Final Flashcards
In ancient civilizations, bronze would replace copper because
bronze was harder and more durable.
The early Neolithic era saw
a slow transition from hunting and gathering to an agricultural society.
The term “civilization” refers to human societies which, amongst other features,
have an urban focus and a distinct religious structure.
In agrarian societies, an economic surplus is food which is
used to support a non-laboring elite.
The Sumerian government
came to view kings as agents of their gods.
Mesopotamia is located in the valley of the
Tigris and Euphrates rivers
The basic unit of early Mesopotamian civilization was the
city-state.
The physical environment of the Mesopotamians generally led to
a pessimistic outlook with an emphasis on satisfying their angry gods.
The written script of Sumer is known as
cuneiform.
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.
Gilgamesh was
the hero of a Sumerian epic poem.
Punishments for crimes under the Code of Hammurabi
were more severe for the lower classes.
Unlike the rivers in Mesopotamia, the Nile River
floods predictably at the same time every year.
The focal points and sources of life for the ancient Egyptians were the
Nile River and the pharaohs.
Ancient Egyptian history is divided into ____ major periods.
three
According to Egyptian theology, the pharaoh derived his authority from
the fact that he was perceived as a divine instrument of order and harmony.
Egypt’s Old Kingdom ended for
a drought caused by low levels of the Nile.
a decline in rainfall.
economic troubles.
decline of centralized authority.
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
The Egyptian Pyramids were
conceived and built as tombs for a city of the dead.
In general, during the imperialistic New Kingdom, Egyptian government changed by
a gradual lessening in the power of pharaohs over their neighbors.
In the thirteenth century the Egyptians were driven out of Palestine and back to their original frontiers by the
“Sea Peoples”
One of the few female pharaohs was
Hatshepsut.
The Hittites
were an Indo-European speaking peoples.
made iron weapons of war.
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 most famous of the megalithic constructions of Europe is
Stonehenge.
The tradition of the Hebrews states that they were descendants of the patriarch ____ who had migrated from Mesopotamia to the land of Palestine.
Abraham.
Moses united the Israelites after the Egyptian bondage by putting them under the protection of a new national god named
Yahweh
The founder of the Kingdom of Israel (1000-970 B.C.) was the military hero
David
Solomon’s most revered contribution to the Hebrew society was to
construct the Temple, the symbolic center of the Hebrew religion and society.
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
The destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. and the Babylonian Captivity of the Hebrews occurred at the hands of the
Chaldeans.
The Hebrew prophets
were considered by the Hebrews to be the voice of Yahweh.
part of the Hebrew religious tradition?
the law
the covenant
the prophets
monotheism
The greatest international sea traders of the ancient Near East were the
Phoenicians.
The Phoenicians’ contributions to the ancient Near East included
the founding of the colony of Carthage.
a simplified alphabet and system of writing.
the establishment of trading stations throughout the Mediterranean.
distribution of Egyptian papyrus throughout the Mediterranean.
The Assyrians are important in history for their innovations in
empire building.
All of the following helped make Assyria an efficient military machine
iron weapons.
terrorist actions.
superior, diversified tactics.
ruthless leaders.
The Assyrian army was able to conquer and maintain an empire due to its
ability to use diversified military tactics.
The Assyrians’ use of terror tactics and atrocities
especially targeted inhabitants of the empire who rebelled against Assyrian rule.
Nebuchadnezzar II accomplished all of the following
rebuilding Babylon. c. defeating the Assyrians. d. building the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. e. destroyed Judah and carried the population into exile.
The Ishtar Gate sat outside the city of
Babylon.
The founder of the Persian Empire, who defeated Babylon and freed the Jews from captivity in 539 B.C., was
Cyrus the Great.
The Persian Royal Road stretched from Sardis to the capital at
Susa.
Darius accomplished all of the following
building a canal that linked the Red Sea with the Mediterranean Sea.
creating a Persian province in western India.
conquering Thrace.
built a new Persian capital at Persepolis.
The Persian Empire’s system of satrapies allowed for
The Persian Empire’s system of satrapies allowed for
The elite infantry of the Persian army were known as the?
Immortals
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 (one god).
The central, sacred text of Zoroastrianism is the
Zend Avesta
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.
What are considered to be part of the Judeo-Christian heritage in West Civilization?
monotheism.
law.
morality.
social justice.
All of the following are prominent features of Greece’s topography
bays and harbors.
mountains.
valleys.
long seacoast.
In general, separate early Greek communities
became fierce rivals fighting so often as to threaten Greek civilization itself.
Which of the following statements best describes the Mycenaeans?
