Ancient Civilizations
Final Exam Study Guide
The Elements of Culture - GRAPES
Five Characteristics of Civilization
Geography
Division of Labor
Religion/Beliefs
Surplus of Crops
Achievements
(Arts/Literature/Technology/Inventions)
Form of Writing
Bureaucratic Government
Political Systems
Lunar Calendar
Economic Systems
Social Systems/Organization
Ancient Egypt
Important Terms and People to Know
Rosetta Stone
Pyramid building
Egyptian religion
Hatshepsut
Mummification
Hieroglyphics
Agriculture in the Nile
Valley
Upper Egypt vs.
Lower Egypt
Nile Delta
Gift of the Nile
Amenhotep IV/Akhenaton
Menes
Pharaoh
Monarchy
Dynasty
Divinity of the Pharaoh Horus
and Osiris
Book of the Dead
Nile River and valley
Cataracts
1. Identify and explain the elements of culture as they relate to Egyptian culture.
2. Identify and explain the characteristics of civilization as they relate to Egyptian civilization.
3. What factors allowed Egyptian farmers to grow two or three crops a year?
4. What did Herodotus mean when he called Egypt the “Gift of the Nile?” Give some examples of those gifts.
5. What factors enabled transportation on the Nile River? What factors made transportation on the Nile more
difficult?
6. Explain the circumstances surrounding Amenhotep IV’s attempts to make Egypt monotheistic.
7. What did the Egyptians believe would help guide them and protect their soul in the afterlife?
8. What process was essential to keeping a person’s ka intact for the next life?
9. Please order (Ramses, Menes, Building of the Pyramids, Akhenaton, Invasion of the Hyksos)
Ancient Mesopotamia
Important Terms and People to Know
Ziggurats
Code of
Hammurabi
Cuneiform
Ethical Monotheism
Persian roads
Fertile Crescent as
crossroads of the
world
Tigris and
Euphrates River
valley
Mesopotamia
Moses and the Ten
Commandments
Nebuchadnezzar and the
Hanging Gardens of Babylon
Cyrus
Abraham
Yahweh
Torah
Mesopotamian Empires (Organized Chronologically)
Sumerians
Akkadians
Babylonians
Hittites
Assyrians
Chaldeans/
NeoBabylonians
Persians
Phoenicians
Lydians
Hebrews
1. Identify and explain the elements of culture as they relate to each of the Mesopotamian empires.
2. Identify and explain the characteristics of civilization as they relate to the Mesopotamian empires.
3. Why is the Fertile Crescent referred to as the “crossroads” of the world?
4. What changes occurred due to the movement of peoples across the Fertile Crescent?
5. What were the geographic advantages of the Tigris and Euphrates River Valleys?
6. What was the most important Phoenician contribution to the world?
7. How did the Lydians revolutionize the economy of the ancient world?
8. Who was the Persians’ famous first king who gained independence from the Medes?
9. Who was the “Father of Judaism”?
10. Which civilization was known for great tolerance of their conquered peoples in the areas or religion and
culture, and for having the largest empire?
11. What was the Sumerian form of writing called?
12. Who is credited for Babylon’s earliest law codes?
13. What was the main military contribution of the Hittites?
14. Which empire was known for its strong military and cruelty to others?
15. Please order the following: Hittites, Sumer, Persians, Assyrians, Babylonians
Ancient India
Important Terms and People to Know
Caste system, jati
Monism
Brahman
Ramayana
Agriculture and
planting of crops
Dharma
Khyber Pass
Monsoons
Sacredness of the
Ganges River
Mohenjo-Daro and
Harappa
Hinduism in India
Buddhism in India
Reincarnation
Indo-Aryans
Asoka
Chandragupta
Maurya
Suttee
1. Identify and explain the elements of culture as they relate to Ancient India.
2. Identify and explain the characteristics of civilization as they relate Ancient India.
3. What was the river valley in Ancient India that was the site of the earliest Indian civilizations, as well as the
lands that the Indo-Aryans fought for and is still the most populous region in India today?
