The Ancient Middle East Practice Test

Review the following study guides if necessary:

• The Ancient Middle East
• Ancient Israel
• The Ancient Phoenicians
• The Persian Empire

Practice Test

1. The Hebrews’ major contribution to world history was _______________ .

A. the alphabet

B. monotheistic religion

C. a barter economy

D. the invention of writing

2. The Phoenicians were most famous as _______________ .

A. warriors

B. scholars

C. traders

D. scientists

3. The Persians originally came from the area that we call ________________ today.

A. Russia

B. China

C. Iran

D. India

4. What was the most important factor in the Greek victory in the Persian Wars?

A. The Greeks had established footholds throughout the Mediterranean.

B. The Greek city-states were a civilization rather than an empire.

C. The Persians were better sailors than the Greeks.

D. The Greek city-states united their troops against the enemy.

5. _________________ conquered the Persian Empire and thus brought its supremacy to an end.

A. Cyrus the Great

B. Alexander the Great

C. King David

D. Themistocles

6. The ancient land of Canaan is located closest to present-day _______________ .

A. Lebanon

B. Sicily

C. Egypt

D. Greece

7. All of these were inherent weaknesses in the Persian Empire except __________________.

A. ethnic diversity

B. vast physical size

C. linguistic unity

D. autocratic government

8. All these writing systems are adaptations of the Phoenician alphabet except ________________ .

A. Chinese

B. Cyrillic

C. Hebrew

D. Arabic

9. Which aspect of the Greek civilization made it a threat to the Phoenicians?

A. scientific discoveries

B. religious beliefs

C. military might

D. geographical expansion

10. At its height, the Phoenician civilization maintained colonies or outposts in all of the following places except _________________ .

A. Sicily

B. Spain

C. Egypt

D. Carthage

Answers