World Civilizations I Midterms - Quizzers Only

Unit III: Greece, Persia, and China

Who was Han Wudi?

Han emperor who promoted Confucian education and recruited officials based on scholarly mastery

Which empress ruled after the emperor’s death by keeping a succession of infant rulers on the throne so she could maintain power?

Empress Lu

Why did Han emperors favor Confucian doctrine as the official state ideology?

It emphasized obedience and hierarchy, which supported imperial authority.

According to the sentence, the “gigantic space from Japan to Spain” was becoming a single Old World Web mainly because of what contribution?

The work of Chinese women and girls who raised silkworms, spun thread, and made silk

What major change did Han Wudi introduce in selecting government officials?

Men of modest origins could earn positions through mastery of Confucian texts.

Confucian ideology recognized four main groups within society like the caste system in India, but it reflected Confucian scorn against which group of people, because they produced nothing?

Traders

Which emperor founded the Han Dynasty that lasted until 221 AD, a golden age according to many subsequent Chinese?

Emperor Gaozu

What two Asian countries were also impacted by the Chinese dynasties?

Korea and Japan

Daughters, wives, and mothers were expected to exemplify what to their fathers, husbands, and sons (if applicable)?

“Three Obediences”

What was the capital of the Han Dynasty?

Xi’an

The fertile Red River basin became a major Chinese center for 900 years after the Han took it over in the first century AD, crushing it’s southern Vietnamese neighbor, the _____ sisters’ rebellion.

Trung

What long-term tradition developed from the Han emphasis on Confucian education?

An imperial bureaucracy made up of humanistic scholars

According to a census taken in 2 AD, the Han domains included more than __ million people living in __ households.

57, 12

Why did the Chinese social structure gradually grow more complex under the Qin and the Han?

Because of conquests of non-Chinese

Customarily, women followed the general advice from which famous author who penned the book Lessons for Women?

Bao Zhoa

How did the culture of Chinese dynasties influence neighboring societies and to what extent did those societies adapt to Chinese ideas to maintain their own cultural identity?

Southeast Asia used rice production, but changed it to wet rice production.

What was Sparta’s political system?

Oligarchy

Although the events of the Trojan War occured in the thirteenth or twelfth century BC, the Iliad was primarily preserved through what means until it was finally written down in the eighth century BC?

It was recited and sung for centuries.

The earliest traces of Greek language and culture found in the reading date back to approximately what time period?

Around 1500 to 1200 BC

Who are the hoplites?

The main citizen-soldiers of the ancient Greek city-states from the seventh to the fourth centuries BC

The palace culture that developed in Crete and the Peloponnese was influenced by examples from which three regions?

Anatolia, Mesopotamia, and Egypt

Starting around 700 BC, what term did the Greeks call their distinctive political institution?

Polis

Which primary form of Minoan artwork, characterized by its vibrant colors and naturalistic designs, was widely sought after and successfully imitated by artisans in both Egypt and mainland Greece?

Mainly pottery and frescoes

What was the highest honor for a Spartan woman?

Having sons who attained glory in warfare

The palaces at Knossos and Mycenae served multiple purposes, including all of the following except: (click hint)

Introducing sailing boats to the Eastern Mediterranesan

The aristocratic outlook of early Greek society, which focused on honor, violence, and disdain for social inferiors, is primarily reflected in which written work?

The Iliad

The connection between self-_______ and self-__________ helped to justify the exclusion of women, even free native-born women for the Greeks.

defense, government

The Greek city-states, like the Sumerian ones, were often at what with one another?

War

After 1100 BC, large Greek kingdoms, including Mycenae, fell into ruin. What was the primary reason the rugged terrain of Greece worked against the formation of bigger kingdoms?

The rugged terrain worked against political central.

In Greece, the poor and the rich had equal political rights. If this is true, why did the rich likely have a stronger voice in democracy than the citizens who had to work daily?

The rich had the luxury of time.

^{Taken together, appealing culture, powerful armies, productive farming, and unseen biological weapons help to explain the expansion of Chinese influence in East Asia — just as they did the expansion of Mesopotamian influence in Southwest Asia.}

What is the author’s main claim in the passage?

