Chapter 2: First Civilizations: Cities, States, and Unequal Societies, 3500 B.C.E.-500 B.C.E. Quiz

22. Which First Civilization was the "gift of the Nile"? a. Egypt b. Mesopotamia c. Indus Valley d. China

a. Ancient Egypt was utterly dependent on the regular annual rising of the Nile

9. Why did civilizations first emerge so late in human history? a. Only agricultural societies can support large populations and sustain specialized or elite minorities. b. Tools that made it possible to construct cities only developed in c. 3500 B.C.E. c. Human brains were not large enough for abstract, civilized thought until about 3500 B.C.E. d. Only weather improvements after the end of the Ice Age made civilization possible.

a. Civilizations had their roots in the Agricultural Revolution, because civilized societies are not possible without significant food surpluses

25. Which people first domesticated the horse? a. The Indo-Europeans b. The Phoenicians c. The Babylonians d. The Egyptians

a. Indo-Europeans, pastoral peoples living in what is now southern Russia, domesticated the horse by about 4000 B.C.E

28. Scholars have found evidence for which of the following as an important factor in the collapse of the Indus Valley civilization? a. Salinization caused by repeated irrigation b. Foreign invasion and conquest c. Epidemic disease d. Civil war

a. Salinization, the build-up of salt and other minerals in cultivated soil, is a danger in all lands that rely on irrigation. Scholars believe it was a factor in the abandonment of the Indus Valley civilization

5. Which civilization produced the world's earliest written language? a. Sumerian b. Indus Valley c. Egyptian d. Norte Chico

a. Sumerians created the world's first written language, using it at first to record offerings to temples

1. Which of the following civilizations developed earliest? a. Norte Chico b. Indus Valley c. Olmec d. Chinese

a. The Norte Chico civilization developed between 3500 and 3000 B.C.E.

15. Which of the following means of authority was available to the states of the First Civilizations that was not available to earlier chiefdoms? a. Violence b. Persuasion c. Prestige d. Gifts

a. The right to use violence marked off the first states from earlier chiefdoms

12. Which class made up a large majority of the population in all of the First Civilizations? a. Slaves b. Free commoners c. Priests d. Artisans

b. Free commoners, including artisans, soldiers, and farmers, formed the vast majority of all early civilized populations

17. Which of the following statements is true of literacy in the First Civilizations? a. It spread rapidly to most of the population. b. It gave enormous prestige to those who could read and write. c. It developed in only two of the First Civilizations. d. It was used only to keep records, not to produce literature.

b. Literacy defined elite status and gave enormous prestige

18. Which of the following statements is true about ancient Mesopotamia? a. Its agriculture was based on the predictable annual rise of its rivers. b. It was much more vulnerable to invasion than Egypt. c. Its people had a cheerful, hopeful outlook on the world. d. Its people believed in a happy afterlife.

b. Mesopotamia was an open environment without serious obstacles, so it was much more open to attack than Egypt

4. The three earliest civilizations, all developing between 3500 and 3000 B.C.E., were Sumer, Egypt, and a. Indus Valley. b. Norte Chico. c. China. d. Olmec.

b. Norte Chico was one of the three earliest civilizations, developing along the coast of Peru between 3000 and 1800 B.C.E

20. The Mesopotamian epic hero who went on a quest for eternal life was a. Enheduanna. b. Gilgamesh. c. Enkidu. d. Sargon.

b. The Epic of Gilgamesh is a great Mesopotamian classic that describes its hero's failed quest for eternal life.

7. What is the Mandate of Heaven? a. An Indian belief that the gods created humans and organized them into castes b. A Chinese ideology that the monarch is an intermediary between heaven and earth and has divine favor as long as he rules benevolently c. An Egyptian belief that the ruler was the son of a god d. A Mesopotamian ideology that the monarch is an intermediary between heaven and earth and has divine favor as long as he rules benevolently

b. The Mandate of Heaven is a uniquely Chinese ideology, elevating the ruler but at the same time making him or her socially responsible

10. What is a ziggurat? a. The tomb of an Egyptian king b. A stepped pyramid topped with a temple c. A ceremonial bath d. A great carved-stone head

b. Ziggurats, distinctive features of early Mesopotamian cities, were stepped pyramids topped with a temple

26. This early collection of laws lays down punishment for crimes based on the social rank of the offender and the victim. a. The Seventeen-Article Constitution b. Deuteronomy c. The Code of Hammurabi d. The Laws of Manu

c. Compiled by order of King Hammurabi of Babylon in the eighteenth century B.C.E., the Code of Hammurabi is a collection of laws that strongly defines both crime and punishment in terms of social class

