Pre Modern History 115 Second Midterm

Question 1

Who founded the Xia dynasty? What were their names?

Answer 1

Sage Kings Shun, Yao, and Yu

Question 2

What were the characteristics of the Yellow River and the Xia Dynasty?

Answer 2

Modest, hard working, family, controlled floods, filial piety.

Question 3

What were the names of the two Real Early Civ/ Bronze Age dynasties?

Answer 3

The Shang and Zhou Dynasty

Question 4

What kinds of tools did the Bronze Age Shang Dynasty utilize?

Answer 4

The wheel, bronze, and horses

Question 5

What were the politics like in the Bronze Age Shang Dynasty?

Answer 5

Feudal system with moving capital (six times over course of dynasty).
Monopolization of bronze in order for the Shang Kings to have more power over the popular material and for war weapons.

Question 6

What is the earliest evidence of Chinese writing?

Answer 6

Shang Dynasty’s oracle bones

Question 7

Fu Hao (buried in 1250 BCE) Early Civ Woman
What was she buried with and what was her significance?

Answer 7

She was one of the three wives of Shang King Wu Ding. She supervised her own land, led men to war and with success, performed religious rites. She was buried with hundreds of bronze objects (very valuable since this dynasty loved bronze), jade, bones, and other adornments. Bronze was a big cultural love during Early Civ China.

Question 8

What dynasty removed the Shang dynasty from power?

Answer 8

The Zhou Dynasty

Question 9

When did the Zhou Dynasty come to a close?

Answer 9

The Period of the Warring States

Question 10

Once the Zhou Dynasty was in power, what kind of government did they conjure up?

Answer 10

Their own feudal system and centralization of resources. They took over.

Question 11

What was the Mandate of Heaven?

Answer 11

The cycling of Dynasties and natural disasters. Like the Old Dynasty will have so many faults and then natural disasters will hit and then another new dynasty will have to take its place. The Zhou dynasty used this as an excuse to take over the Shang Dynasty.

Question 12

What three main schools of thought came from the Period of the Warring States (100 actually emerged)?

Answer 12

Confucianism, Legalism, and Daoism

Question 13

Who won over the Warring States?

Answer 13

The State of Chin. They tried to militarily dominate and create a unified state. Civil disorder took them down.

Question 14

What did the Han and Chin Dynasties have in common?

Answer 14

Both had a struggle with keeping all of the lands together.

Question 15

When did the Silk Road come into accord?

Answer 15

Han China and Long-Distance Trade in the Classic Civ World

Question 16

Where did the Silk Road lead to?

Answer 16

Central Asia to India
to the Near East
to Iron Age Rome

Question 17

What were the Shang Dynasty’s Oracle Bones used for?

Answer 17

They were used to have questions answered. These kinds of questions included finding out about the wills of their ancestors/ deities, the right courses of actions, and the causes of events.

Question 18

What did the translations of the oracle bones suggest?

Answer 18

They predicted the luck of babies born and of other actions (like battle).

Question 19

What was Confucius’s response to the turmoil amongst the realistically independent feudal states?

Answer 19

He was troubled by the turmoil, and he looked for philosophical and practical solutions for it.

Question 20

When was the Daodejing written and by who?

Answer 20

Written by several authors during the third century BCE.

Question 21

What was happening to the feudal states ruing the writing of the Doadejing?

Answer 21

The authors were trying to figure out how to restore peace unto the feudal states, as they were constantly under battle.

Question 22

Who was the Memorial of the Burning Books by?

Answer 22

Li Si, he was an official for the Kingdom of Qin and later, once Qin conquered the rest of the feudal states of the Zhou Dynasty, the prime minister for Qin Shihuang. He had the opportunity to bring politics with him.

Question 23

What did the Harappan Civilization in the Indus Valley (India) cultivate for crops?

Answer 23

Wheat, barley, cattle, sheep, goats, cotton, and chicken.

Question 24

What was the name of the community that settled in India during the Early Civ India times (Harappan Civilization in the Indus Valley)?

Answer 24

Dravidian people

Question 25

What were the two urban centers of the Harappan Civilization along the Indus Valley in India called?

Answer 25

Harappa (35,000 to 40,000)
Mohenjo Daro (30,000)

Question 26

What is the evidence that binds the Harappan Civilization to Mesopotamia?

Answer 26

The same Harappan script and bull found in both places!

Question 27

What kinds of technologies did the Harappan Civilization of the Indus Valley have?

Answer 27

• planned street grids
• large granary
• city walls
• weights and measures
• sewage
• bathing
• various house structures

Question 28

What was the figurines of the Harappan Civilization like?

Answer 28

Bronze “dancing girl”

Toys made of wood-like material

Question 29

What was the “Bronze Age” of Early Civ India?

Answer 29

The Harappan Civilization time

Question 30

What came after the Bronze Age in India?

Answer 30

The Iron Age

Question 31

Where did (in 750 BCE) Indian civilizations start reemerging towards the start of the Iron Age?

Answer 31

The Ganges River

Question 32

What is the significance of the Ganges River and cows in Hinduism?

Answer 32

The Ganges River is believed to be holy, pure, and sacred. It is the place of many religious festivals. A proper Hindu burial is cremation, where the remains are placed in the River. The cow is sacred because it provides milk and work (like plowing).

Question 33

1000-200 BCE are the dates of early Hinduism during the Iron Age. What was created during this time?

Answer 33

The caste system.

Question 34

Which empire embraced Buddhism?

Answer 34

The Maurya Empire

Question 35

How was Buddhism sent to other parts of Asia from the Maurya Empire and King Chandragupta?

Answer 35

The kings’s grandson enlarged the empire and converted to Buddhism after the Battle of Kalinga. He then sent missionaries to Sri Lanka and Hellenistic. This promoted commerce and roads.

Question 36

What did Asoka (King Chandragupta’s grandson) issue to be built in honor of Buddhist values?

Answer 36

rock and pillar edicts

Question 37

After the Maurya Empire favored Buddhism, what Dynasty was favoring Hinduism

Answer 37

The Gupta Empire favored Hinduism but also okay with other religions, including Buddhism. The Gupta Empire was centuries after the Maurya Empire and smaller. They promoted Sanskrit and road building. A religious university was promoted.

Question 38

What kinds of temples did the Gupta Empire make?

Answer 38

Bhitargaon Vishnu Temple is among the earliest surviving temple. Terracotta is used in the temples. Hindu temples became places of worship or temples for Gods.

Question 39

The Ashokan Pillar:
Who made it and why?
When and what is its cultural value?

Answer 39

The Ashokan Pillar was created by the Mauryan Empire. It is built to represent and honor Buddha’s last sermon before reaching enlightenment. The lion faced north, which is the direction of the Buddha’s last voyage

Question 40

The Cyrus Cylinder if made from who?

What is it?

Answer 40

It was made from the King of Persia. It is made of clay and was found in Babylon. It explains what he is going to do under rule. He is going to allow religious freedom. It is a point of reference in order to know how to rule the land. Thomas Jefferson was inspired by Cyrus.

Question 41

Who developed Macedonia?

Answer 41

Alexander the Great

Question 42

Were the Macedonians Greek?

Answer 42

Politically no
Religiously Yes (Olympic Games, religious beliefs)
Alexander taught by Aristotle

Question 43

What is Phoenicia?

Answer 43

A small region of independent city states in the northern levant/ east Mediterranean before the return of empires in the Iron Age.

Question 44

What are the origins of Persia?

Answer 44

Pastoralists, settled in Iranian plateau. They became farmersm and then an urban civ. They invented qanats.