They were a warrior people who achieved their apex between 1400 and 1200 B.C.
The civilization of Minoan Crete
enjoyed great prosperity due to extensive sea trade and commerce.
developed elaborate skills in art and architecture, visible in their great palaces.
What was the chief characteristic of the Greek Dark Age?
It was a period of migrations and declining food production.
Homer’s Iliad points out the
honor and courage of Greek aristocratic heroes in battle.
The polis was the Greek name for
city-state.
a characteristic of the typical Greek polis?
It contained an agora and acropolis within its fortifications.
c.
Each polis was autonomous from all other poleis.
d.
The strength of the community came through cooperation.
e.
Most Greek women were restricted largely to the home.
had a negative impact on Greek society by
dividing Greece into fiercely competitive city states.
The Greek polis put primary emphasis on
cooperation between its citizens for the common welfare.
The hoplite phalanx relied for its success on
discipline and teamwork.
The rise of tyrants in the poleis in the seventh and sixth centuries B.C.
often encouraged the economic and cultural progress of the cities.
Which of the following we the most famous and influential Greek poleis
Sparta and Athens
The Spartans made the army the center of their society because
they feared an uprising by their helots.
Unlike the women of most other Greek cities, Spartan women were expected to
stay physically fit to bear healthy Spartan children.
Those in Sparta who were free inhabitants and required to pay taxes and perform military service but who were not citizens of Sparta were
perioikoi.
Those in Sparta who were captured and forced to work on farms and as household servants to the Spartans were called
helots.
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 Battle of Marathon was a victory for
the Athenian hoplites.
The narrow pass where 9000 Greek hoplites held a Persian army of over 150,000 men for three days was
Thermopylae.
The Delian League was organized by Athens 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.
One of the chief causes of the Peloponnesian War was
Sparta’s fear of the power of Athens and its maritime empire.
The Greek historian Thucydides differed from Herodotus in that the former
was unconcerned with spiritual forces as a factor in history.
The Greek dramatist who was a realist and known for his portrayal of realistic characters in real life situations was
Euripides.
The Greek Parthenon
is considered the greatest example of classical Greek temple architecture.
Early Greek philosophy attempted to
explain the universe on the basis of unifying principles.
The Sophists
were professional teachers who seemed to question 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.
true of Greek religion?
.
It was polytheistic.
It involved ritual and sacrifice.
Festivals were held to honor the gods.
Each city had a chief god or goddess.
Philip II’s military reforms?
He made use of cavalry contingents in breaking the opposing line of battle.
His warriors used a longer thrusting spear, double that of the Greek hoplite.
Made use of engineers who designed catapults to destroy enemy fortifications.
His infantrymen carried smaller shields and shorter swords than Greek hoplites.
At the Battle of Chaeronea (338 B.C.E.), Philip II
defeated the Greek poleis, ending their independence.
All of the following were conquered by Alexander
Syria.
Babylon.
Egypt.
Persia.
Alexander’s military success against the Persians was in part attributable to
the role of Alexander’s cavalry as a strike force.
Which of the following was Alexander’s last battle against the Persian king Darius, in which Darius fled?
Guagamela.
Alexander the Great succeeded in expanding his empire for all the following reasons
the military expertise he gained prior to his father’s assassination..
having the strong personal loyalty of his troops
his ability to adapt quickly to changing circumstance
proper use of cavalry and phalanx formations
Alexander the Great’s troops rebelled when he made the decision to invade and capture
India.
The Hellenistic era describes an age that saw
the extension and imitation of Greek culture throughout the ancient Near East.
The Greek general who took Egypt after Alexander’s death and converted it into the first Hellenistic kingdom was
Ptolemy.
Considered the greatest ruler in India’s history, who extended the empire to include most of India and was a pious Buddhist
Asoka.
Which of the following statements best describes Hellenistic cities?
important centers of administration, most of which were dominated by Greeks and Greek culture.
By the 1st century B.C.E., which of the following was the largest city in the Mediterranean?
Alexandria
Improvements in trade and commerce in the Hellenistic world were greatly aided by all of the following
improvements in harbors.
a money economy.
the development of major trade routes.
the emergence of a large merchant and artisan class.
The economic life of the Hellenistic world was characterized by
commerce and trade expanding considerably
Which class of women achieved the most notable gains during the Hellenistic period?
upper class
major source of slaves in the Hellenistic world?
prisoners of war became slaves of their captors.
persons kidnapped by pirates could be auctioned off as slaves.
persons whose parents were slaves.
children were sold into slavery by their parents.
Hellenistic education as embodied in the gymnasium
closely and widely followed classical Greek ideas about proper education.
