test no 2 world history
Who among the following was considered the Supreme God in ancient Iranian religion, especially in the religious system of the Iranian prophet Zoroaster?
Ahura Mazda
What is considered the greatest monument of the Age of Augustus?
Ara Pacis
Who was the first Sasanid king?
Ardashir
Who argued that the polis was a natural growth and that the human being by nature "lives in a polis"?
Aristotle
Which of the following was the most famous Indian treatise on the arts of governing?
Arthashastra
Who was the author of The Book of the Han?
Ban Gu
Which of the following is a similarity between Epicureans and Stoics?
Both sought the happiness of the individual.
Who among the following dominated Vedic learning and ritual in the post-Maurya period?
Brahmans
Why is it a mistake to blame the ancients and slavery for the failure to produce an industrial and economic revolution like that of the later Western world?
No one yet has a satisfactory explanation for why the Western world experienced these revolutions.
The great achievements of the post-Maurya arts were primarily inspired by the __________.
Buddhists
Which of the following was a feature of the bureaucratic governance system introduced by Li Si, the Qin legalist minister?
Bureaucratic administration was impersonal, based on laws to which all were subject.
Which of the following best explains pistachio cultivation coming from the east to Aleppo, rice to Mesopotamia, and sesame to Egypt during the Achaemenid rule?
Darius mandating the transfer of fruit trees and other plants to different parts of the empire
In the post-Maurya period, India became a center of world trade largely because of ________.
Chinese and Roman demand for Indian luxury goods
Which of the following justifies the fact that the memory of the Sasanids did not die even though the Sasanid imperial order was swept away entirely in 651?
Chosroes were a legendary model of greatness for Persians and a symbol of imperial splendor among the Arabs.
How did Christian beliefs constitute treason in the early Roman empire?
Christians refused to worship the emperor.
Through the eyes of which late republic literary figure do we glimpse the political life of the period?
Cicero
Which of the following philosophies emphasized hedonism?
Epicureanism
What changes did Augustus introduce with respect to the administration of Rome?
Equestrians and Italians who had no connection with the Roman aristocracy were admitted to the Senate.
Why did Alexander the Great burn the Persian capital of Persepolis?
He wanted to dramatize the destruction of the native Persian Dynasty.
The most important and influential historian of the Augustan era was __________.
Livy
Which of the following was the capital of China under the Later Han dynasty?
Luoyang
Who among the following was a clan group from ancient Media responsible for religious practices?
Magi
Which of the following ancient Indian Sanskrit epics is a composite work concerned largely with the nature of Dharma?
Mahabharata
Which of the following strands of Buddhist tradition is known as the "Great Vehicle" for salvation emphasized the Buddha's infinite compassion for all beings?
Mahayana
The stages of the dynastic cycle are interpreted in terms of the ____________.
Mandate of Heaven
Which of the following was one of the major dualistic religions in ancient Persia, in which good and evil were constantly at odds with one another?
Manichaeism
According to the Greeks, what was the similarity between the Olympians and humans?
Olympians were subordinate to the Fates.
Colonization influenced Greek life and gave the Greeks a sense of cultural identity, which in turn fostered the spirit of _________.
Panhellenic culture
During the post-Mauryan period, language and literature rested on the sophisticated Sanskrit grammar of __________.
Panini
Who among the following was a Roman general known for decisively altering the course of the Punic Wars in Rome's favor?
Publius Cornelius Scipio
Which of the following tribes from beyond the Jaxartes (Syr Darya) overran northeastern Iran, taking Sogdiana's Hellenic cities and then Bactria around 130 B.C.E.?
