CLA 050 Midterm Exam Question Bank

What does “peri physeos” mean?

a) About nature

b) Against nature

c) Plough Star

d) When the gods Anu and Enlil

a) About nature

What does the Greek word physis mean?

a) Nature

b) Science

c) Order

d) Universe

a) Nature

What does the Greek word episteme mean?

a) Knowledge/Science

b) Opinion

c) Physics/Cosmology

d) Inquiry

a) Knowledge/Science

What does the Greek word techne mean?

a) Art/Technical Discipline

b) Inquiry

c) History

d) Method

a) Art/Technical Discipline

What did the “scientific method” originally describe?

a) How thinking worked in general

b) What made science unique

c) A set of explicit steps taken by scientists

d) Isaac Newton’s philosophy

a) How thinking worked in general

Who first formulated the five-step “scientific method”?

a) John Dewey

b) Isaac Newton

c) Aristotle

d) Thales

a) John Dewey

When was the Old Babylonian Empire in existence?

a) 1894 BCE – 1595 BCE

b) 550 BCE – 332 BCE

c) 332 BCE – 32 BCE

d) 29 BCE – 199 BCE

a) 1894 BCE – 1595 BCE

Approximately how many minutes per day does the sun move further into the next constellation?

a) 60 minutes

b) 4 minutes

c) 12 minutes

d) 44 minutes

b) 4 minutes

What calendar did the Assyro-Babylonians follow?

a) A 12-month year that consisted of 29-30 day months, adding

an additional month added when needed

b) A 12-month year that consisted of 29-30 day months, that harmonized

lunar and solar cycles

c) A 12-month year consisting of 365 days

d) A 13-month year that harmonized lunar and solar cycles 

a) A 12-month year that consisted of 29-30 day months, adding

an additional month added when needed

Which of the following is true about the Babylonian Calendar?

a) Each year was determined by the equinox and tracking the sun.

b) Every month contained exactly 30 days because the Babylonians

tracked the movement/appearance of the full moon.

c) The Babylonians sometimes had to add days/a month to their

calendar, called an intercalation, to align with their celestial

observations.

d) The Mul Apin is an astrological book made by Babylonians that tracked

the movement of stars

c) The Babylonians sometimes had to add days/a month to their

calendar, called an intercalation, to align with their celestial

observations.

In the Babylonian calendar what would allow for the beginning of a new month?

a) The end of the 30th day.

b) A new crescent moon was seen.

c) The position of specific constellations.

d) A prediction made at the start of each year would give the amount of

days each month.

b) A new crescent moon was seen.

If our Gregorian calendar were to suddenly be changed to the Babylonian calendar, New Year’s Eve would be celebrated on which day?

a) March 31st

b) December 31st

c) July 31st

d) December 30th

a) March 31st

When was the Neo-Assyrian Empire in existence?

a) 911 BC – 609 BCE

b) 550 – 332 BCE

c) 332 – 32 BCE

d) 29 BCE – 211 CE

a) 911 BC – 609 BCE

Who is depicted here?
a) Assurbanipal, Neo-Assyrian King (r. 669–631 BCE)

b) Hammurabi, King of Old-Babylonian Empire (ca. 1810 – ca. 1750 BCE)

c) Cyrus the Great (ca. 600 – 530 BCE)

d) Alexander III of Macedon (356 – 323 BCE)

a) Assurbanipal, Neo-Assyrian King (r. 669–631 BCE)

How many beru in a day?

a) 12

b) 30

c) 60

d) 360

a) 12

How large is an Uš?

a) 4 minutes

b) 2 hours

c) 4 seconds

d) 60 minutes

a) 4 minutes

Fill in the blank: 24 hours/1 day = 12 beru = __________ = 21, 600 Ninda

a) 360 Uš

b) 10 Uš

c) 1 Assurbanipal

d) 60 Assur

a) 360 Uš

What is intercalation?

a) When days or months are “added” to a calendar to bring it back in alignment with celestial observations

b) When two objects meet in the sky

c) When mathematical calculations involving celestial bodies overlap

d) The procedure for calculating future astronomical events

a) When days or months are “added” to a calendar to bring it back in alignment with celestial observations

Why did the Babylonians intercalate an extra month into their calendars every few years?

