Western Civ MIDTERM Part 1 – Flashcards
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Unlike the rivers in Mesopotamia, the Nile River
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never rises or falls, but flows steadily year-round.
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The focal points and sources of life for the ancient Egyptians were the
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Nile River and the pharaohs.
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In comparison to Mesopotamian society, Egyptian society was
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more rural.
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Ancient Egyptian history is divided into _____ major periods.
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three
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The term Ma'at expresses the Egyptian belief in
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truth, justice, and order in the universe.
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For administration purposes in the Old Kingdom, Egypt was
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divided into provinces called nomes and governed by nomarchs.
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The Hyksos
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were a Semitic-speaking people who infiltrated Egypt in the seventeenth century B.C.
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The economy of ancient Egypt relied most heavily on
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agriculture
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Which of the following Egyptian gods was most closely associated with the mummification of the dead?
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Osiris
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Originally the Osiris cult was reserved for
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the wealthy who could afford preservation of the body.
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The Egyptian Pyramids were
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conceived and built as tombs for a city of the dead.
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Which of the following is NOT true of Egyptian social life?
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Marriages were based on love and personal affection.
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In general, during the imperialistic New Kingdom, Egyptian government changed by
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a gradual lessening in the power of the pharaohs over their neighbors.
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Growing appreciation of astronomy among European peoples after 4000 B.C. is best seen in
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megalithic observatories.
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The original Indo-Europeans possibly came from
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the steppe region north of the Black Sea.
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One of the oldest known agricultural villages, located in Palestine, was
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Jericho.
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The tradition of the Hebrews states that they were descendants of the patriarch _____ who had migrated from the Mesopotamia land to Palestine.
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Abraham
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The Hebrew prophets
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were considered by the Hebrews to be the voice of Yahweh.
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Which of the following was NOT part of the Hebrew religious tradition?
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the revelation
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The Phoenicians' contributions to the ancient Near East included all BUT
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their defeat and destruction of the Hebrew's twelve tribes.
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Scholars agree that between _____ and _____ B.C., the Israelites emerged as a distinct group of peoples who established a united kingdom known as Israel.
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1200 and 1000
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Assyrian kings organized their empire more effectively by
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reducing the numbers of royal officials.
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The principal economic basis of Assyrian society was
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agriculture based on farming villages.
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The Ishtar Gate sat outside the city of
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Babylon.
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The Persian Empire reached its largest territorial boundaries under
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Darius.
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The Persian King Cyrus the Great was succeeded by his son
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Cambyses II
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The weakening of the Persian Empire was largely attributed to
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the kings' hoarding of wealth and over taxation of their subjects.
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Which of the following statements about the Persian army is true?
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By the time of Darius, the army had become professionalized.
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Which of the following statements concerning Zoroastrianism is false?
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it did not include a final judgment or a last judgment among its beliefs.
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Zoroastrianism was
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monotheist
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The founder of the Kingdom of Israel (1000-970 B.C.) was the military hero
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David
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The decline of the Hittites and Egyptians around 1200 B.C.
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created a power vacuum which allowed several small states to emerge and temporarily flourish.
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The most tolerant and efficient of the Near Eastern empires was the
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Persian.
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The destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. and Babylonian Captivity of the Hebrews occurred at the hands of the
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Chaldeans.
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All of the following are true of the Hebrew conception of God EXCEPT
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there was no room for personal relationships with him, as his word was law.
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The Hebrew religion
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was an ethical religion centered around the law of God.
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The Sumerian government
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came to view kings as agents of their gods.
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Sumerian kings derived their authority from
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the gods.
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Gilgamesh was
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the hero of a Sumerian epic poem.
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According to Egyptian theology, the pharaoh derived his authority from
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the fact that he was perceived as a divine instrument of order and harmony.
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The term "civilization" refers to human societies which, amongst other features,
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have an urban focus an a distinct religious structure.
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All of the following were Assyrian kings EXCEPT for
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Ashur
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Assyrian art was primarily concerned with
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glorifying the king, hunting, and war
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Moses united the Israelites after the Egyptian bondage by putting them under the protection of a new national god named
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Yahweh
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In classical Athens, male homosexuality
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was practiced and tolerated in part as a means by which mature men instructed young males about the masculine world of politics and patronage.
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Which of the following is true of Greece from the eighth century B.C.?
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The "polis" evolved into the central institution in Greek life.
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The Greek "polis" put primary emphasis on
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cooperation between its citizens for the common welfare.
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Which Greek philosopher said, with regard to the polis, "We must rather regard every citizen as belonging to the state?"
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Aristotle
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The Spartans made the army the center of their society because
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they feared an uprising by their helots.
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In general, separate early Greek communities
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became fierce rivals fighting so often as to threaten Greek civilization itself.
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Spartan helots
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a and b; a. farmed the land as sharecroppers; b. had war declared on them every year.
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Typical of Greek culture in the archaic age was
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lyric poetry as found in the works of Sappho.