Saka
Shapur could justifiably claim to be a restorer of Iranian glory and a "king of kings," or shahanshah, because he ________.
defeated three Roman emperors
Nestorius was condemned as a heretic at the Council of Ephesus in 431 because __________.
he taught that the human and divine natures of Jesus Christ were distinct and separate
The Mauryan king Ashoka underwent a religious conversion because __________.
he was revolted by the bloody Kalinga war
People who publicly dissented from the officially accepted Catholic doctrines were called _____________.
heretics
A bodhisattva can postpone his own nirvana until he has helped all other beings become enlightened because __________.
his long career of self-sacrifice has gained him infinite merit
Which of the following events exemplified Alexander's policies for integrating conquered peoples?
his marriage to a Bactrian princess
Toward the end of the eighth century B.C.E., the basic unit of Greek warfare in which infantrymen fought in close order, shield to shield, usually eight ranks deep was the __________.
hoplite phalanx
The Roman name for a liberal arts education is known as _______________.
humanitas
Which of the following would have helped the Greek culture penetrate into the Achaemenid lands and displace their local social and cultural forms?
if Greek had replaced Aramaic as the language used from Syria to the Hindu Kush
Which of the following titles, meaning "emperor," was given to the ruler of Rome?
imperator
The right of Roman kings to issue commands and to enforce them by fines, arrests, and physical punishment, including execution, was termed __________.
imperium
What term refers to the tall, multiple dwellings built in Rome during the imperial period?
insulae
Which of the following developments took place in south China in the post-Han period?
large-scale immigrations of Chinese fleeing the north
Large plantations for growing cash crops owned by wealthy Romans were known as __________.
latifundia
Roman politicians who sought to pursue a political career based on the support of the people rather than just the aristocracy came to be known as __________.
populares
Which of the following was a feature of the reforms introduced by Wang Mang?
revival of ancient titles
In Homeric society, why would a slave's condition be superior to that of a landless thete?
Slaves were attached to families and protected; landless thetes did not have any security.
Why did the Athenians agree to help the Ionians during the Ionian Rebellion?
The Athenians were related to the Ionians.
How did Confucian ideals influence the government structure during the Han dynasty?
The Confucian idea of "Mandate of Heaven" provided an ethical justification for dynastic rule.
How did Han Confucianism contribute to Chinese unity?
The Confucian texts promoted a common written language, which bridged differences of pronunciation.
Which of the following statements about the First Qin Emperor is true?
The First Qin Emperor was a Legalist autocrat, but well liked by his ministers, whose advice he usually followed.
Why was literacy more widespread in Greek society than in previous societies?
The Greek alphabet was easier to learn.
Which of the following statements is true of the Roman conquest of the Hellenistic world?
The Roman treasury benefited so much from the wars with Philip V and Antiochus that Rome abolished direct property taxes on its citizens.
Which of the following statements best describes Rome's foreign policies?
The Romans established permanent colonies of veteran soldiers in conquered lands.
Why did Jesus' teachings provoke suspicion among the upper class and hostility from the religious establishment?
The Romans saw Jesus as a revolutionary ready to establish an earthly kingdom.
Why did the Senate put Nerva on the throne?
The Senate wanted to avoid chaos.
Which of the following reflects the state of administration of the Roman empires during the reign of the five "good emperors"?
The ability of urban areas to grow and thrive was sacrificed in return for efficient centralized control.
Which of the following events caused the end of Sparta's Asian venture?
Thebes forged an alliance with Argos, Corinth, and Athens and engaged Sparta in the Corinthian War.
Which of the following is true of the reign of the first Later Han emperor?
There was a return to strong central government and a laissez-faire economy.
Which of the following applied to the honestiores?
They could not be tortured.
Which of the following events led to the destruction of the Roman constitution?
Tiberius proposed and passed a land reform bill that was highly appealing to the people.
Which of the following best describes the aftermath of the demise of the Later Han dynasty in south China?
Tribal peoples came to be increasingly absorbed into the mainstream Chinese society.
How did the Romans keep the power of the consuls, or the chief magistrates, in check?
Two men held consulships simultaneously, and each could overrule the other.
Which of the following statements suggests that Gupta splendor and power had no rival?
Under Chandragupta II, India was arguably the most civilized and peaceful country in the world.
The intellectual articulation of Hindu polytheism and relativism found its finest expression in post-Gupta formulations of ________.