Mesopotamia and China expanded their influence through a combination of cultural appeal, military strength, agricultural productivity, and unintended biological advantages.

The long process of building a large, durable, and united China began in which dynasty during the 11th century BC?

Zhou

What were the cultural elites called in the Zhou dynasty who later became both scholars and practitioners of war?

Shi

Who oversaw the largest irrigation in Ancient times along the Yangtze River in central China?

Sunshu Ao

Which book has staying power despite its authorship origin that is read today in military and business circles?

The Art of War

What is the collection of Confucius teachings called?

Analects

What did Confucius see as a model for the state?

Family

Which dynasty made the teachings on Confucius the standard as his popularity went in and out during the next few centuries?

Han

What political philosophy put the power of the state above all other considerations and advocated a ruthless approach to building and maintaining power?

Legalism

What are the three “jewels” that are considered the heart of Daoism?

Compassion, moderation, and humility

What major similarity does the author highlight between the Warring States period in China, ancient Greece, and nother India before the Mauryan Empire?

Each experienced political disunity combined with significant cultural and intellectual growth.

How did the sages perceive the political chaos of these historical periods?

As terrible times for living beneficial for intellectual and philosophical development

Who declared himself as the first emperor of China after ruthlessly slaughtering entire populations bearing resemblance to Alexander the Great?

Shi Huangdi

What was the political system based on equal rights for all citizens that the Athenians created drafted by Cleisthenes in 508-507 BC called?

Demokratia

The council of 500 under Cleisthenes consisted of male citizens 18 and older who had completed military training could sit, but how old were you to be able to speak?

30 and over

What served as the voting system so that everyone knew how others voted in the assembly?

A show of hands

Athen’s greatest peril came in wars against which two powers?

The Persian Empire and Sparta

How long did Athenian democracy, in one form or another, last according to the text?

Nearly two centuries

What specific action taken by Athens provoked the initial Persian expedition led by Darius in 490 BC?

Burning the temples on the Acropolis

Which key battle in 490 BC convinced the Persians to retreat from the first punitive expedition against Athens?

Battle of Marathon

What is the significance of the Battle of Salamis in 480 BC?

Xerxes’ fleet lost a key naval battle, causing withdrawal.

The Athenian Empire was primarily composed of island states and was created using the prestige from defeating Persia and wealth acquired from what other source?

Silver mines

After 480 BC, how did Persian kings primarily continue to involve themselves in Greek affairs?

By financially supporting rival Greek city-states against one another

What was the primary reason Spartan rulers decided to attack Athens and start the Peloponnesian War?

To ally with Persia against Athens

What ultimately allowed Sparta to win the Peloponnesian War in 404 BC?

Destroying the Athenian navy, partly with Persian aid

After Sparta won the Peloponnesian War, what happened to Athenian democracy?

It was briefly interrupted by a repressive oligarchic government subservient to Sparta, but then restored.

When did the Athenian experiment in self-government finally come to an end?

When the city was destroyed by Romans in 146 BC.

The ancient Greeks shared the same main family of gods, known as a pantheon, who were believed to reside where?

Mount Olympus

In addition to sharing a pantheon of gods, Greek city-states also shared a culturally unified space through practices like military tactics, architectural styles, and which famous pan-Hellenic ritual?

Olympics

The reading suggests that the intellectual achievement of Greece between 500 and 330 BC may have been helped by the use of an alphabet, which made what easier to acquire?

Literacy

The text argues that political fragmentation (disunity) of the Greek World contributed to its intellectual dynamism because it meant:

No single king, priesthood, or authority could easily stemp out experimental thinking.

Which Greek historian, writing about the conflict between Athens and Sparta (Peloponnesian War), famously sought purely human, on-supernatural explanations for events?

Thucydides

What was the fate of the philosopher Socrates in 399 BC?

He was sentenced to death for corrupting Athenian youth and neglecting the gods.

In contrast to his teacher, Plato, Aristotle was more interested in:

The empirical study of reality and classifying objects

The geography of Greece, with its rocky lands, meant that city-states often had to import what commodity by exporting products like olive oil and wine?

Grain

What important invention, originating in Western Anatolia, helped speed up the development of Greek commerce from the late sixth century BC?

Coinage