AP World History : Religions

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for AP World History

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Example Questions

Example Question #2 : Religions 600 Bce To 600 Ce

Which early heretical interpretation of Christianity became incredibly popular among migratory Germanic tribes, particularly the Goths, during the fall of the Western Roman Empire?

Possible Answers:

Manichaeism

Arianism

Catholicism

Nestorianism

Catharism

Correct answer:

Arianism

Explanation:

Arianism, proposed by Arius in the Third Century CE, proposed that Jesus Christ could not be God because God himself is unique and immutable. This would mean that Jesus Christ was created by God and therefore lesser. This was considered heretical and banned from Orthodoxy, but caught on in Germanic cultures. 

Example Question #3 : Religions 600 Bce To 600 Ce

Which of the following most accurately outlines the historical spread of Buddhism?

Possible Answers:

Develops in India, expansion into Central Asia and Southeast Asia; eventual expansion into China, Korea, and Japan

Develops in India, expansion into Africa and Southeast Asia; eventual expansion to the Western Hemisphere

Develops in Southeast Asia, immediate expansion into Oceania and China; eventual expansion into India and Middle East.

Develops in China; eventual expansion into Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia

Develops in India, immediate expansion into Middle East and Europe; eventual expansion into Southeast Asia.

Correct answer:

Develops in India, expansion into Central Asia and Southeast Asia; eventual expansion into China, Korea, and Japan

Explanation:

Developed approximately around 500 BCE by Gautama Buddha in Northeastern India, Buddhism first spread to Central Asia and Southeast Asia after a few centuries.  Shortly thereafter it spread into China, Korea, and Japan.

Example Question #23 : Ap World History

Zoroastrianism could most closely be defined as which of the following?

Possible Answers:

A Persian religion developed in opposition to Christianity during the early centuries CE

A religion developed in India around 200 BCE that synthesizes the teachings of Buddhism and Hinduism

A missionary religion that developed in Persia, and subsequently found widespread popularity within the Roman Empire

A monastic based religion still widely practiced in Central Asia

The official religion of pre-Islamic Persia, currently exists though practiced by relatively few adherents

Correct answer:

The official religion of pre-Islamic Persia, currently exists though practiced by relatively few adherents

Explanation:

Zoroastrianism was the official religion of both the Achaemenid and Sassanid Persian empires.  It is still practiced today, though the number of followers that adhere to Zoroastrianism is low in comparison to religions such as Christianity  or Islam.

Example Question #4 : Religions 600 Bce To 600 Ce

Eventually, Christianity became the official religion of _____________.

Possible Answers:

the Roman Empire

the Athenian Empire

the Hunnic Empire

the Mongol Empire

the Nabataeans

Correct answer:

the Roman Empire

Explanation:

Although initially Rome's government persecuted early Christian communities, the Roman emperor Constantine tolerated Christians and even converted to Christianity himself; Christianity became the official state religion. The Athenian Empire and the Nabataeans existed before Christianity. The Hunnic Empire, a great enemy to Rome, was never Christian. The Mongol Empire had a Christian population that was tolerated but was never officially Christian.

Example Question #24 : Ap World History

During the time of Latin Paganism, many within the temples of certain gods had different duties or positions therein. What was the term for a priest who was able to divine the future by observing the flight paths of birds?

Possible Answers:

Augur

Ephor

Princeps

Pontefix Maximus

Favorite

Correct answer:

Augur

Explanation:

Augury had been the preferred method of divination within the Roman Empire until the popularization of Christianity in the Fourth Century. Things even as important as matters of state would be solved with a visit to the augur. Ephor were ancient Spartan leaders. Pontefix Maximus were high priests, but they were not necessarily concerned with augury. Princeps was a term for the Roman Emperor.

Example Question #21 : Cultural History

Which religion's followers seek enlightenment as a path to nirvana?  

Possible Answers:

Confucianism

Sikhism

Buddhism

Hinduism

Daoism

Correct answer:

Buddhism

Explanation:

The path of Buddhist philosophy is to attempt to reach Nirvana, this is done through meditation and the philosophy of the eight-fold path. Nirvana is the state reached were the practitioner abolishes ignorance and worldly cravings, and is therefore released from suffering.

Example Question #5 : Religions 600 Bce To 600 Ce

Siddhartha Gautama, also known as the Buddha, was born into ___________.