Vedanta
Cicero's treatise on the laws, De Legibus, enshrined what view?
a world ruled by divine and natural law
Which of the following powers could men in Roman families exercise?
selling their children into slavery
Septimius Severus drew a sharp line between the humiliores and the honestiores, the latter of which was made up of ______________.
senators, equestrians, the municipal aristocracy, and the soldiers
What indisputably ended effective imperial government in the West?
barbarian invasions
Which of the following philosophical approaches established by Pyrrho of Elis was adopted by Plato's Academy?
skepticism
Which of the following rightly suggests that most of the Indo-Greeks were Indian in language, culture, and religion?
the coins and inscriptions of the Indo-Greeks
Which of the following opened the way for Spartan dominance of the Aegean?
the collapse of the Athenian Empire
What caused the spread of the Greek people to the Aegean islands and the coast of Asia Minor?
the collapse of the Mycenean culture
Which of the following inventions during the Han period was also known as the "south-pointing chariot"?
the compass
Which of the following led to the replacement of the Parthian Arsacids' dynasty by the Sasanids?
the constant Roman wars and the pressure of the Kushan Empire in the east
Which of the following led to the end of Assyrian hold on Western Iran?
the defeat of the Assyrians by the Medes and the Neo-Babylonians
Which of the following events resulted in the freedom of the Helots?
the defeat of the Spartans by the Thebes at Leuctra
Which of the following events led to the end of the Babylonian Exile of the Jews?
the defeat of the last Babylonian king by Cyrus in 539 B.C.E.
Which of the following events persuaded Athens to agree to a peace of thirty years with Sparta?
the destruction of the Athenian fleet, which was dispatched to help the Egyptians rebel against Persia
What followed the disappearance of absolute monarchy in Greece?
the development of the Greek institution known as the polis
The success of a hoplite army depended mainly on __________.
the discipline and courage of its individual soldiers
Which of the following was characteristic of Chinese history in the post-Han period?
the dominant role played by the great aristocratic landowning families
Which of the following caused the decline of Scythian tribes in Bactria during the mid-first century B.C.E.?
the driving away of Scythians by the Yuezhi, led by the Kushan tribe
Which of the following characterized Roman policy during the Principate?
the elevation of urban centers to the status of Roman municipalities
Who was the empress dowager?
the emperor's wife whose child had been named as the heir to the throne
Which of the following shows a similarity between the Achaemenid rule and the heyday of Mesopotamian rule?
the encouragement of banking operations by the coinage system
Which of the following characteristics best describes the Roman government?
the granting of great power to executive officers contingent on the approval of the Senate and ultimately the people
Kartir had Mani executed in 277 C.E. because __________.
the messages of Manichaeism were against Zoroastrian orthodoxy
Which of the following factors attracted farmers to the Qin region from other parts of China?
the order and stability of the Qin society
Which of the following led to the transformation of the Delian league into an Athenian Empire?
the rebellion of the island of Thasos, which was suppressed by Cimon
A major accomplishment of the early Han was __________.
the recovery of written works that had been lost during the Qin persecution of Confucian scholars
Which of the following proved a hallmark of Augustan administration?
the renewal of small farming on the lands granted to Octavian's veterans
Which of the following factors set the West Asian stage for 350 years of conflict between the Byzantines based in Constantinople on the Bosphorus, and the Sasanids based in Ctesiphon on the Tigris?
the shift of the Roman Empire east to Byzantium in the early fourth century C.E.
Which of the following led to the rebellion that resulted in the collapse of the Qin dynasty?
burdensome taxes levied to pay for massive reforms
What is the name given to the model of the ideal king provided by Ashoka for later Hindu and Buddhist thought?
chakravartin
What was the similarity between the Persian Wars and the Peloponnesian Wars?
Athens fought against the Persians.
What was the main outcome of the Great Peloponnesian War?
Athens surrendered to the Spartans.
Which of these titles was given to Octavian in 27 B.C.E. and borne thereafter by all Roman emperors?
Augustus
Identify the Maurya ruler who conquered the Deccan, the great plateau that covers central India.
Bindusara
Which of the following is true of the reign of the first Later Han emperor?
By the end of the first century C.E., China was as prosperous as it had been during the good years of the Former Han.
Which pre-Roman group established themselves in the north around 400 B.C.E.?
Celts
Who among the following was an adventurer who seized Magadha and the Ganges basin in about 324 B.C.E. and established the first true Indian Empire?