a) To make up for the 4 minutes the sun lagged behind the constellations

every day

b) To line up the lunar and solar calendars

c) It was used to avert bad omens from star signs

d) To align the calendar with Zigzag functions

b) To line up the lunar and solar calendars

According to Mul.Apin, how many days in total are in the

Babylonian calendar?

a) 120 days

b) 280 days

c) 360 days

d) 420 days

c) 360 days

What is a Zigzag Function?

a) A regularized arithmetical algorithm to calculate future celestial events

b) A wavy line drawn in the starts

c) A geometrical model of the heavens

d) A process used by the physikoi to determine the number of elements

a) A regularized arithmetical algorithm to calculate future celestial events

What is the value of ⊲ ?

a. 1

b. 5

c. 10

d. 60

c. 10

What number base did the Babylonians use?

a. 5

b. 10

c. 25

d. 60

d. 60

What number is this?
a. 84

b. 12

c. 48

d. 32

c. 48

What Babylonian sexagesimal number is denoted below?

⊲ ; ∇∇ ; ⊲∇∇∇

a. 3600; 62; 13 = 3675

b. 3600; 180; 30 = 3810

c. 36000; 120; 13 = 36133

d. 36000; 62; 30 = 36092

c. 36000; 120; 13 = 36133

What is this?
a) Plimpton Tablet 322

b) The Epic of Gilgamesh

c) A Fragment of Plato’s Republic

d) A Tablet from Euclid’s Elements

a) Plimpton Tablet 322

Which current math theory indirectly correlates to the ancient math on the

Plimpton 322 tablet?

a) Quantum Theorem

b) Pythagorean Theorem

c) Angle Bi-sector Theory

d) SOHCAHTOA

b) Pythagorean Theorem

Which is not true of Cuneiform?

a) It is a syllabary.

b) It was written on clay tablets.

c) The cuneiform number system is a base 60 system.

d) It is an alphabet.

d) It is an alphabet.

Who used cuneiform, one of the first writing systems?

a) Babylonians

b) Sumerians

c) Akkadians

d) All of the these cultures

d) All of these cultures 

What is cuneiform?

a) The shared spoken language in Ancient Mesopotamia

b) The shared common writing system between cultures in Ancient Mesopotamia

c) An ancient Mesopotamian tablet describing astrological phenomena

d) The system of math used by the Babylonians

b) The shared common writing system between cultures in Ancient Mesopotamia

How was cuneiform written?

a) Papyrus and ink

b) Dry clay slab and wedge chisel

c) Wet clay slab and wedge stylus

d) Stone slab and ash

c) Wet clay slab and wedge stylus

Which base system was used in Babylonian mathematics, and which current calculation methods did it influence?

a) base 60; circle is 360 degrees, 60 minutes in an hour, 12 inches in a foot

b) base 10; 10 millimeters in a centimeter, 100 years in a century

c) base 12; circle is 360 degrees, 60 minutes in an hour, 12 inches in a foot

d) base 100; 10 millimeters in a centimeter, 100 years in a century

a) base 60; circle is 360 degrees, 60 minutes in an hour, 12 inches in a foot

Assyro-Babylonian astronomy suggests that they conceptualized their

universe/sky through...

a) Geometrical models

b) Arithmetical models

c) Both A and B

d) Neither A nor B

b) Arithmetical models

Why did the ancient Babylonians study the stars?

a) To construct a theoretical model of how the planets moved in orbit with the Sun as its center.

b) To paint a picture of how the cosmos looked like.

c) Figure out the distance travelled by Jupiter to travel across the sky.

d) To understand omens.

d) To understand omens.

When a constellation rises, where and when can it be seen?

a) At dusk in the east

b) Before dawn in the east

c) Before dusk in the west

d) At dawn in the west

b) Before dawn in the east

In Babylonian planetary omens, the star of the Goat represents what?

a) Life of cattle

b) Agriculture

c) Wealth

d) Eclipses

a) Life of cattle

Which constellation does "Mul.Apin" refer to?

a) Orion

b) Triangulum

c) Ursa Major

d) Leo

b) Triangulum

What is the path that the sun, moon, and planets follow across the sky called?

a) the Celestial Equator

b) orbit

c) the Ecliptic

d) the Zodiac

c) the Ecliptic

Why did the Babylonians call the five planets they discovered, along with the sun and the moon, "wild sheep"?

a) They were all so close together that they appeared to look like a "flock of sheep".

b) They all move relative to the other stars in the sky, which remain fixed.

c) The planets and moon appeared very white looking like a sheep's coat.

d) The Babylonians liked to name sheep after different stars.

b) They all move relative to the other stars in the sky, which remain fixed.

