the more you suffer.)
You need to control your desires. (The only way to stop suffering.)
Follow the eightfold path (The right way to live without suffering)

Question 6

What are the basic principles of Hinduism

Answer 6

Focused on the cycle of rebirth. If you followed the right path, then you would get reborn into a higher caste or place in society.
The main idea of Hinduism is following your Dharma, or your correct way to live.

Question 7

What are the basic principles of Confucianism

Answer 7

Confucianism focuses on the overall harmony of people and not individual freedom.
Has a lot of emphasis on respecting your elders and patriarchy.
The Main Idea is about knowing your place in the universe and taking care of your family and social circles.

Question 8

What are the basic principles of Judaism

Answer 8

Main focus is to worship the God “Yaweh”
Strict in terms of Marriage and what you can eat.

Question 9

What are the basic principles of Legalism

Answer 9

The main idea is that humans are selfish and that they need rules to keep them in place to keep peace.

Question 10

What are the main principles of Daoism/Taoism

Answer 10

The main focus is following the flow of nature and keeping balance.
Focuses on meditation and spiritual, mental, and emotional alignment

Question 11

What is Karma?

Answer 11

Karma is the Hinduism consequence of your actions. It’s almost like a point system. Good karma can help boost you up to higher caste while bad karma will guarantee you will be born as a grasshopper or something

Question 12

What is the Monkey Mind

Answer 12

The monkey mind is your subconscious naughty brain that gives your impulsive thoughts and usually leads you to make bad decisions if left unchecked.

Question 13

How did Confucianism influence Asia?

Answer 13

Confucianism helped start a lot of societal and family pressure in Asia. Confucianism has led to strict family dynamics and a need to respect your elders.

Question 14

What is Sufism?

Answer 14

Sufism is a mystical part Islamic belief centered in trying to seek the truth of the divine love and knowledge through direct personal experience with God, usually through a whirling dance.

Question 15

What medical achievements were made during the Mauryan and Gupta Empire?

Answer 15

Invented surgery
Created Vaccines
Fraction Reduction, or the action of setting bones were invented in the Gupta Empire.
Herbs and spices were used as medicine
Anatomy
There was a huge increase in personal hygiene
Meditation, to keep the mind healthy.
Invented Cesarean Sections (Cutting open a mother’s womb to deliver a baby)

Question 16

What technological achievements were made during the Mauryan and Gupta Empire?

Answer 16

Advanced in Acupuncture
Created the first numerals
Created the first signs of Architecture
Metalworking was developed leading to the invention of the coin, surgical knife, and silverware.
Iron was created during the Gupta Empire

Question 17

What mathematical achievements were made during the Mauryan and Gupta Empire?

Answer 17

Invention of Algebra & Trigonometry
Invention of the infinity symbol
Created the value of pi
Thought up the concept of zero or absolute nothing.
Created algorithms

Question 18

What astronomical/science achievement were made during the Mauryan and Gupta Empire?

Answer 18

Explained the lunar eclipse
Invented chemistry, zoology , and botany.

Question 19

What is the Ptolemaic period famous for?

Answer 19

Hieroglyphics
Rosetta Stone
Introduced inventions like the coin, geometrics systems and irrigation canals
(The Ptolemaic Period was the golden age of Egyptian civilization before the empire fell.)

Question 20

Why is the Hammurabi code so important ?

Answer 20

Hammurabi’s code was important because it was the first official set of rules for a civilization. The code of Hammurabi is often referenced in the Old Testament, and it is the base for our laws today

Question 21

What is Stoicism

Answer 21

Stoicism is the practice of letting go of trying to control what’s going on around us and instead, trying to control our responses to these things. Stoicism believes that every life obstacle is a chance to respond and grow with the 4 Virtues.

Question 22

What are the four virtues of stoicism?

Answer 22

Courage; endurance, perseverance and self discipline
Temperance; moderation, and awareness towards oneself and others
Justice; Having a good sense of right and wrong, having a good conscience
Wisdom; knowledge about how the world works and how to live in it successfully

Question 23

How do you tell if a stoicism quote is false

Answer 23

It will tell you that religion isn’t real
It will be self contradicting
It goes against the primary stoicism themes;
May be misattributed to a non philosopher of the times

Question 24

What makes up an empire?

Answer 24

An empire is a centralized power that controls other weaker peripheral states.
An empire is a complex political organization in which a dominant central state controls other weaker peripheral states.

Question 25

What is the peripheral region of an empire?

Answer 25

A peripheral region of an empire is the surrounding states which the capital or the main state controls.

Question 26

What are the four main reasons and empire might fall?

