Middle Eastern History and Culture Test #1
what are the most famous egyptain pyramids, located on the outskirts of cairo, which are counted among the largest structures ever built?
@ giza khufa
what was the worlds first empire, located in Mesopotamia?
Akkadian dynasty
what is the name of the fertile peninsula that includes most of modern day turkey?
Anatolian peninsula
what was the name of the Mesopotamia based empire that conquered and ruled much of the middle east for 300 years, from 900 to 600 BCE?
Assyrian empire
what is the specific regional name for the countries of Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan?
Caucasus region
what are the five countries in the world with the highest impact from terrorism?
Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Pakistan, Syria
what country in the middle east takes its name from a major river in the levant region?
Jordan and the west bank
what are the three major world religions that have their origins in the middle east?
Judaism, Christianity, islam
where were the two oldest civilizations of the world established over six thousand years ago?
Mesopotamia and acient egypt
What is the most common name of the large and diverse geographical and cultural region of the world located at the intersection of three continents (Southwest Asia, northeast Africa, and southeast Europe)?
Middle East
what empire invaded and took over Egypt, and ended the pharaophic epoch of eqyptian civilization in 343 BCE?
Persian invasion
what is the largest hot desert in the world, located in north Africa?
Sahara desert
what six countried control nearly 99% of the middle easts proven oil reserves?
Saudi arabia, iran, Iraq, Kuwait, united arab emirates, and qatar
what is the name of the "silver" mountain range in Anatolia?
Taurus mountains
What is the only country in the middle east that is partially located in Europe?
Turkey
Egypt is located in northeast _____
africa
who is the best-known mythic character from the middle eastern book, one thousand and one nights?
aladdin
Mesopotamia is widely regarded as the cradle of civilization. What two acient people flourished in this region?
ancient Sumerian and Akkadian
ancient Egyptian religion often ascribed spiritual power to natural objects, including animals. what is the general name for this type of religious belief?
animism
what was one of the most common religious symbols of ancient Egypt, which symbolized life?
ankn
The middle east extends from the black sea in the north to the ____ sea in the south
arabian
what is the fourth largest desert in the world, and the largest in asia?
arabian desert
what is the name of the peninsula that includes the countries of Saudi arabia, yemen, Bahrain, oman, Qatar, and the united arab emirates?
arabian peninsula
the people of acient Mesopotamia coalesced into two major Akkadian speaking nations. which of these two nations was located in the north- Assyria or babylonia?
assyria
what great empire, coming from theast, invaded and conquered Egypt in the 7th netury BCE?
assyrians
the people of acient Mesopotamia coalesced into two major Akkadian speaking nations. which of these two nations was located in the south- Assyria or babylonia?
babylonia
what is the largest ( most populated) city in the middle east?
cairo
what domesticated animal prompted the appearance of arab culture in about 3000 BCE?
camel
what is the term for a narrow river valley, strong current, islands, and rapids make navigation difficult on the nile?
cataracts
what is the specific regional name for the countries of Kazakhstan, kyrgystan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan?
central asia
what was the name of the babylonian law that was codified and inscribed it in stone around 1760 BCE?
code of hammurabi
what is the term for the social behaviors, social institutions, customs, norms, values, and traditions found in societies?
culture
what is the lowest point on earth (on land) at 1412 feet below sea level?
dead sea
what city in the united arab emirates has emerged as a global business hub ( and the most expensive city) in the middle east?
dubia
who was the daughter of sargon that was appointed as high priestess of the goddess, innanna, in the city of Ur?
enneduanna
what are the five most populous countries of the traditional "core" of the middle east?
eygpt, iran, turkey, Iraq, and Saudi arabia
generally speaking, people tend to sit next to a person of the opposite sex at the dinner table unless the host suggests otherwise in the middle east. true or false
false
in general, people in the middle east only use their hand for eating or accepting food. true or false
false
population density decreases around sources of water in the middle east. true or false
false
public displays of affection ( including hands holding) between people of the same sex are frowned upon in the middle east. true or false
false
the contemporary middle east possesses at least 87 percent of the world proven oil reserves. True or false?
false
the family structure (and society at large) tends to be highly matriarchal (female dominated) in the middle east. true or false
false
what is the arc of fertile agricultural zones that formed the basis for early civilizations in what is now Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Egypt?
fertile crescent
what acient egyptain concept emphasizes chaos, injustice, violence, or to do evil?
isfet
what religion first developed in the arabian oasis towns of mecca and medina in 610 CE?
islam
what are the three main, fully independent, countries that compose the eastern Mediterranean coastal plain area?
israel, Lebanon, syria
what is turkeys largest city?
istanbul
what is the term for spirits or demons that are supernatural creatures in early arabian and later Islamic mythology and theology?
jinns
what is the original African name of eygypt: which means "black land" - referring to the fertile black soils of the nile valley?