The name and/or title "Mul.Apin" is derived from what constellation?

a) Perseus

b) Plow Star

c) Pegasus

d) Pisces

b) Plow Star

Which of these cannot be found in the library of Ashurbanipal?

a) Tablets that form most of our understanding Tocharians

b) Administrative cuneiform tablets

c) Texts written by Ashurbanipal himself

d) The "Astronomical Diaries"

a) Tablets that form most of our understanding Tocharians

During what empire was the code of Hammurabi written?

a) Assyo-Babylonian Empire

b) Old Babylonian Empire

c) Sumerian Empire

d) Neo-Assyrian Empire

b) Old Babylonian Empire

What do Mul.Apin and Enuma Anu Enlil have in common?

a) They were tablets used by ancient Greeks

b) They talk about celestial bodies

c) They used highly sophisticated mathematics

d) Kings both wrote the tablets

b) They talk about celestial bodies

Why isn't there a definite date when Mul.Apin and Enuma Anu Enlil was written?

a) The dates written on the tablets are not decipherable

b) The tablets compiled observations from several centuries, making it difficult to discern when they were first composed

c) The literature is not dated because the writers believe by not adding dates the writing will keep it more modern

d) The tablets are missing some portions of information resulting in the loss of dating the material

b) The tablets compiled observations from several centuries, making it difficult to discern when they were first composed

When were the tablets of Mul.Apin and Enuma Anu Enlil believed to have

been standardized and compiled?

a) 12th century BCE

b) 5th century BCE

c) 7th century BCE

d) 3rd century BCE

c) 7th century BCE

What was Mul.Apin about?

a) celestial omens

b) recorded dates of astral observations

c) celestial geometry

d) heliocentric arguments

b) recorded dates of astral observations

Which text is the following passage from?
a) Enuma Anu Enlil

b) Mul.Apin

c) Empedocles’ Purifications

d) Aristotle’s On the Heavens

a) Enuma Anu Enlil

What is the Enuma Anu Enlil about?

a) Naming constellations

b) Explaining mathematics

c) Describing geography

d) Documenting omens

d) Documenting omens

What are the paths of Enlil, Anu, and Ea?

a) Paths across the northern, equatorial, and southerly ranges of declination respectively.

b) The ecliptic, Zodiac, and motion of the different

c) The day, month, and year

d) The paths of the sun, moon, and stars

a) Paths across the northern, equatorial, and southerly ranges of declination respectively.

What rivers run through Assyro-Babylonia, or “Mesopotamia” as it is also called?

a) Tigris and Euphrates

b) Nile and Danube

c) Ganges and Indus

d) Amazon and Rhine

a) Tigris and Euphrates

What methods of diving omens did the Assyro-Babylonians NOT use?

a) Blemishes in animal livers

b) Oil patterns in water

c) Astral and weather phenomena

d) Patterns of bones shaken in a bowl

d) Patterns of bones shaken in a bowl

Which of the following was not recorded as having been regularly used by Assyro-Babylonian scholars to foretell the future?

a) Animal entrails

b) Weather patterns

c) Behavior of chickens

d) Oil in water

c) Behavior of chickens

Which city was the library of Ashurbanipal located in?

a) Akkad

b) Uruk

c) Nineveh

d) Subartu

c) Nineveh

When did Assyrians first start tracking eclipse cycles?

a) 747 BCE

b) 323 BCE

c) 1800 BCE

d) 243 BCE

a) 747 BCE

Which of the following authors did NOT write in dactylic hexameter?

a) Hesiod

b) Empedocles

c) Democritus

d) Parmenides

c) Democritus

Which of the following describes dactylic hexameter, if — are long syllables,

u represent short syllables, and x represent syllables that could be either?

— u u | — u u | — u u | — u u | — u u | ——

a) That was a long time to spend on a poem in a class with a Prof guy.

u — | u — | u — | u —

b) I came, I saw, I learned, I loved

u — u — |— — u — | u — u — |

c) If you were here, fun times, we’d have, without a care.

u u — | u — | u — — u | — — u — |

d) Never was so great a thing learned in so short a span.

a) That was a long time to spend on a poem in a class with a Prof guy.

