Name: ________________________ Date: _______________

ANCIENT HISTORY
1st Semester Exam
Fill in the Blank (2 pts. each) 1. ____________________ was the main means of trade during ancient times. 2. The _______________ was first used as a potters tool, then for transportation. 3. The _____________________ was a well-watered zone of potential farmland, surrounded by mountains and deserts in the Middle East. 4. The Great Wall was completed during the _________________ Dynasty. 5. ___________________ means about that time. 6. The _____________________ were seafarers and were known for producing a deep purple dye. 7. The ___________________________ was the approval of the gods to rule. 8. An ________________________ is one who studies the human past. 9. _____________________ is the rebirth of the soul into different bodies until it is purified. 10. The father of history is __________________________. 11. In India they have fixed social groupings called ___________________. 12. An ___________________ is anything used, manufactured, or modified by human beings. 13. The Greeks called the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers Mesopotamia which means _________________________________________. 14. ___________________ means before written history. 15. The chief of the Aryans was called a ____________________. 16. _________________ was the first advanced civilization in Mesopotamia. 17. In China, exams were given on ___________________ ideas about government.

18. The _________________________ was an early form of literature about a Mesopotamian hero. 19. A ____dynasty____ is a family-line of rulers.

20. The secular forms for B.C. and A.D. (and their meanings) are ________________________ and _______________________________. 21. About 2350 B.C., __________________________, ruler of the neighboring kingdom of Akkad, conquered the city-states and had the first empire, because he controlled several territories. 22. About 547 B.C. the Persians, led by _______________________, began to build the largest empire that had yet existed in the ancient Middle East. 23. A ___________________ was an independent, self-governing community that included a city and the surrounding farmlands. 24. The ____________________ was considered to be a god and believed to possess the secrets of heaven and earth. 25. A ___________________ was a large, brick temple shaped like a stair-step pyramid. 26. Chinese were taught to respect their parents, which was called __________________. 27. The __________________ were known for using terror to control their subjects and for building the Library at Nineveh. 28. The _____________________ Dynasty was the first historical dynasty in China. 29. The __________________ were known for setting up the first efficient postal system, thus uniting all the peoples of the Middle East. 30. About 3100 B.C. _________________, the ruler of Upper Egypt, conquered Lower Egypt and brought all of Egypt under his rule. 31. ______________________, the ruler of Babylon from 1792to 1750 B.C., had the laws of the land collected and carved onto a block of stone eight feet high. 32. The _______________________ was build about 2600 B.C. during the Old Kingdom for Khufu. 33. Scholar-officials replaced the nobles as the leading class during the ___________________ Dynasty. 2

34. The _________________ were known for building the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. 35. Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro were the two ancient cities that developed on the ___________________ River. 36. __________________________ is remembered as one of the worlds greatest rulers. 37. In 722 B.C. the Assyrians conquered __________________ and enslaved many Hebrews. 38. In 586 B.C. ________________ was conquered by Nebuchadnezzar, the ruler of Babylon.

Short Answer (4 pts. each) 1. Where is the best place for a civilization to develop?

2. Explain how Sumerians kept records.

3. What happened during Ramses II reign in Egypt?

4. What happened to the Hebrew kingdom after Solomon died?

Essay (8 pts.) Explain your view about why the following religions/ideologies positively or negatively affected the ancient cultures they developed in. (Write about one sentence for each of them and give specific examples.) Egyptian gods, Judaism, Taoism, Hinduism, Confucianism, Buddhism