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Hesiod's famous poem about the pleasures of ordinary work is titled
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"Works and Days"
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The narrow pass when 9000 Greek hoplites held a Persian army of over 150,000 men for three days was
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Thermopylae
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The Delian League was organized in 478-477 B.C. to
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keep Sparta isolated in the Peloponnesus.
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During the Age of Pericles
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Athenians became deeply attached to their democratic system.
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The Peloponnesian War resulted in
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the defeat of Athens and the collapse of its empire.
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The Greek Parthenon
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is considered the greatest example of classical Greek temple architecture.
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The Sophists
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were professional teachers who seemingly questioned the traditional values of their societies.
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Socrates was condemned to death for
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corrupting the youth of Athens
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"The unexamined life is not worth living" is a cornerstone of the philosophy of
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Socrates
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Plato, in "The Republic", imagines a perfect society ruled by
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philosopher-kings
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What were the characteristics of the Greek Dark Age?
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It was a period of migrations and declining food production.
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Homer's "Iliad" points out the
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honor and courage Greek aristocratic heroes in battle.
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Mycenaen kings used the title
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wanax.
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The "polis" was the Greek name for
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city-state
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The development of the polis had a negative impact on Greek society by
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dividing Greece into fiercely competitive states.
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Tyranny in the Greek polis arose as
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a reaction to aristocratic power and a widening gulf between the rich and the poor.
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The Lycurgan reforms resulted in
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the establishment of a permanent military state in Sparta.
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Cleisthenes' constitution established the Athenian government as
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a democracy.
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The "strategoi" in Athens
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was a board of ten generals
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The immediate cause of the Persian Wars was
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a revolt of the Ionian Greek colonies in Asia Minor.
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The English archaeologist ______ uncovered the Bronze Age Minoan civilization on Crete.
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Sir Arthur Evans
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Greek comedy was
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used to express political views as evidenced by Aristophanes
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The civilization of Minoan Crete
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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.
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A popular Minoan sport was
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bull jumping.
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The basic unit of early Mesopotamian civilization was the
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city-state
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In the thirteenth century the Egyptians were driven out of Palestine and back to their original frontiers by the
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"Sea Peoples"
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Akhenaten is best known for his unsuccessful attempt to reform Egypt's
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religion
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One of the few female pharaohs was
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Hatshepsut
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The Hittites were
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A AND D a. an Indo-European speaking peoples d. made iron weapons of war.
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In ancient civilizations, bronze would replace copper because
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bronze was harder and more durable.
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The Hittites played an important role in the history of the Middle East because they
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transmitted Mesopotamian culture to the west, especially to the Mycenaean Greeks
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The ancient city of Catal Huyuk was
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a Neolithic walled community sustained by food surpluses.
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In agrarian societies, an economic surplus is food which is
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used to support a non-laboring elite.
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Many scholars today
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doubt that the early books of the Hebrew Bible reflects the true history of the Israelites
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The greatest international sea traders of the ancient Near East were the
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Phoenicians.
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The relationship between the Assyrian king and his officials was based on
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loyalty
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Nebuchadnezzar II accomplished all of the following except
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the revision of the Persian law code
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The Persian Empire's system of satrapies allowed for
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a sensible system of collecting tribute based on an area's productive capacity.
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The central, sacred text of Zoroastrianism is the
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Zend Avesta
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The sun god, who became a helper of Ahuramazda and later, in Roman times, the source of another religion, was
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Mithra
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Which one of the following is not considered part of the Judeo-Christian heritage in West Civilization?
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revenge
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Solomon's most revered contribution to the Hebrew society was to
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construct the Temple, the symbolic center of the Hebrew religion and society.
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The Hebrew religion
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was an ethical religion centered around the law of God
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Mesopotamia is located in the valley of the
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Tigris and Euphrates rivers
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The written script of Sumer is known as
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cuneiform
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Punishments for crimes under the Code of Hammurabi
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were more severe for the lower classes.
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Amenhotep IV is best known for
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the temporary installation of the god of the sun disk in Egyptian culture
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The most famous of the megalithic constructions of Europe is
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Stonehenge.
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The early Neolithic era saw
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a slow transition from hunting and gathering to an agricultural society.
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All of the following are correct about Byblos except:
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It was an Egyptian commercial center.
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The Assyrians are important in history for their innovations in
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empire building
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The Assyrians' use of terror tactics and atrocities
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especially targeted inhabitants of the empire who rebelled against Assyrian rule
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Assyrian society was well known for its
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assimilation of other cultures and development of a polyglot society.
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The founder of the Persian Empire, who defeated Babylon and freed the Jews from captivity in 539 B.C., was
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Cyrus the Great.
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The elite infantry of the Persian army were known as the?
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Immortals
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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 ____.
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Israel and Judah
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Which of the following is true of Greece from the eighth century B.C.?
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The polis evolved into the central institution in Greek life.
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