Complete Test Bank With Answers
Sample Questions Posted Below
Choose the letter of the best answer.
1. |
Which of the following has been put forward by scholars as a possible factor in the emergence of slavery within the First Civilizations? |
A) |
Long periods of peace |
B) |
The decline of patriarchy |
C) |
The domestication of animals |
D) |
Discrimination based on race |
2. |
How was India’s social structure different from that of China? |
A) |
India had fewer distinct social groups. |
B) |
Indian social groups were defined more rigidly. |
C) |
Status in India was associated with literary learning. |
D) |
Social distinctions in India were more fluid. |
3. |
Which of the following was part of the reform program launched by Wang Mang following his seizure of the Chinese throne in 8 C.E.? |
A) |
The creation of large private estates |
B) |
State protection of the practice of slavery |
C) |
Oversight of officials by landlords |
D) |
Government loans to peasant families |
4. |
Like the First Civilizations, societies of the second-wave era |
A) |
lacked sharp class divisions. |
B) |
were patriarchal in organization. |
C) |
had a small slave population. |
D) |
were based on written constitutions. |
5. |
China was unique in the ancient world in the extent to which |
A) |
the state practice of slaveholding defined the society. |
B) |
its social organization was shaped by the actions of the state. |
C) |
the caste system defined its social structure. |
D) |
women were allowed a role in public life. |
6. |
India and China during the classical era were similar in which of the following respects? |
A) |
Birth had no place in determining the social status of most people. |
B) |
Social prestige was attained primarily through service to the state. |
C) |
It was easy for people to improve their social status through hard work. |
D) |
Sharp distinctions and great inequalities characterized the social order. |
7. |
Which of the following describes a feature of the jati system in India? |
A) |
Individual jatis were locked into an unchanging hierarchy in relation to other jatis. |
B) |
An individual within a jati could switch to another jati by paying a fee. |
C) |
A jati could raise its standing in relation to other jatis by acquiring land or wealth. |
D) |
The jati system divided Indian society into the aristocracy and the commoners. |
8. |
During the classical era, slaves comprised more than one-third of the total population in |
A) |
India. |
B) |
China. |
C) |
the Persian Empire. |
D) |
the Greco-Roman world. |
9. |
The growth of democracy in classical Athens was accompanied by |
A) |
the simultaneous growth of slavery on a massive scale. |
B) |
the abolition of slavery. |
C) |
harsh criticism from Greek intellectuals like Aristotle. |
D) |
the association of slave status with race. |
10. |
In which of the following ancient societies did women enjoy the fewest restrictions? |
A) |
Han China |
B) |
Athens |
C) |
Sparta |
D) |
Classical India |
11. |
Which of the following philosophical or religious traditions provided a unifying ideology for peasant rebellions in China? |
A) |
Hinduism |
B) |
Confucianism |
C) |
Daoism |
D) |
Legalism |
12. |
Which of the following describes women’s status in the classical civilizations? |
A) |
Upper-class women had a tendency to live less restricted lives than lower-class women. |
B) |
Women in general experienced fewer restrictions compared to those living in pastoral societies. |
C) |
Public life in general was a male domain, while women’s roles took place mostly in domestic settings. |
D) |
Women in general experienced fewer restrictions compared to those who lived in Neolithic agricultural village societies. |
13. |
In contrast to women in Athens, women in Sparta |
A) |
were more strictly confined to the home. |
B) |
married men close to their age. |
C) |
participated in government. |
D) |
were praised as having superior intelligence. |
14. |
How did the centuries of political fragmentation and conflict following the fall of the Han Empire affect the lives of Chinese women? |
A) |
Women found themselves more restricted than ever before. |