4. What river is considered holy and capable of purifying a soul by washing in it?
5. What two citie ruins have provided information about in the Indus Valley Civilization?
6. What religion was begun by Siddhartha Gautama?
7. Which Mauryan ruler conquered almost all of India and then converted to Buddhism?
8. What are some examples of how women were treated as second-class citizens in Ancient India?
9. What was the ultimate goal of Buddhism?
10. Who were the Indo-Aryans and what were their main contributions?
11. How did Hinduism come to be the main religion of India?
12. Please order : (Aryan Invasion, Mauryan Empire, Gupta Empire, Vedic Age, Mohenjo-Daro)
Ancient China
Important Terms and People to Know
Civil service system
Calligraphy
Leveling
Wu Di
loess
Gobi Desert
Oracle Bones
Dynastic Cycle
Shi Huang Di
Laozi
1. Identify and explain the elements of culture as they relate to Ancient China.
2. Identify and explain the characteristics of civilization as they relate Ancient China.
3. Describe the importance of the Huang He to China?
4. What mountain range forms a natural border with India?
5. Which natural barrier in the north separates China from Mongolia?
6. What was used to foretell the future in Ancient China?
7. Founder of Daoism?
8. Explain what patriarchal means and how it applies to Ancient China?
9. How did people gain civil service positions in Ancient China?
10. Describe the components of Chinese religion during the Shang dynasty.
11. Why was the establishment of agriculture along the Huang He a challenge?
12. How did the Himalayas affect life in China?
13. How did the Chinese expect family life to be organized?
14. Explain the main teachings for the four Chinese philosophies: Buddhism, Confucianism, Daoism and Legalism.
15. How did the dynastic cycle influence the political history of Ancient China?
16. Detail and discuss the main personalities and contributions of the Qin dynasty.
17. How did China’s geography encourage/discourage cultural diffusion?
18. Detail and discuss the main personalities and contributions of the Han dynasty.
19. Chronology? (Please order: Han, Shang, Qin, Zhou)
Ancient Greece
Important Terms and People to Know
Minoan
civilization
Linear A/ Linear
B
Olympian
gods/goddesses
Solon
Cleisthenes
Draco
Peisistratus
Pericles
Athens vs. Sparta
Peninsula – Balkan
Peninsula
Homer
Herodotus
Pericles
Alexander the
Great
Direct democracy
Philosopher
Olympics
1. What form of writing was utilized by the Minoans?
2. What contributions did Solon, Cleisthenes, Draco, Pericles and Peisistratus make toward the evolution of Greek
democracy?
3. Explain the social structure of life in Ancient Sparta. How did the equals, the half-citizens and the helots
contribute to that social structure?
4. Why did the Greeks need to import food from outside of Greece?
5. Why did the Greeks live in small, isolated city-states?
6. Why did Greece (and Rome) develop into a trading nation?
7. What early civilization occupied the island of Crete?
8. What epics are attributed to Homer?
9. Who was the “father of History”?
10. Compare and contrast life in Athens and Sparta.
11. What were the main teachings of the great philosophers of Ancient Greece – Socrates, Plato and Aristotle?
12. Describe the religion of the Ancient Greeks. Who was their main god?
13. What purposes did myths play in the lives of the Ancient Greeks?
14. How did Pericles help to launch Athens into a “golden age”?
15. Describe how Alexander the Great spread Hellenistic culture throughout much of the known world?
16. How was Ancient Greece an example of a direct democracy?
17. Geographically, Rome and Greece are both peninsulas. What does this mean?
18. In which city did the people of Greece begin holding athletic games every four years?
19. Chronology? (Please order: Alexander the Great conquers Persia, Minoan civilization, Persian Wars, Homeric
Age, Peloponnesian War)
Ancient Rome
Important Terms and People to Know
Paterfamilias
First Triumvirate
Republic
Spartacus
Pax Romana
Persecution of Christians
Constantine
1. What role did the patricians and the plebeians play in the social structure of Ancient Rome?
2. What type of building projects did the Romans create? What purposes did these new structures serve? What
element of culture does this best relate to?
3. How did the concept of paterfamilias relate to the social structure of Ancient Rome?
4. Describe the rise of Christianity during the period of Ancient Rome.
5. What economic factors led to the fall of Ancient Rome?
6. What did the citizens of the Roman Empire find appealing about Christianity?
7. How did Rome expand as a result of the Punic Wars?
8. Who were the members of the First Triumvirate?
9. How did the early Etruscans affect Roman culture and civilization?
10. Whose teachings were instrumental to the beliefs of Christianity?
11. From the time of Augustus through the death of Marcus Aurelius, there was an extended period of peace and
prosperity. What was this called?
12. How were early Christians treated in the Roman empire?
13. Describe the effects of Constantine’s rule.
14. How did the Roman gods reflect cultural diffusion from the Greeks?
15. What new governmental structure was utilized by the Romans?
16. Which gladiator lead a massive slave revolt and was later caught and crucified with his followers?
17. What geographic obstacles did Hannibal have to overcome to attack Rome?
11. What geographic features helped to protect Rome from invasion?
12. Chronology? (Please order: Augustus Caesar/Octavian becomes first emperor, Christianity becomes the
official religion, unification of the Roman Republic in Italy, sack and fall of Rome, Rise of the Latins)