Chandragupta Maurya
Why did the emperor Diocletian introduced the tetrarchy?
Diocletian believed the job of emperor was too great for one man.
Which of the following best describes the Roman emperor Diocletian's contributions to the emergence of Christianity as the official religion of the Roman empire?
Diocletian's witch-hunt against Christians actually strengthened the faith and reputation of Christians.
What mistake led to Julius Caesar's downfall?
He threatened the republic traditions to which his fellow Romans were passionately attached.
What was the outcome of the defeat of Athens and Thebes by Philip II in Boeotia?
Freedom and autonomy ended for the Greek polis.
What was unique about Gaozu becoming the first emperor of the Han dynasty?
Gaozu was the first person to rise from plebeian origins to the level of emperor.
A foreign, hereditary caste of aristocrats that increasingly supplied high administrators and even emperors originated from _________________.
Germanic mercenaries
How did Solon's reforms encourage a commercial economy in Athens and the region of Attica?
He encouraged the export of wine and olive oil.
How did Solon change the way Athens was governed?
He expanded citizenship to include immigrant artisans and merchants.
What economic reform did Wudi introduce to punish merchants who had amassed fortunes in untaxed commodities?
He reestablished government monopolies on copper coins, salt, iron, and liquor.
What was the consequence of Alexander the Great having no navy and little money to support him in conquering Persia?
He sought quick and decisive battles to gain money and supplies from the conquered territory.
Although the battle of Marathon was only a small and temporary defeat for the Persians, why was it so important to the Athenians and for all of Greece?
If Athens had fallen, the Persians would have been able to conquer all of Greece.
What was the outcome of the fine Mauryan road system?
India's merchant classes prospered.
Which of the following purposes was fulfilled by the first dictionary compiled from classic Confucian texts?
It helped promote a uniform system of writing.
Why did Ovid's Ars Amatoria anger Augustus and contribute to the poet's exile?
It ridiculed the seriousness and family-centered life Augustus wanted to foster.
What strategic advantage did the Qin dynasty derive from its location on the Wei River?
It was easier to defend as it controlled the passage to the Yellow River plain.
Why did Roman boys of the upper class study rhetoric?
It was of great use in legal disputes.
About 1000 B.C.E., bands of warlike peoples speaking a set of closely related languages called __________began to infiltrate the Italian peninsula?
Italic
Which of the following religions was Chandragupta Maurya associated with?
Jainism
Who was thoroughly trained in classical Latin literature and rhetoric and produced a revised version of the Bible in Latin, commonly called the Vulgate?
Jerome
Who among the following was called the "Shakespeare" of Sanskrit letters?
Kalidasa
The Bronze Age civilization of mainland Greece that had little in common with Hellenic civilization was the ____________.
Mycenaean culture
How did Cretan murals differ from Mycenaean murals?
Mycenaean murals depicted scenes of war and boar hunting.
Which of the following cities emerged as a great center of commerce in south China in the post-Han period?
Nanjing
Which was the capital city of the six dynasties that ruled southern China in the post-Han period?
Nanjing
In Buddhism, the attainment of release from the wheel of karma is known as ____
Nirvana
Which of the following refers to a revival of "mystery learning" that flourished as a reaction against Confucianism during the Han dynasty?
Neo-Daoism
Alexander the Great succeeded his father at the age of 20 and inherited his father's plans for the conquest of __________.
Persia
Which group was the strictest in its adherence to Jewish law?
Pharisees
Why were Rome's military forces less Roman under the rule of Septimius Severus?
Recruits for the army were increasingly drawn from the less- civilized provinces.
Which of the following was the title given to Persian rulers, which meant "King of kings"?
Shahanshah
The trade route from China to the West that stretched across Central Asia is known as the _____________.
Silk Road
How did Christianity come to be the official religion of the Roman Empire?
The conversion of the Roman emperor Constantine to Christianity provided the necessary impetus for Christianity to rise to official status.
Which of the following was one of the key aspects of Augustus' administration?
The distinction between Romans and Italians, senators and equestrians diminished.
Which of the following is true of the aftermath of the Punic wars involving Rome and Carthage?
The divide between the rich and poor, the landed and landless, grew wider.
