World History Practice Test: Ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt
- Ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt
- 10 questions
- 12 minutes
Ten questions on the first river civilizations of Southwest Asia and North Africa. Tip: link each idea to its river, since geography explains much of how these societies worked.
Tap an option to mark your answer. You can change your mind, or tap the same option again to leave the question blank. The correct answers and explanations appear when you finish the test.Tap an option to answer; tap it again to leave the question blank.
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Question 1
Which two rivers gave Mesopotamia, the "land between the rivers," its name?
Correct answer: C
Mesopotamia lay between the Tigris and the Euphrates in what is now mostly Iraq. The Nile watered Egypt, not Mesopotamia.
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Question 2
The Sumerians wrote by pressing a reed stylus into wet clay, leaving wedge-shaped marks. What is this writing system called?
Correct answer: A
Cuneiform comes from the Latin word for wedge. Hieroglyphics was the picture-based script of Egypt.
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Question 3
A Sumerian city was usually built around a large stepped tower with a temple on top. What was this structure called?
Correct answer: D
The ziggurat was the religious center of a Sumerian city. Egyptian pyramids were royal tombs, not temple platforms.
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Question 4
Which ruler is generally credited with creating one of the first empires by conquering the city-states of Sumer around 2300 BCE?
Correct answer: B
Sargon of Akkad united Sumer under one ruler around 2300 BCE. Hammurabi built his Babylonian empire several centuries later.
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Question 5
A Babylonian king had nearly 300 laws carved on a stone pillar, with punishments such as "an eye for an eye." Who was this king?
Correct answer: B
Hammurabi's Code (about 1750 BCE) is one of the oldest written law codes. Gilgamesh is the hero of an epic poem, not a lawgiver.
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Question 6
Why was the yearly flooding of the Nile so important to farmers in ancient Egypt?
Correct answer: D
When the flood went down, it left rich black silt that made the narrow river valley very productive. The water came from rain far to the south, not from the Mediterranean.
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Question 7
Why did ancient Egyptians mummify the bodies of the dead?
Correct answer: A
Egyptian religion taught that the soul needed a preserved body in the afterlife. Mummification was costly, so it was mainly for people who could afford it.
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Question 8
The Great Pyramid of Giza was built during the Old Kingdom as the tomb of which pharaoh?
Correct answer: C
The Great Pyramid was built for Khufu around 2560 BCE. Tutankhamun lived over 1,000 years later and was buried in the Valley of the Kings.
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Question 9
Which pharaoh broke with tradition by promoting the worship of one sun god, the Aten, above all other gods?
Correct answer: A
Akhenaten (1300s BCE) promoted the Aten and built a new capital. After his death, Egypt returned to the worship of many gods.
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Question 10
Why was the Rosetta Stone the key to reading Egyptian hieroglyphics?
Correct answer: B
Scholars could read the Greek part and compare it with the Egyptian versions. Jean-François Champollion announced his decipherment in 1822.
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