14. Which of the First Civilizations provided the most opportunities to women? a. Mesopotamia b. China c. Egypt d. Norte Chico

c. In Egypt, women were recognized as legal equals to men and sometimes held significant political power

19. What is the "Old Kingdom"? a. The earliest Sumerian state, based on the city of Ur b. The Shang dynasty in China c. The period of Egyptian history between 2663 and 2195 B.C.E. d. The first civilization in Babylon

c. Modern historians have divided ancient Egyptian history into Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms, with Intermediary Periods between them

23. Which of the following statements is true of long-distance trade in both Egypt and Mesopotamia? a. It dealt primarily in staple foods like grain. b. It was almost completely local, dealing in goods that could be found no more than 50 miles away. c. It dealt mostly in luxury goods for the elite. d. They traded exclusively with each other.

c. Small, precious items were by far the most profitable trade goods for merchants, and they dominated trade in both Mesopotamia and Egypt

11. Which of the following was a city of the Indus Valley civilization? a. Uruk b. Teotihuacán. c. Harappa d. Babylon

c. The Indus Valley civilization is sometimes known as the "Harappan civilization" after Harappa, a major city of this culture

29. This early civilization of the Americas made a number of lasting contributions to later Mesoamerican civilizations, including ritual sacrifice, sacrificial bloodletting by rulers, and a game played with a rubber ball. a. Norte Chico b. Veracruz c. Olmec d. Maya

c. The Olmec can be regarded as the "mother civilization" for Mesoamerica, providing many features that continued to be part of succeeding civilizations for millennia

6. Which early civilization may have housed a sophisticated civilization without developing a political hierarchy or centralized state? a. Egypt b. Sumer c. Indus Valley d. China

c. The possibility that the Indus Valley created a sophisticated civilization without a state has fascinated scholars

2. Which of the following is true of the emergence of civilizations on earth? a. Civilization developed in Mesopotamia, the "cradle of civilization," and spread from there by diffusion. b. Civilization developed independently in two places, the Andes and Mesopotamia, and spread from those locations. c. Civilization developed independently in seven major locations around the world. d. All human cultures are civilized, and it is old-fashioned and prejudiced to say that some are not.

c. The seven major "cradles of civilization" were Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, the Indus Valley, Central Asia, Mexico, and the Andes.

27. Which of the following is necessary for a society to be defined as a "civilization" in the traditional scholarly sense? a. A written language b. Defensive walls c. Cities d. Grain-based farming

c. The very word "civilization" comes from the Latin civitas, a city. The population concentration of cities leads to the specialization and hierarchy that defines civilization

30. Probably the least developed of the methods of writing developed in the First Civilizations in terms of ability to express all human thought, this writing system consisted of a complex system of knotted cords that recorded mostly numerical data, but may also have been used to record words and ideas. a. Cuneiform b. Hieroglyphs c. Indus Valley script d. Quipu

d. A quipu is a series of knotted cords, later used in the Andes for accounting; the discovery of a quipu in Norte Chico suggests that this civilization had a least the beginnings of literacy

16. Kings in which early state were known as "Son of Heaven"? a. Egypt b. Sumer c. Nubia d. China

d. Ancient kings in China were known as the Son of Heaven

13. Which of the following statements is true of women in early civilizations? a. They gained greater equality with men as cities offered them new public roles. b. They did not work outside the home. c. Although not usually involved in public life, they continued to rule their families. d. Men claimed the right to regulate the social and sexual lives of the women of their families.

d. Early civilizations were patriarchal, the men of the family claiming sweeping rights over their womenfolk

3. What modern state occupies the territory that was once Sumer? a. Iran b. Pakistan c. Ethiopia d. Iraq

d. Thanks to the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, the territory that is now Iraq gave rise to a number of civilizations, the first of which was Sumer.

21. Which of the following ruled Mesopotamia at some point in ancient history? a. Egyptians b. Scythians c. Israelites d. Babylonians

d. The Babylonians ruled Mesopotamia between about 1900 and 1500 B.C.E

8. Which was the latest of the seven First Civilizations? a. Indus Valley b. Sumer c. Central Asian d. Olmec

d. The Olmec civilization of Mexico only developed around 1200 B.C.E., making it the latest of the independently developing First Civilizations

24. Which early civilization invented alphabetic writing, developing it from Sumerian cuneiform? a. The Romans b. The Nubians c. The Akkadians d. The Phoenicians

d. The Phoenicians adapted Sumerian cuneiform into an alphabetic writing system, besides adopting many other elements of Mesopotamian civilization