B) |
Women were removed from positions as priests, nuns, and reclusive mediators. |
C) |
The strict patriarchy supported by Confucianism was loosened. |
D) |
Women were encouraged to be more assertive in their relationships with men. |
15. |
Slaveholding was least widespread and least central to the economy of |
A) |
Athens. |
B) |
China. |
C) |
Sparta. |
D) |
imperial Rome. |
16. |
The world’s first and longest lasting professional civil service emerged in |
A) |
Persia. |
B) |
Athens. |
C) |
India. |
D) |
China. |
17. |
Peasants were honored and merchants were looked down upon in the official ideology of |
A) |
China. |
B) |
India. |
C) |
Sparta. |
D) |
the Roman Empire. |
18. |
Which group was at the top of the caste system in India? |
A) |
Scholar-gentry |
B) |
Merchants |
C) |
Brahmin |
D) |
Peasants |
19. |
The combination of natural disasters, high taxes and rents, and state demands for labor and military service often sparked peasant rebellions in |
A) |
India. |
B) |
China. |
C) |
Sparta. |
D) |
Athens. |
20. |
Membership in a jati was based on a person’s |
A) |
race. |
B) |
age. |
C) |
birthplace. |
D) |
occupation. |
21. |
The inequalities of the caste system received support from |
A) |
Hindu notions of karma, dharma, and rebirth. |
B) |
Buddhist notions of nirvana and enlightenment. |
C) |
Confucian notions of propriety and ritual. |
D) |
Daoist notions of the supernatural and immortality. |
22. |
In India, the jati to which one belonged determined |
A) |
the language one spoke. |
B) |
the sect of Hinduism one practiced. |
C) |
whom one could marry. |
D) |
how much land one could own. |
23. |
In India, the caste system encouraged loyalty to |
A) |
the imperial state. |
B) |
local communities. |
C) |
female ancestors. |
D) |
political officials. |
24. |
Which of the following was a major source of slaves in the Roman Empire? |
A) |
Untouchables |
B) |
Peasants |
C) |
Soldiers |
D) |
Prisoners of war |
25. |
Although slaves in the Roman Empire performed all work, from the most prestigious to the most degrading, they were prohibited from |
A) |
serving in the military. |
B) |
practicing medicine. |
C) |
working in government. |
D) |
conducting business. |
26. |
Which of the following is an example of the “weapons of the weak” used by slaves to resist their enslavement? |
A) |
Varna |
B) |
Manumission |
C) |
Sabotage |
D) |
Obedience |
27. |
In general, patriarchal systems that restricted women’s lives were weakest |
A) |
during long periods of peace and stability. |
B) |
in the early years of a civilization’s development. |
C) |
in societies with sharp class distinctions. |
D) |
in urban-based civilizations at the height of their power. |
28. |
Although the practice of patriarchy varied in the classical civilizations, they all |
A) |
prohibited women of all classes from entering public spaces. |
B) |
challenged the assumption that female inferiority was natural. |
C) |
conceptualized women’s essential nature in terms of ritual purity. |
D) |
defined women’s roles in reproductive and kinship terms. |
29. |
In what way were the Yellow Turban Rebellion in Han China and Spartacus’s revolt in the Roman Empire similar? |
A) |
Both were large-scale, violent reactions to oppressive conditions. |
B) |
Both featured supernatural healings and collective trances. |
C) |
Both succeeded in persuading the government to implement reforms. |
D) |
Both saw women assuming leadership roles. |
30. |
The Appian Way between Capua and Rome was the path along which |
A) |
runaway slaves traveled on their road to freedom. |
B) |
helots traveled on their way to Sparta. |
C) |
slaves defeated in the Spartacus’s revolt were nailed to crosses. |
D) |
prisoners of war were forced to march. |
Answer Key
1. |
C |
2. |
B |
3. |
D |
4. |
B |
5. |
B |
6. |
D |
7. |
C |
8. |
D |
9. |
A |
10. |
C |
11. |
C |
12. |
C |
13. |
B |
14. |
C |
15. |
B |
16. |
D |
17. |
A |
18. |
C |
19. |
B |
20. |
D |
21. |
A |
22. |
C |
23. |
B |
24. |
D |
25. |
A |
26. |
C |
27. |
B |
28. |
D |
29. |
A |
30. |
C |
Answer each question in three or four sentences.