Which of these authors did not write in dactylic hexameter?

a) Empedocles

b) Parmenides

c) Anaxagoras

d) Hesiod

c) Anaxagoras

Which of the following was a Pythagorean doctrine?

a) "Metempsychosis" - souls possess another person or animal after death of their body.

b) The nature of truth and the question of what defines existence.

c) The four "roots" of matter: fire, water, earth, and air.

d) "Atomism" - the universe being purely made of microscopic atoms or void.

a) "Metempsychosis" - souls possess another person or animal after death of their body.

Which of the following is NOT one of Pythagoras' ideas/beliefs?

a) Everything in the world is fundamentally made of numbers

b) Human souls reincarnate into other animals after death

c) Truth is defined as "What is" and is unchanging

d) That Justice is a square

c) Truth is defined as "What is" and is unchanging

The doctrine proposed by Pythagoras, which says that our souls are reborn

into other living things after we die, is called ____________.

a) Metamorphosis

b) Ontology

c) Metempsychosis

d) Vegetarianism

c) Metempsychosis

Pythagoras believed that the world was made of ________.

a) Air

b) Water

c) Numbers

d) Atoms

c) Numbers

Which of the following succession myths does Hesiod’s Theogony not include?

a) Birth of Olympian Gods

b) Punishment of Sisyphus

c) Ascendancy of Zeus

d) Birth of the Titans

b) Punishment of Sisyphus

Hesiod mentioned the birth of _______ from white sea foam produced from

the severed genitals of Uranus.

a) Zeus

b) Hera

c) Aphrodite

d) Cyclopes

c) Aphrodite

What is Hesiod’s Works and Days about?

a) The generation of the gods

b) The Plough Star

c) Farming and living justly by following stars signs

d) The afterlife

c) Farming and living justly by following stars signs

When did the Greek physikoi start writing about nature?

e) 6th c. BCE

f) 9th c. BCE

g) 3rd c. BCE

h) 12th c. BCE

e) 6th c. BCE

Which philosopher believed that everything is made out of water?

a) Homer

b) Thales of Miletus

c) Pythagoras of Samos

d) Anaximander

b) Thales of Miletus

Which of the following would not be considered a physikoi?

a) Hesiod

b) Empedocles

c) Anaximenes

d) Anaximander

a) Hesiod

How does the universe begin, according to Hesiod?

a) First Chaos/Chasm, then Gaia/Earth, then Eros/Love

b) First Ouranos, then Cronus, then Zeus

c) First Void, then Love, then Strife

d) A whirl

a) First Chaos/Chasm, then Gaia/Earth, then Eros/Love

When did the Achaemenid Persian Empire exist, during which time it

controlled the Middle East, Egypt, Anatolia, and parts of the Greek world?

a) 550–330 BCE

b) 330–32 BCE

c) 1897–1623 BCE

d) 678–550 BCE

a) 550–330 BCE

Who was the first king of the Achaemenid Persian Empire?

a) Cyrus the Great

b) Ashurbanipal

c) Sargon the Great

d) Alexander the Great

a) Cyrus the Great

Which Greek philosopher was said to have fallen down a well while

stargazing?

a) Pythagoras

b) Plato

c) Hesiod

d) Thales

d) Thales

Which of these works is not accredited to Thales of Miletus?

a) A prediction of an eclipse.

b) The principle/origin of all things to be water.

c) The connection between farming practices and celestial bodies.

d) The introduction of geometry into Greece, originating from Egypt.

c) The connection between farming practices and celestial bodies.

Where is Thales of Miletus’ work now located?

a) Library of Ashurbanipal

b) Britain Museum

c) Egypt

d) Paraphrases and quotations in later authors

d) Paraphrases and quotations in later authors

Who thought that all things were made up of the “unlimited”?

a) Anaximander

b) Anaximenes

c) Pythagoras

d) Empedocles

a) Anaximander

What was the principle unifying belief of the Milesian school of Pre-Socratic Greek philosophy, following from Thales of Miletus?

a) Ordinary Language philosophy (meaning of words comes from their use in ordinary language not abstract definition or inherent meaning)

b) Philosophical Skepticism (denies that which is commonly accepted, often including the existence of knowledge)

c) Material monism (all matter is made of one substance)

d) Finitism (denies the existence of infinity, particularly infinite sets of mathematical objects)

c) Material monism (all matter is made of one substance)

What principle of nature did Thales believe Earth was floating on?

a) Fire

b) Water

c) Air

d) Rock

b) Water

Who was NOT considered one of the early Greek physikoi?