Answer 26

1. Empires are hard and expensive to maintain.
2. A set of bad rulers can make an empire fall easily.
3. Empires might fall because of the rebellion due to inequality in peripheral states. (Usually happens when peripherals gain power)
4. Nomadic invasions can also cause an empire to fall, especially if it’s already weak.
5. Overextension with conquests can leave an empire unstable and weak with a lack of resources and military control due to its giant size.

Question 27

Why did rulers often support trade

Answer 27

• It was good for the economy
• New people meant new ideas being shared
• Rich people could get luxury goods easier and faster
• SPICES

Question 28

How did trade influence and change societies?

Answer 28

• It brought luxury items to the economy and allowed it to flourish
• It brought forth a new exchange of ideas, religions and languages.
• Many diseases were brought by trade
• Alliances and positive connections were made by people from many different cultures. (Ex. Muslims & Christians)
• Towns along trade routes became powerful and wealthy cities.

Question 29

Why was there a difference in the development of trade in Mesoamerica compared to Afro-Eurasia?

Answer 29

• Climate & Territory were different
• Civilizations & their cultures had different ideals and needs.

Question 30

How long did the Pax Romana last?

Answer 30

200 years
27 BCE - 180CE

Question 31

When did the Western empire fall?

Answer 31

476 AD

Question 32

What was the Umayyad Caliphate?

Answer 32

The Umayyad Caliphate was the second grand caliphate that appeared after Muhammad’s death. The Umayyad Dynasty took place from 661-750 BC and is known as the first major Islamic Dynasty.

Question 33

How was the Umayyad Caliphate governed?

Answer 33

The Umayyad Caliphate governed its people freely, and allowed people to follow their own religions as long as they paid a special tax called, jizya. This is how they kept power and money.

Question 34

What changes did the Silk Road bring to Afro-Eurasia?

Answer 34

A bigger supply of goods and wealth.
More enslaved people began to be traded.
Cultures were exchanged (Camel statues could be seen near burials in China)
Diseases spread like wildfire and killed many people
Ideas and religions spread throughout Afro-Eurasia. (Buddhism spreads to China from India)

Question 35

What made the “silk road” possible?
What were some contributing factors?

Answer 35

Some contributing factors that helped the Silk Road become successful were:
- The desire for exotic spices from India
- The desire for silk from China
- The invention of the caravan helped the silk road flourish
**The Mongols allowed for a safe passage across the “road” and helped spread messages throughout the land.
- China’s want for “Heavenly Horses”
**The Pax Romana allowed Rome to become more active in trade and support it

Question 36

What is the connection between trade and Islam in Afro-Eurasia?

Answer 36

Islam spread throughout Afro-Eurasia by trade.

Question 37

What is a key factor to the unity of the Islam world?

Answer 37

• The key to Unity in the Islam world was the religion tax which kept the empire wealthy and peaceful
• The unity of the same religion

Question 38

What is the connection between Muslim scholars and the modern Western intellectual movement?

Answer 38

Muslim scholars greatly developed Greek and Roman ideas into knowledge which helped us advance in science, math and medical fields.

Question 39

What were Muslim scholars and intellectuals doing that the Middle Ages scholars were not and how were these practices a bridge to the modern scientific method?

Answer 39

Muslim scholars would often question the philosophical ideas that the Greeks and Romans created, but then they would further question and develop their own ways of getting knowledge and understanding how things worked. This process of thinking helped Muslim scholars make many discoveries quickly, and this led to the process of the scientific method we use today.

Question 40

What was the Great Schism?

Answer 40

The Great Schism was the division between the two types of Christian Churches, the Roman Catholic Church and the Greek Orthodox church which occurred in 1054.

Question 41

Why did the Great Schism happen?

Answer 41

• The split was caused by cultural, political and theological disputes that happened between the Roman Empire in the west and the Byzantine Empire in the East.
• The main disagreement between both Churches was the idea of Jesus christ. The East thought that Jesus was of two natures, one divine and the other human, while the Western side believed that Jesus was divine and completely on par with God while still being human.

Question 42

Why did many Christians in the Middle Ages leave their home to go on a religious Crusade? What was their chore motivation?

Answer 42

• Christians in the Middle Ages were really stingy about their religion and about determining who deserves the love of God. As christian missionaries began to spread throughout Europe, so did the oppression of smaller religious minority groups. Jews, Muslims and anyone who was not a part of the Latin Christendom were named “enemies of Christ” and were persecuted.
• The goal of the crusades was to reclaim the holy land or Jerusalem from the Muslims, and they often tried to achieve this goal with violence.

Question 43

Why did women want to become nuns in the middle ages?

Answer 43

• Could escape having to get married and have children
• Could learn to read and write
• Women could earn a place and society and a certain level of respect
• Could offer economical security

Question 44

Who was Hildegard Von Bingen?

Answer 44

Hildegard Von Bingen was a mystic german nun who was incredibly influential and gave prophecies and wrote books.