kemet
what Nubian state conquered Egypt from the south in 8th century BCE?
kush
what is the meaning of the Persian-language suffix "stan"?
land of
what is the French term for "rising" (referring to the rising sun) which often refers to the eastern Mediterranean coastal plain area?
levant
what acient Egyptian legal code emphasizes the importance of order, truth, balance, harmony, law, morality, and justice?
maat
ides "north Africa"' what is a specific regional name for the countries of morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya?
maghreb
what is the north African term that literally means the "place or time of sunset"?
maghreb
the middle east extends from the ___ sea in the west to mountain of iran in the east
mediterranean
what was the first capital city of ancient Egypt?
memphis
what is the historic and geographic name of the region that contains present day Iraq?
mesopotamia
what region is sometimes called the "land between two rivers"?
mesopotamia
what was the first civilization in the worl to establish agrigulture (around 8000 BCE)?
mesopotamia
for thousands of years, Anatolia has sometimes been known as asia ____, since it is the westernmost protrusion of asia.
minor
who was the monarch credited with unifying Egypt in 3100 BCE, also known as menes?
narmer
what was the common term for this region prior to the term "middle east" gaining popularity?
near east
the "greater" or "modern"' middle east includes additional countries (beyond the "core") in what four adjacent regions of the world?
north Africa, central asia, the caucuses, and south asia
in what direction does the nile river flow through the sahara desert?
northward
what is the name of a region along the nile river that encompasses the area between aswan in southern Egypt and Khartoum in central sudan?
nubia
what is the name of the collection of middle eastern folk tales compiled in Arabic during the "Islamic golden age" (8th to 13th centuries)?
one thousand and one nights
what was the name of Egyptian monarchs (kings) of ancient Egypt: which also meant "great house"?
pharaoh
who was the "great" king that united the city states of southern Mesopotamian around 2340 BCE?
sargon the great
what is the specific regional name for the countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan?
south asia greater middle east
Iran, Saudi arabia, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, isreal, Jordan, Kuwait, yemen, oman, united arab emirates, Qatar are located in ____ asia.
southwest
all of the countries in central asia and the Caucasus region are former republics of what former country?
soviet union
what I sthe 120 mile artificial waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean sea to the red sea?
suez canal
what was the name of "the first great civilization of mankind" established around 3500 BCE?
sumer
what is the collective name of jewish scriptures, based on an acronym for the first hebew letter in each of the three traditional scriptural subdivisions?
tanakn
what is the use of violence or threat of violence especially against noncombatant civilian population in the pursuit of political arms, religious, or ideological change?
terrorism
what is the name of the major river that flows roughly north to south through the sea of galilee and on the dead sea?
the Jordan river
oil deposits in the middle east are heavily concentrated in and around what body of water?
the Persian gulf
what is the longest river in the world?
the nile river
the history of ancient Egypt occurs in a series of three stable kingdoms, separated by periods of relative instability. WHat are the names of these three kingdom periods?
the old kingdom, the middle kingdom, the new kingdom
who acted as the main intermediary between the ancient Egyptian people and their gods?
the pharaoh
what is name of the European portion of turkey?
thrace
what were the ancient structures mainly built as tombs for egypts pharaohs and their consorts during the old and middle kingdom periods?
tombs
what is the Hebrew word for "teaching", which also refers to the "five books of moses" in Judaism?
torah
displaying the sole of ones foot or touching somebody with ones shoes is often considered rude in most of the middle east. true or false?
true
hospitality to guests and visitors is very common and expected in the middle east. true or false
true
most of the middle east is arid. there is a short period of rainfall, but rains often wash away the topsoil. true or false
true
northern Mesopotamia receives enough rainfall to grow grain crops; while southern Mesopotamia receives virtually no rain, so agriculture there depends on extensive networks of irrigation canals. true or false
true
saving "face" (avoid criticizing, embarrassing or challenging others in public) is stressed in most middle eastern cultures. true of false
true
such terms as near east, far east, and middle east are Eurocentric. True or false?
true
the family is seen as a persons ultimate refuge and support system in the middle east. true or false
true
the middle east produces around a third of the worlds oil, but the reserves are not distributed uniformly. true or false
true
the middle east tends to have high levels of gender inequality. true or false
true
the nile was the ecological basis for the ancient Nubian and Egyptian civilizations that date back to 2650 BCE. true or false
true
there are only a small number of major rivers, and groundwater is fairly rare in the middle east. true or false
true
until this past year, women in Saudi arabia were not allowed to drive. true or false
true
what is the name of temporary instant springs that are common in the levant?
wadis
the term "middle east" came into common usage in the after math of what major war?
world war 2
what is the name of the large mountain range in iran that borders Mesopotamia?
zagros mountains
whatis a massive stone Mesopotamian temple that has to form of a terraced compound of successively receding stories or levels?
ziggurat