Which of the following characteristics in the Iliad and the Odyssey describes Greek culture rather than earlier Mycenaean culture?
The heroes are cremated.
Why did the Qin base its empire on the Wei River in northwest China?
The location was strategic enough to allow the territory to be easily defended.
How did Rome retain an effective administration during the century after the Flavian dynasty
The mode of transfer of power was based on meritocracy, rather than by birth.
Which of the following was a consequence of the Roman conquest of overseas territory?
The old practice of extending citizenship to defeated opponents stopped at the borders of Italy.
How did a weakened Roman economy under Septimius Severus affect Roman society?
The social order began to reflect military characteristics in many ways, such as civilian clothing and social rank.
Which of the following factors prevented Macedon from playing much of a part in Greek affairs up to the fourth century B.C.E.?
The state of Macedon was plagued by internal conflict.
What was the argument put forth by quasi-Legalist officials in the "Salt and Iron Debate"?
The state should enjoy the profits from the sale of salt and iron.
Who among the following was the most important Augustan poet?
Virgil
Which of the following is true of women's role in Roman society?
Women in Roman families had the responsibility for managing the household.
Which of the following Han dynasty rulers' reigns marked the beginning the second phase of the dynastic cycle?
Wudi
The Persian king who fought the Greeks at Thermopylae was ___________.
Xerxes
The pilgrimage of which of the following Chinese monks to India was novelized as Journey to the West?
Xuanzang
Which of the following led Zoroaster to reinterpret the old sacrificial fire as Ahura's symbol?
Zoroaster's personal experience of Ahura Mazda as the supreme deity
__________ was a quasi-monotheistic Iranian religion which preached a message of moral reform and exhorted followers to worship only Ahura Mazda, the Wise Lord.
Zoroastrianism
Works and Days by the poet Hesiod gives a glimpse of __________.
a Greek farmer's life
Which of the following led to the loss of Babylonia by Seleucus and his heirs?
defeat by Iranian Parthians in 140 B.C.E.
Which of the following caused the much-reduced Seleucid kingdom to end?
defeat by Pompey in 63 B.C.E.
Which of the following is a feature of the peak of the dynastic cycle?
aggressive military expansion
The highest virtue in Homeric society was courage, or arête, which was best revealed by what form of combat?
agon
The Greek marketplace and civic center that was the heart of the social life of the polis was known as the __________.
agora
Which of the following can be attributed as the underlying reason behind the Mazdakite movement?
agriculture as Sasanaid's basis of economy
The curiate assembly was a branch of the Roman government that consisted of ___________.
all citizens divided into thirty groups
What was the reason for the establishment of tyrannies in Greece?
aristocrats' resentment due to their exclusion from political power, religious privileges, and social acceptance
Which of the following best encapsulates the Bhagavad Gita's treatment of Krishna?
bhakti
How did the Greeks create the first true alphabet?
by borrowing a writing system from one of the Semitic scripts and adding vowels
Which of the following titles was given to a Roman official who counted the populace and drew up the citizen roles, thereby fixing taxation and status?
censor
What was the cause for the decline of Maurya rule?
increased bureaucratic corruption
Colonization in Greece provided a safety valve that allowed the poleis to discourage __________.
civil wars
What was the source of Rome's greatness?
conquests
When the emperor was weak or ascended to the throne when still a child, others competed to rule in his name. Which of the following contenders staffed the apparatus of government and advised the emperor directly?
court officials
Which of the following was Augustus' legacy to Roman society?
curbing adultery and divorce
Who supplied goods and services to the Roman state and collected taxes in the provinces?
equestrians
Which of the following was an aspect of Gaius Gracchus' tenure as tribune?
establishing colonies for landless veterans
Which of the following best describes the writers of the Silver Age?
gloomy, negative, and pessimistic
Chandragupta, the first Gupta king, became prominent in the whole Ganges basin after ______________.
he married Princess Kumaradevi, daughter of a powerful tribal leader
Which of the following was a result of Alexander's conquest on the Indian subcontinent of Gandhara?
increase in Greek and Indian cultural interpenetration
Which of the following suggests that Iranians upheld some Zoroastrian traditions despite their religious tolerance?