a) Socrates

b) Hesiod

c) Democritus

d) Pythagoras

a) Socrates

Which Greek Physikoi proposed the four-element theory of matter?

a) Thales of Miletus

b) Democritus of Abdera

c) Empedocles of Acragas

d) Parmenides of Elea

c) Empedocles of Acragas

What causes opposites to attract, according to Empedocles?

a) Love

b) Strife

c) Fire

d) Water

a) Love

According to Empedocles, what force causes substances of the same

type to collect together while avoide substances that are unlike?

a) Strife

b) Love

c) Fire

d) Prime Mover

a) Strife

To whom should we attribute the quotation, “By convention sweet and by convention bitter, by convention hot, by convention cold, by convention color, but in reality (eteê) atoms and void”

a) Democritus

b) Empedocles

c) Aristotle

d) Anaxagoras

a) Democritus

According to Democritus, which three ways do atomic compositions differ?

a) Weight, height, depth

b) Shape, arrangement, orientation

c) Color, Smell, Feel

d) Custom, Nature, Goal

b) Shape, arrangement, orientation

What does the Greek word for atom (atomos) literally mean?

a) Element

b) Root

c) Smallest

d) Uncuttable

d) Uncuttable

Who first argued that "what is" is, and "what is not" is not?

a) Empedocles

b) Democritus

c) Parmenides

d) Hesiod

c) Parmenides

What did Democritus propose?

a) Everything is made of 4 elements that aggregate and separate through love and strife.

b) Unique atoms and void combine together in different combinations to create everything.

c) Everything arises from water.

d) The world is fundamentally made of numbers

b) Unique atoms and void combine together in different combinations to create everything.

What did Democritus believe made up the universe?

a) numbers

b) atoms and void

c) geometrical solids

d) atoms and elements

b) atoms and void

What idea or theory did Empedocles come up with that dominated scientific thought for multiple centuries?

a) The four-element theory

b) Truth describes what is, not what is not

c) The principle of all things is air

d) Water is the origin of all things

a) The four-element theory

Which of the following is false about Empedocles?

a) He wrote in prose, not dactylic hexameter.

b) He proposed the four-element theory of matter.

c) He was a vegetarian because he believed in metempsychosis.

d) He wrote “On Purifications/On Nature.”

a) He wrote in prose, not dactylic hexameter.

What did Empedocles believe about the universe?

a) Everything is made up of water.

b) Everything is made up of atoms

c) All things are composed of four elements (fire, earth, air, and water)

d) All things are composed of two elements (love and strife)

c) All things are composed of four elements (fire, earth, air, and water)

Homer is reported to be the author of which famous poem?

a) Odyssey

b) Theogony

c) Epic of Gilgamesh

d) Astronomia

a) Odyssey

Which of the following two poems have been attributed to Homer?

a) Theogony and Works and Day

b) Odyssey and Iliad

c) Odyssey and Theogony

d) Purifications and On Nature

b) Odyssey and Iliad

Which ancient Greek author produced farming advice based on astrological signs?

a) Hesiod

b) Thales of Miletus

c) Homer

d) Pythagoras of Samos

a) Hesiod

What does the Greek word arche mean?

a) origin/principle

b) element

c) divinity

d) matter

a) origin/principle

Athena is the goddess of what?

a) Water

b) War

c) Wisdom

d) Love

c) Wisdom

Who were the physikoi?

a) Greek intellectuals who wrote “about nature” (physis)

b) Greek poets who wrote about ethics

c) Plato and his followers

d) Assyro-Babylonian Priests

a) Greek intellectuals who wrote “about nature” (physis)

When did the “inquiry into nature” emerge?

a) 6th century BCE

b) 9-7th centuries BCE

c) 4th century BCE

d) With Aristotle

a) 6th century BCE

Which one of the philosophers listed below did not write in dactylic hexameter?

a) Empedocles

b) Democritus

c) Parmenides

d) Thales

b) Democritus

What is _________.

a) is not

b) is

b) is

Which substance did Anaximenes believe was the arche of all things?

a) Water

b) Air

c) Fire

d) Atoms

b) Air

Which ancient Greek is said to have ushered in a new type of investigation into “Nature” and its origins in the mid 6th century BCE?

a) Pythagoras

b) Thales of Miletus

c) Homer

d) Hesiod

b) Thales of Miletus