The scientific foundations of medicine made by Alexandrian physicians
were made possible through the use of dissection and vivisection.
were made possible through the use of dissection and vivisection.
Alexandria.
The surviving works of the Greek historian Polybius demonstrate
his following of Thucydides in seeking rational motives for historical events.
Who was credited with having been the first to separate medicine from philosophy?
Hippocrates.
The Alexandrian scholar Euclid’s most famous achievement was
systematizing the study of geometry.
The most famous scientist of his era, Archimedes of Syracuse, was responsible for all of the following
.
uniting the disciplines of science and religion.
designing military devices to thwart siege attackers.
creating the science of hydrostatics.
establishing the value of the mathematical constant pi.
work on the geometry of spheres and cylinders.
Stoicism
maintained that people could gain inner peace by seeking virtue and living according to nature.
The widespread popularity of Stoicism and Epicureanism in the Hellenistic world
suggested a new openness to thoughts of universality.
In the Hellenistic era, medicine
progressed due to the use of dissection and vivisection.
Which of the following led a revolt against Seleucid monarchy in Judea in the 160s B.C.E.?
Judas Maccabaeus.
For the Romans, Italy’s geography
made Rome a natural crossroads and an area easy to defend.
Rome was established in the first millennium B.C.E. on the
plain of Latium.
The people to the north of Rome who apparently ruled Rome for a century and heavily influenced Roman urban culture were the
Etruscans.
Rome set a precedent for treating its vanquished foes after forming the Roman Confederation by
offering the most favored “allied” peoples full Roman citizenship, thus giving them a stake in successful Roman expansion.
In defeating the Greek city-states in southern Italy, Rome
had to fight the soldiers of King Pyrrhus, sent against them by the Greeks.
The Roman Dictator
was a temporary executive during the period of the Republic.
exercised unlimited power for a period of usually six months.
The Struggle of the Orders
was a peaceful struggle which resulted in political compromise.
Imperium
the power/authority to command Roman citizens.
As Rome expanded, it became Roman policy to govern the provinces with officials known as
proconsuls and propraetors.
The paterfamilias in Roman society was
the male head of the household.
Originally the Roman Senate
could only advise the magistrates in legal matters.
The Twelve Tables was/were
the first formal codification of Roman law and customs.
The Carthaginians originated from
Phoenician Tyre.
As a result of the First Punic War
the Carthaginians were forced to withdraw from Sicily and pay an indemnity to Rome.
What was the significance of Scipio Africanus in the Second Punic War?
He expelled the Carthaginians from Spain and later won the decisive Battle of Zama.
The Second Punic War saw Carthage
carry a land war to Rome by crossing the Alps.
At the Battle of Cannae the Romans
suffered a devastating defeat by Hannibal.
The result of the Third Punic War was
the complete destruction and subjugation of Carthage.
It can best be said that Roman imperial expansion was
highly opportunistic, responding to unanticipated military threats and possibilities for glory.
Which of the following statements best applies to Roman schooling:
Education stressed training in Greek and mastery of rhetoric, or persuasive public speaking.
By the latter Republic, Roman slaves
often worked on the Roman latifundia.
In Rome, the male family head, the paterfamilias, could
sell his children.
put his children to death.
arrange the marriages of all offspring.
divorce his wife.
Which one of the following innovations enabled Romans to erect giant amphitheaters, public baths, and high-rise tenement buildings?
concrete.
Romans did not readily accept any Greek philosophy except that of
Stoicism, because of its emphasis on virtue and duty.
Tiberius Gracchus ran for tribune in 133 B.C.E. on a program of
providing farms to landless farmers.
The reforms of Gaius and Tiberius Gracchus
resulted in further instability and violence as they polarized various social groups.
Sulla’s legacy and importance was that he
employed his personal army in political disputes, paving the way toward Roman civil war.
Among the dangerous military innovations of Marius threatening the Republic, one finds he
recruited destitute volunteers who swore an oath of allegiance only to him.
Julius Caesar
led military commands in Spain and especially Gaul that enhanced his popularity.
The First Triumvirate was a political alliance between Crassus, Julius Caesar, and
Pompey.
By crossing the Rubicon, Caesar showed that he
was willing to disobey the direct orders of the Senate.
All of the following were results of the Roman civil wars of 43-30 B.C.E.
defeat of Caesar’s assassins.
demise of republican institutions.
rule of Octavian.
the suicide of Antony and Cleopatra.
After imposed retirement from Roman politics, Cicero took up writing
philosophical treatises.