Possible Answers:

a household that could not afford to raise a child and so put him in a basket and sent him down the river

a poor family

a family of carpenters

a noble family

a family of merchants

Correct answer:

a noble family

Explanation:

Siddhartha Gautama, also known as the Buddha, was born into a wealthy and powerful noble family.

His family was neither poor, nor carpenters, nor merchants but rather warriors and landowners.

Moses, and the more secular historical figure Sargon, were both leaders who were recorded as being placed in baskets and sent down rivers as infants (for Moses this was the Nile, for Sargon the Euphrates). The Buddha, on the other hand, was raised in a pleasure palace with his family.

Example Question #25 : Ap World History

The Muslim calendar begins the year that ___________.

Possible Answers:

Mohammed was born

Ali, Mohammed’s grandson, was slain

Mohammed died

Mohammed returned to the city of Mecca

Mohammed fled from the city of Mecca

Correct answer:

Mohammed fled from the city of Mecca

Explanation:

Known as the Hijrah, Mohammed fled the city of Mecca with his followers; this event marks the beginning of the Muslim calendar.

The death of Ali, Mohammed's grandson, is important to understanding the difference between Sunnis and Shias, but it is not the beginning of the Muslim calendar.

Mohammed's birth date is celebrated in some Muslim communities as the holiday Mawlid, but it is not the beginning of the Muslim calendar.

Mohammed's death is an important event in Muslim history but not the beginning of the Muslim calendar.

Mohammed's return to Mecca is a triumphant event in the history of Islam and the Middle East, but it is not the beginning of the Muslim calendar.

Example Question #9 : Religions 600 Bce To 600 Ce

Early Byzantium adopted Christianity as a state religion, which is why starting in the early 300s ____________________.

Possible Answers:

Byzantine authorities increasingly forced suspected pagans to march over stone portraits of pagan gods as a test of faith

Christian symbolism, like crosses, are increasingly found as motifs from that era

Pagan rituals increase in Byzantium as a vibrant counter-culture against the authorities, culminating in a series of disastrous civil wars

The Byzantine emperors gave all their wealth to the poor and lived as hermit emperors, delegating their political power to generals in the army

Byzantine archaeological finds increasingly include objects with anti-"Mohammedian" (Muslim) symbols

Correct answer:

Christian symbolism, like crosses, are increasingly found as motifs from that era

Explanation:

In the early 300s, Byzantine authorities adopted Christianity as the empire's religion. Archaeological finds from that era document this increasing Christianization, especially visual motifs such as crosses.

Although there may have been a vibrant counter-culture celebrating paganism, Byzantium did not suffer from widespread civil wars between pagans and Christians.

Mohammed lived in the 7th century, centuries after Byzantine authorities adopted Christianity.

Byzantine authorities never forced suspected to pagans to march over stone portraits of pagan deities, although this was actually a Japanese practice in the 17th through 19th centuries against suspected Christian communities.

Some Byzantine emperors were more religious than others, but they tended to rule with absolute power; as a general rule they were not hermitic and did not delegate political power to generals in the army due to religious beliefs.

Example Question #26 : Ap World History

Many Roman emperors who claimed divinity during their lifetimes ___________________.

Possible Answers:

came to a violent end

were forced to live in near poverty because official Roman ideology declared political power dirty and that if the emperor was a spiritual authority then he had to devote himself to spiritual matters

clashed with committed secularists in Rome's universities

came from the Praetorian guard itself

were called Caesar

Correct answer:

came to a violent end

Explanation:

People in the ancient world largely felt as secular as many people today, at least when it came to the circles of educated advisers and bodyguards surrounding the emperor; declarations of divinity were always troubling to some.

Caesar was Julius Caesar's name but became a title over time; he was considered a person whose actions were exemplified and to be followed by capable and militaristic men.

For many centuries Japanese emperors were forced to live near poverty, even having their household staff sell their signature in the streets of major cities to raise funds, because they were considered spiritual beings; Rome's imperial behavior never politically demeaned the emperor as a matter of ideological purity. 

Universities are institutions of education with legally binding academic freedom that stem from the Middle Ages in which groups of young scholars and a single teacher, often an older monk, would meet in a predetermined location and discuss matters of nature and philosophy; Rome had no such institutions.

No Praetorian in history ever declared himself emperor.

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