Instructions: For each question, click on the radio button beside your answer. When you have completed the entire quiz, click the “Submit my answers” button at the bottom of the page to receive your results.

Question 1:

The ancient Greek historian Herodotus expressed which view regarding religions during antiquity?
a) All they amounted to was irrational superstition.
b) All of them were based upon Greek myths.
c) They should all be respected.
d) That the Egyptian concept of the afterlife was his favourite.

Question 2:

Archeological evidence from the site at Gobekli Tepi offers grounds for what theory regarding human pre-history?
a) That humans were constructing monuments dedicated to religious/symbolic practice as early as 9500 BCE.
b) That early human societies practised cat worship.
c) That early human societies had complex religious texts.
d) That early human societies had no concept of religion and were solely pre-occupied with survival in a hostile environment.

Question 3:

In the epic “Enuma Elish,” how is Babylon described?
a) As an ungodly place
b) As the meeting place of a thousand heroes
c) As doomed
d) As the meeting place of 300 gods from on high and 300 more from below

Question 4:

The Greek word “daimones” refers to what?
a) Winged monsters from Greek mythology
b) Groups of actors during antiquity
c) A category of minor gods
d) The priests who tended to the Oracle at Delphi

Question 5:

The Parthenon in Athens was dedicated to which deity?
a) Athena
b) Zeus
c) Hera
d) Apollo

Question 6:

What did the Greek geographer and historian Strabo say about women in the first century CE?
a) That all agree they are the chief founders of religion.
b) That their place was at home, not in the temple.
c) That they embody divinity.
d) That they pose a risk to the laws of purity.

Question 7:

What does Desrochers claim to have been intellectuals’ mode of explanation during antiquity?
a) Philosophical dialogues
b) Collections of theses
c) Myth
d) Rhetorical Speeches

Question 8:

According to Plato what was it impossible for the divine to do?
a) Interact with humans
b) Introduce evil into the world
c) Change the predicament of human societies
d) Accept sacrificial offerings

Question 9:

According to Desrochers, what was the foremost ritual act amongst the cultures of antiquity?
a) Supplication
b) Prayer song
c) Holy festivals
d) Sacrifice

Question 10:

What was the significance of votive gifts made to deities?
a) They were offered up by devotees as fulfillment of vows.
b) They were candles and oil lamps meant to represent the divine light of the deity.
c) They were used to gain favour with temple priests.
d) They were given to the poor in the name of a deity.

Question 11:

The “Great Hymn to Aten” is derived from which religious tradition of antiquity?
a) Greek
b) Egyptian
c) Roman
d) Mesopotamian

Question 12:

Why were sacrificial offerings often burned in ancient rituals?
a) Because fire represented the all-consuming power of the divine.
b) Because smoke was understood as the means for transmitting the offerings to the gods and goddesses.
c) Because fire purified the offerings.
d) Because they needed to cook the offerings so that they could be eaten by the priests.

Question 13:

Mesopotamians dismissed as uncivilized any people whose gods had no what?
a) Temples
b) Oracles
c) Spouses
d) Priestesses

Question 14:

What did the god Osiris rule over in the Egyptian tradition?
a) The harvest
b) War
c) The underworld
d) The sea

Question 15:

Which Greek god was thought to speak through the Pythia?
a) Apollo
b) Demeter
c) Athena
d) Diana

Question 16:

Who, and/or what, were the Vestals?
a) Barbarian raiders
b) Lists of ancient virtues
c) A group of Roman priestesses
d) A series of ancient Roman festivals

Question 17:

How did the common people often come to learn the myths which were central to their cultures during Antiquity?
a) Popular books
b) Schools
c) Travelling preachers
d) Public festivals and theater

Question 18:

To which of the four civilizations does the “Epic of Gilgamesh” belong?
a) Greek
b) Mesopotamian
c) Egyptian
d) Roman

Question 19:

The goddess Isis spread from the Egyptian tradition throughout other cultures of antiquity. What was a reason for her widespread appeal?
a) Her power over procreation
b) Her protection in battle
c) Her role as a nurturing mother
d) Her association with bountiful harvests

Question 20:

As the concept of access to a divine afterlife was opened up to elites other than the rulers in the Egyptian tradition, what was thought to aid those seeking to negotiate the journey?
a) The Pyramid Texts
b) The Book of the Dead
c) The Enuma Elish
d) The Coffin Texts

Higher Education

World Religions: Western Traditions, Fourth Edition—Chapter 2