1. |
How did the practice of slavery differ among the classical civilizations? |
2. |
Compare and contrast the status of women in Sparta and Athens. |
3. |
Compare and contrast the social hierarchies of China and India. |
4. |
Compare and contrast the different forms of slavery in the classical world. |
5. |
Historically, what circumstances have contributed to a weakening of patriarchal controls on women’s lives? |
6. |
Provide specific examples of how women, peasants, and slaves challenged the social structures that subordinated them. |
7. |
How was elite status gendered masculine and feminine in the classical civilizations? |
8. |
In what ways was China’s civil service system similar to India’s caste system? |
Answer Key
1. |
Answer would ideally include:
• |
Slavery was much more common in the Mediterranean world than in either China or India. |
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• |
The Mediterranean economy depended much more heavily on slavery than did the economies of China and India. |
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• |
Slaves in the Mediterranean performed a larger variety of tasks than did slaves in China or India. |
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• |
In China and India, debtors, convicts, and prisoners of war were the primary sources of slaves. In the Mediterranean, slaves were also secured through trade, piracy, and natural reproduction. |
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2. |
Answer would ideally include:
• |
Athens placed increasing limitations on women between 700 and 400 B.C.E. |
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• |
The women of Athens were completely excluded from public life. |
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• |
Women in Athens had to be represented by a guardian in legal matters and were not even referred to by name in court proceedings. |
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• |
Athenian women were restricted to the home, where they lived separately from men. |
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• |
Athenian marriages typically took place between a woman in her mid-teens and a man ten to fifteen years her senior. |
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• |
In Athens, land passed through male heirs. |
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• |
Spartan women possessed more freedom. |
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• |
Fear of helot rebellion meant that Sparta placed great value on male warriors. |
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• |
The central task for women in Spartan society was reproduction—specifically, the bearing of strong, healthy sons. |
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To secure strong sons, Spartan women were encouraged to strengthen their bodies, and they even participated in public sporting events. |
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• |
Spartan women were not secluded or segregated like Athenian women. |
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• |
Spartan women usually married men of their own age. |
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Spartan men were often engaged in or preparing for war, so women in Sparta had more authority in the household. |
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• |
Like Athenian women, though, Spartan women lacked any formal role in public life. |
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3. |
Answer would ideally include:
Similarities:
• |
Both systems were based on inequality and social hierarchy. |
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• |
In both systems, birth determined status for most people. |
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• |
Cultural or religious traditions in both systems defined inequalities as natural, eternal, and ordained by the gods. |
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• |
Little social mobility was available for the vast majority in both systems. |
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• |
Slaves were not present in large numbers in either society. |
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Differences:
• |
The Indian caste system gave priority to religious status and ritual purity, while China’s class system elevated political officials to the highest of elite positions. |
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• |
Indian society was divided into vast numbers of distinct social groups, compared to the fewer, but broader, categories of Chinese society. |
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• |
India’s social groups were defined far more rigidly and with even less opportunity for social mobility than in China. |
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4. |
Answer would ideally include:
• |
In China, slaves included criminals and their families, and children sold into slavery by impoverished parents. |
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• |
In India as well, people could fall into slavery as criminals, debtors, or prisoners of war. |
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• |
Most Greco-Roman slaves were prisoners from Roman wars of conquest. |
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In some societies, slave status was hereditary, while in others, they were considered free people. |
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• |
In Greece, Rome, and India, slaves could be emancipated or they could buy their freedom. |
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• |
In India, religion and law provided a degree of protection for slaves, and slaves could inherit and own property as well as earn money in their spare time. |
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• |
In Rome, a slave’s quality of life depended on his or her master. |
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• |
Greco-Roman slaves were frequently granted legal freedom and, at least in the Roman Empire, citizenship. |
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• |
Slaves in the Greco-Roman system could occupy a large variety of jobs. |
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5. |
Answer would ideally include:
• |
Political conflict and fragmentation, common in the early years of a civilization’s development or during times of upheaval, disrupted established patterns of male dominance. |
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• |
Religions like Buddhism and Christianity opened opportunities for women in convents where, as nuns, they enjoyed some degree of freedom and authority. |
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• |
In Sparta, the long absences of men meant that women assumed more responsibilities. The emphasis on physical fitness also meant that girls came into contact with boys in sporting competitions. |
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6. |
Answer would ideally include:
• |
Rebellions: Yellow Turban Rebellion in Han China, the Spartacus Rebellion in the Roman Empire |
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• |
“Weapons of the weak”: small-scale theft, sabotage, feigning illness, cursing masters |
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• |
Empress Wu in the Tang Dynasty |
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• |
Aspasia and her relationship with Pericles |
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7. |
Answer would ideally include:
• |
Elite status was gendered masculine in the following ways: |
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|
o |
Only men had access to political power. |
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|
o |
China’s civil service was limited to men. |
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o |
Athenian democracy was limited to men. |
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|
o |
Political office in the Roman Empire was limited to men. |
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• |
Elite status was gendered feminine in the following ways: |
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|
o |
Upper-class women were expected to remain secluded at home. |
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o |
Lower-class women went out in public to work. |
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8. |
Answer would ideally include:
• |
Both sustained a social hierarchy that remained in place for millennia. |
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• |
Both offered an explanation for inequality that was widely accepted. |
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• |
Both offered the promise (or gave the illusion) of mobility: |
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|
o |
In China, any man could take the civil service exam and obtain status as a scholar-official. |
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o |
In India, the notion of rebirth promised those who fulfilled their duties in this lifetime would be reborn in a higher caste. |
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Use the following to answer questions 1-16:
Select the word or phrase from the Terms section that best matches the definition or example provided in the Definitions section.