maintenance of a royal sacred fire
The chariot race was a special preserve of aristocracy because __________.
only the rich could afford racehorses
The place where Greek wrestlers practiced, was known as the __________.
palaestra
Tiberius Gracchus demonstrated how to build a political career based on ________________.
pressure from the people
The main function of an Athenian woman of a citizen family was to __________.
produce male heirs for her husband's household
Which of the following was one of the duties of a patron, according to the Roman institution of clientage?
providing physical protection to his client
Which of the following was one of the duties of a client, according to the Roman institution of clientage?
supporting his patron politically
Which of the following term refers to the carefully organized drinking party that was the center of Greek aristocratic social life, which featured games, songs, poetry, and even philosophical disputation?
symposion
The blending or fusion of different systems of religious or philosophical beliefs is called__________
syncretism
Homer's epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey, deal with __________.
the 'Dark Age' heroes of Greece who fought at Troy
What helped make Seleucid rule viable in many eastern areas?
the Alexander's policies of Hellenic-Persian fusion
Who among the following were the forefathers of the Iranian dynasts?
the Aryans
Who among the following was a non-Semitic-speaking people who built a flourishing civilization on the eastern frontier of Mesopotamia?
the Elamites
The most important evidence of the life and teachings of Jesus appear in ______________.
the Gospel accounts
Who ruled much of the former Achaemenid realm from Babylon between 312 and 246 B.C.E.?
the Greek general Seleucus and his heirs
Which of the following came about in the wake of the waning of Buddhist traditions in the mainstream of Indian tradition?
the Guptas' support of Brahmanic traditions and Vaishnava devotionalism
Which of the following contributed to the collapse of the Gupta Empire in about 550?
the Huns, a new wave of steppe nomads, invading Western India
The Council of Nicea, called to address the heresy of Arianism, resulted in what Christian statement of doctrine?
the Nicene Creed
Which of the following was the major group of Iranian steppe peoples who first settled the area south of the Aral Sea and Oxus?
the Parni (later known as the Parthians)
Which of the following wars was a protracted struggle between Athens and Sparta from 465 to 404 B.C.E?
the Peloponnesian war
Themistocles concluded that if the Greeks could defeat the Persian navy, the Persian army would have to retreat because __________.
the Persian army had to keep in touch with its fleet for supplies
Which of the following wars of the sixth century B.C.E. brought an end to the isolation and freedom of the Greek cities on the coast of Asia Minor?
the Persian wars
Which of the following dynasties overthrew the Zhou dynasty in 256 B.C.E.?
the Qin dynasty
Which of the following led to the formation of the First Triumvirate in Rome?
the Senate's persecution of Pompey by refusing land to his veterans
Who were the predecessors of the Qin rulers of China?
the Zhou dynasty
Which of the following factors led to the decline of the Zoroastrian religious tradition?
the Zoroastrian tradition's loss of imperial-cult status
Which of the following led to the disappearance of tyranny in Greek society?
the aristocratic hatred of monarchy
Which of the following was the main factor determining where poleis developed?
the availability of farmland
Which of the following factors marks the beginning of the Achaemenid Empire?
the victory of Cyrus the Great over the Median king and the last Babylonian king
Which of the following caused the Elamite civilization to end?
their destruction by the Assyrian emperor Ashurbanipal in 639 B.C.E.
Which of the following best explains the practice of selflessness followed by the Mahayana school of Buddhism?
their highest goal was to achieve the status of a bodhisattva
Which of the following led to the fall of the Achaemenids?
their military inferiority to the Greeks
How has Christianity managed to survive through the ages?
through strong internal organization and government
How did the Gupta scholars cultivate mathematics?
using an older Indian number system that the Arabs transmitted to Europe, where they were called 'Arabic numerals'
Which of the following helped the aristocrats to give more time and importance to their social life?
using hired laborers, sharecroppers, and sometimes slaves to work their lands
What powers did a tribune allow the plebeians to exercise?
vetoing any action of a magistrate or any bill proposed in a Roman assembly or by the Senate
The edicts of Ashoka suggest that __________.
writing and reading had become common during the reign of the Mauryas