The Roman Senate under Augustus was
retained as the chief deliberative body of the Roman state.
The absolute monarchical powers of Augustus as princeps led to
the usual victory of his candidates in official elections.
the decline of popular participation in elections.
his great popularity, as he followed proper legal forms for his power.
The Senate granted Octavian the title Imperator (Emperor) but he preferred to be addressed as
princeps
The colonies of veterans established by Augustus throughout the empire proved especially valuable in
Romanizing the provinces.
The Roman praetorian guards were
elite troops given the task of protecting the emperor.
Under the rule of Augustus, the Roman Empire
turned towards an absolute monarchy, with the princeps overshadowing the Senate.
Roman provincial and frontier policy under Augustus was characterized by all of the following
the encouragement of self-government among provincial cities.
provincial rule by proconsuls.
minimum military force to the east.
a withdrawal from military activity in central Europe after military defeat by German tribes.
The event that curtailed Augustus’s expansionist policies was
the defeat by Varus in the Teutoburg Forest.
Which of the following statements best describes the governing of Roman provinces under Augustus?
efficient, with legates cooperating with the local elites
Among Augustus’ most important actions in the area of Roman religion was his
creation of an imperial cult.
Livy was best known in the Augustan Age for his
History of Rome in 142 books.
The “golden age” historian Livy is well known for his
perceiving history in terms of sharp moral lessons.
When Augustus died, who chose his successor?
Augustus himself.
Which of the statements best describes the Julio-Claudian emperors?
varied in ability and effectiveness
Which of the following trends developed during the reigns of the Julio-Claudian emperors?
Emperors took more and more actual ruling power away from the old Senate.
Hadrian’s wall was built to protect
Roman Britain.
All of the following occurred during the reigns of the five “good emperors”
being a period of peace for approximately 100 years.
the establishment of educational programs for the poor.
extensive building programs.
being an era of prosperity
During the Early Empire (14-180 A.D.), the Roman army
was increased to 400,000 men.
The “good emperor” Marcus Aurelius was regarded as a philosopher king deeply influenced by the principles of
Stoicism.
The largest area of Roman innovation in architecture was
the use of concrete on a massive scale.
true of the Colosseum:
Its official name was the Flavian Amphitheater.
It could seat 50,000 spectators.
It was the scene of gladiatorial combats.
It was built by Vespasian.
Among the upper classes of the Early Empire
women had considerable freedom and independence.
Imperial Rome’s gladiatorial shows
were government-backed spectacles used to content the masses.
following statements was true of Roman society in the early Empire:
The introduction of Hellenistic doctors made medicine more scientific.
The “classical age” of Roman law occurred in this era.
Upper-class women gained considerable freedom and independence.
The emperors increased their authority over the Senate.
Which one of the following mystery cults had a great following, especially among the urban poor
Isis.
The mystery cult of Mithraism in the Early Empire
was a religion especially favored by soldiers.
The early values of Christianity, as exemplified in Jesus’ “sermon on the mount,”
emphasized devotion to the values of humility, charity, and true brotherly love.
The most important figure in early Christianity after Jesus was
Paul of Tarsus.
The word “gospels” means
good news.
The last great persecution of Christians was ordered by
Diocletian.
The late third century emperor who reconquered and reestablished order in the east and along the Danube and who was known as the “restorer of the world” was
Aurelian.
Tetrarchy was Diocletian’s plan to
more easily rule the enormous Roman Empire
Constantine’s most enduring reform came in the creation of
the “New Rome.”
The political, economic, and social policies of the restored empire under Diocletian and Constantine
were based on coercion and the loss of individual freedom.
Before the Battle of Milvian Bridge, Constantine received a vision of
victory under Christ’s protection.
The Edict of Milan
was Constantine’s document officially tolerating the existence of Christianity.
The heresy of Arianism
questioned the divinity of Jesus.
In the late fourth century, the Visigoths and other Germanic tribes, were pushed into the Balkans region of the Eastern Roman Empire because of pressure from the
Vikings.
In 476, the boy emperor Romulus Augustulus was deposed by
Odoacer.
After the death of Theodoric, the Ostrogothic kingdom
was defeated by the Byzantines, reducing Rome as a center of Mediterranean culture.
The founder of the Frankish kingdom and the first monarchic, Frankish defender of the Catholic faith was
Clovis.
The Frankish palace official, Charles Martel, successfully defended the civilization of the new western European kingdoms in 732 by
defeating Muslim armies in 732.
The withdrawal of Roman armies from Britain enabled
Angles and Saxons, Germanic tribes from Denmark and Germany, to invade and to establish new kingdoms on the isle.
