AP World History: Modern › Religions from Prehistory to 600 BCE
The Vedic Age refers to a time period in the history of which of these countries?
India
China
Turkey
Italy
Spain
The Vedic Age is a period of Indian history that began with the arrival of the Aryans in India (approximately 1,500 BCE) and ended a millennium later. The Vedic Age is so named because this is the period of Indian history when the Vedas, the oldest preserved Hindu scriptures, were composed.
Whereas incorporating Greek religion and myths had a huge impact on Roman art, the indigenous, original Roman myths are largely restricted to _________________.
stories about the founding of Rome and the ancestry of powerful families
stories about their old alliances with the Trojans during the Trojan war against the Greeks led by Agamemnon
racist caricatures of the "exotic", more eastern, Greeks
stories about apocalypse, the end of the world
the concept of heaven, its layout and different castes
Indigenous Roman myths were largely restricted to legends regarding the founding of Rome itself and its powerful families; myths on other subjects are almost always the result of influence from other cultures.
In Roman legend, one of the founders of Rome was a refugee from the Trojan war, Aeneas, but this means that Rome couldn't have been an ally of Troy because Rome was founded after Troy was destroyed.
Characterizing Greeks as exotic, emotional, and vastly different from Romans became a standard feature of Roman culture after the Roman Empire had expanded into Greece. The original, indigenous myths of Rome, therefore, did not revolve around stereotypes about Greeks.
The original Roman myths have no concept of a forthcoming apocalypse.
Heaven is not a concept found in early Roman myths, rather their ideas of the afterlife were largely influenced by Greek religion.
Which of these best describes the Vedas?
A collection of Hindu hymns, rituals and religious guidelines
A political system designed to ensure the maintenance of order in ancient Pakistan
An agricultural system designed to ensure protection from flooding during monsoon season in Southeast Asia
A collection of Buddhist prayers, rituals and practices
A system of conscription used by the ancient Persian empire to ensure sufficient manpower for their armies
The Vedas are a collection of Hindu hymns, rituals and religious guidelines written during the Vedic Age of Indian history. The Vedas are thought to be the revelations of enlightened individuals and are the foundation upon which orthodox Hindu philosophy rests.
Which of these statements about Egyptian belief in the afterlife is most accurate?
They believed it would be identical to life on Earth and they would therefore require their earthly possessions
They believed in heaven and hell, but only the pharaoh and his family would gain access to heaven
They believed only in hell and greatly feared death
They believed each individual could gain access to heaven through religious devotion or through financial donations to religious figures
None of these
The ancient Egyptians believed in an afterlife that would be almost identical to life on Earth. They believed that they would be able to take their earthly possessions with them and make use of them in the afterlife. This belief was so ingrained that some rulers would be buried with their pets, slaves, even wives, so that they might be with them in the afterlife.
Which of these best describes animism?
A religion based on the belief that things in the natural world have souls.
A religion based on the practice of nonviolence towards all living things.
A philosophy based on the importance of filial piety and loyalty.
A philosophy based on the importance of reason and self-moderation.
A philosophy based on the importance of pleasure-seeking and knowledge.
Many paleolithic societies practiced animism, this means that they believed everything in the world around them was imbued with a soul. In the contemporary world there are still many examples of beliefs that fall under the category of animism.
Zoroastrianism was the primary religion in which of these empires?
Persia
Egyptian
Hittite
Umayyad
Yakutia
Zoroastrianism was the primary religion of the Persian Empire. It was founded by Zoroaster, sometimes called Zarathustra, sometime in antiquity. The first recorded mentions of Zoroastrianism appear in the early years of the First Persian Empire, circa 550 BCE. Zoroastrianism is a monotheistic religion, perhaps the world’s first.
Tombs from Egyptian prehistory, especially those found above the Nile floodplain around 4000 BCE, often contain jewelry, personal items, and foodstuff ___________________.
indicating that prehistoric Egyptians had a formalized concept of life and death
indicating that these tombs were originally homes
from centuries or even millennium in the future, indicating that these sites were considered holy, and were well cared for, well into the Islamic period
indicating that Egyptians shut up people into these tombs while still alive
indicating that this area used to be nearer to the Nile, which has shifted dramatically over the course of human history
In late Egyptian prehistory, as agricultural techniques became more refined allowing for food surpluses, evidence of ritualized concepts of death and the afterlife are increasingly found in tombs and other archaeological sites.
Egyptian tombs were never originally homes.
Ancient Egyptian polytheism died out before the Islamic period.
Although in civilizations like China, tombs of powerful people were sometimes filled with their living servants, archaeological finds do not exhibit many examples of such behavior in ancient Egypt.
Unlike the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in the neighboring Mesopotamian region, the Nile River has not shifted dramatically over the course of human history.
Which of the following claimed the "Mandate of Heaven" to justify their rule?
The Zhou dynasty
The Shang dynasty
The Aryans
The Mesopotamians
The Egyptians
While all of the governments listed above justified their rule with religion, the Zhou dynasty was the first dynasty to claim that Tien, or heaven, had abandoned a previous ruling order (the Shang) to take over.
According to myth, Rome was founded by two brothers, Romulus and Remus, whose __________________.
father was the God of war, Mars, and whose mother was Rhea Silvia, daughter of Humidor, last king of the Albans
father was the God of war, Mars, and whose mother was a she-wolf
mother, though a virgin, gave birth to them
childhoods were spent in a pleasure palace
father was a poor carpenter
According to Roman myth, Romulus and Remus were born to Mars, the god of war, and a human mother whose father was the last king of the Albans.
Romulus and Remus were supposedly suckled by a she-wolf, but she was not their mother.
Unlike the religious figure of Jesus, Romulus and Remus were not said to be conceived from a virgin birth.
Unlike the religious figure of Buddha, Romulus and Remus were not said to have been raised in a pleasure palace.
Romulus and Remus's father was a god, not a carpenter.
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are all ___________.
Abrahamic religions
Dharmic religions
secular philosophies
non-theistic religions
polytheistic religions
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are all Abrahamic religions, meaning they all share Abraham as an important prophet.
Dharmic religions are Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism; dharma is a complicated metaphysical concept, important to all these religions, that has to do with proper balance in the universe.
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam aren't secular philosophies because they have a supernatural component.
While there are many different ways to practice Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, they all affirm the existence of a deity, therefore they are all theistic religions.
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are all monotheistic faiths; Jews, Christians, and Muslims believe in one God, not many such as in a polytheistic religion.