Terms
a. Wang Mang
b. China’s scholar-gentry class
c. Ge Hong
d. Yellow Turban Rebellion
e. caste as varna
f. caste as jati
g. “ritual purity” in Indian social practice
h. Greek slavery
i. Roman slavery
j. Spartacus
k. patriarchy
l. the “three obediences”
m. Empress Wu
n. Aspasia
o. Pericles
p. helots
1. |
A foreign woman resident in Athens (ca. 470–400 B.C.E.) who was famed for her learning and wit, and was Pericles’ partner. |
2. |
A prominent and influential statesman of ancient Athens (ca. 495–429 B.C.E.), he presided over Athens’s Golden Age; Aspasia’s partner. |
3. |
The system of social organization in India that has evolved over millennia; it is based on an original division of the populace into four inherited classes. |
4. |
The addition of thousands of social distinctions to the caste system based on occupation, which became the main cell of social life in India. |
5. |
A term used to describe members of China’s landowning families, reflecting their wealth from the land and the privilege that they derived as government officials. |
6. |
A Roman gladiator who led the most serious slave revolt in Roman history from 73 to 71 B.C.E. |
7. |
The only female emperor in Chinese history (r. 690–705 C.E.), she patronized scholarship, worked to elevate the position of women, and provoked a backlash of Confucian misogynist invective. |
8. |
Born into an upper-class family in China during troubled times (283–343 C.E.), his efforts to balance Confucian service to society and his own desire to pursue a more solitary and interior life in the Daoist tradition reflected the situation of many in his class. |
9. |
In the Greek and Roman world, slaves were captives from war and piracy (and their descendants), abandoned children, and the victims of long-distance trade; manumission was common. In one of these cultures, household service was the most common form of slavery. |
10. |
In the Greek and Roman world, slaves were captives from war and piracy (and their descendants), abandoned children, and the victims of long-distance trade; manumission was common. In parts of one of these states, thousands of slaves were employed under brutal conditions in the mines and on great plantations. |
11. |
The dependent, semi-enslaved class of ancient Sparta whose social discontent prompted the militarization of Spartan society. |
12. |
Literally “rule of the father”; a social system of male dominance. |
13. |
The idea that members of higher castes must adhere to strict regulations limiting or forbidding their contact with objects and members of lower castes to preserve their own caste standing and their relationship with the gods. |
14. |
In Chinese Confucian thought, the notion that a woman is permanently subordinate to male control: first to her father, then to her husband, and finally to her son. |
15. |
A Han court official who usurped the throne and ruled from 8 C.E. to 23 C.E.; noted for his reform movement that included the breakup of large estates. |
16. |
A massive Chinese peasant uprising inspired by Daoist teachings that began in 184 C.E. with the goal of establishing a new golden age of equality and harmony. |
Answer Key
1. |
n |
2. |
o |
3. |
e |
4. |
f |
5. |
b |
6. |
j |
7. |
m |
8. |
c |
9. |
h |
10. |
i |
11. |
p |
12. |
k |
13. |
g |
14. |
l |
15. |
a |
16. |
d |
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