The CLEP Western Civilization I exam covers Ancient Greece, Rome, and the Near East; the Middle Ages; Renaissance and Reformation.  The CLEP Western Civilization I exam contains approximately 120 questions to be answered in 90 minutes.   Note: This exam uses the chronological designations b.c.e. (before the common era) and c.e. (common era). The labels correspond to b.c. (before Christ) and a.d. (anno Domini), which are used in some textbooks. Exam contents:  Ancient Near East (8%–10%) Political evolution Religion, culture, and technical developments in and near the Fertile... Show more

The CLEP Western Civilization I exam covers Ancient Greece, Rome, and the Near East; the Middle Ages; Renaissance and Reformation. 

The CLEP Western Civilization I exam contains approximately 120 questions to be answered in 90 minutes.  

Note: This exam uses the chronological designations b.c.e. (before the common era) and c.e. (common era). The labels correspond to b.c. (before Christ) and a.d. (anno Domini), which are used in some textbooks.

Exam contents: 

Ancient Near East (8%–10%)
Political evolution
Religion, culture, and technical developments in and near the Fertile Crescent

Ancient Greece and Hellenistic Civilization (15%–17%)
Political evolution to Periclean Athens
Periclean Athens through the Peloponnesian Wars
Culture, religion, and thought of Ancient Greece
The Hellenistic political structure
The culture, religion, and thought of Hellenistic Greece

Ancient Rome (15%–17%)
Political evolution of the Republic and of the Empire (economic and geographical context)
Roman thought and culture
Early Christianity
The Germanic invasions
The late empire

Medieval History (23%–27%)
Byzantium and Islam
Early medieval politics and culture through Charlemagne
Feudal and manorial institutions
The medieval Church
Medieval thought and culture
Rise of the towns and changing economic forms
Feudal monarchies
The late medieval church

Renaissance and Reformation (13%–17%)
The Renaissance in Italy
The Renaissance outside Italy
The New Monarchies
Protestantism and Catholicism reformed and reorganized

Early Modern Europe, 1560-1648 (10%–15%)
The opening of the Atlantic
The Commercial Revolution
Dynastic and religious conflicts
Thought and culture
 

Related: CLEP Western Civilization I Practice Test 1: Ancient Near East to 1648

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CLEP Western Civilization I Practice Test 2: Ancient Near East to 1648

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25 Questions

1. The relief shown below is an example of art that is characteristic of which of the following ancient cultures?

AssyrianGreekCelticRomanMinoan

2. Lorenzo the Magnificent, the Florentine patron of arts, was a member of which influential dynasty?

HapsburgSforzaViscontiBorgiaMedici

3. The geography of Greece

made political unification of the Greeks impossible.kept the Greeks safe from foreign invasion.made sea-faring impractical.favored the formation of large, unified empires.favored the formation of small, self-governing city-states.

4. The Gospels, which form the core of the New Testament, are attributed to

Matthew, Thomas, James, and John.Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.Matthew, Mark, Thomas, and James.Matthew, Luke, James, and John.Matthew, Thomas, Luke, and John.

5. Which of the following is NOT true of Ulrich Zwingli (1484–1531)?

He banned the use of religious images in churches.He agreed with Martin Luther on the doctrine of the Lord’s Supper.He taught that it is not necessary to fast during Lent.He abolished monasteries.He died at a battle between Catholic and Protestant forces.

6. The Greeks founded numerous colonies throughout the Mediterranean basin and the Black Sea from c. 700 to c. 550 B.C.E. primarily in order to

share Greek civilization with the barbarians.establish a network of commercial trading posts.found an empire uniting southern Europe, northern Africa, and the Near East.relieve socio-economic tensions in mainland Greece.counter the rising threat from the Roman Empire.

7.
The statue shown was crafted by

Donatello.Leonardo da Vinci.Brunelleschi.Raphael.Michelangelo.

8. Which of the following was NOT an action of Pope Innocent III (1198–1216)?

He proclaimed a crusade against heretics in southern France.He approved the foundation of the Franciscans and Dominicans.He presided over the Fourth Lateran Council.He made England a papal fief.He instructed the Fourth Crusade to sack Constantinople.

9. The survival of the Roman Republic during the first century B.C.E. was most seriously threatened by which of the following?

hordes of northern barbariansslave revoltsCarthaginian spies and saboteursreligious leaders who converted Roman citizens to various eastern mystery cultswealthy citizens who commanded the armies of the Republic

10. “Their entire society was organized on a permanent war-footing. Males began to receive military training from the age of seven and had to live in barracks until the age of thirty. Women received physical training and were hardened to a lifestyle without comforts in order to promote a militaristic mind-set. The citizen-soldiers were vigilant against the possibility of slave revolt, for most of the region’s inhabitants had been conquered in war and worked the land against their will for the conquerors.”
The paragraph above describes the people of

Corinth.Rome.Athens.Sparta.Carthage.

11. Which of the following theologians is NOT considered one of the four Latin doctors of the Church?

St. John ChrysostomSt. Gregory the GreatSt. JeromeSt. Augustine of HippoSt. Ambrose of Milan

12.
The building interior shown above is that of

the Great Mosque at Cordoba.the Dome of the Rock Mosque in Jerusalem.the Colosseum in Rome.Notre Dame in Paris.the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople.

13. The Council of Nicaea, organized by the emperor Constantine in 325 C.E., condemned the heresy known as

Arianism.Catharism.Monophysitism.Iconoclasm.Gnosticism.

14. The democracy of Athens in the fifth century B.C.E. was revolutionary in the ancient world because

it extended the right to vote to women.it united all of the Greek city-states in their fight against the Persians.all male citizens, not just those born into prominent or wealthy families, participated directly in the administration of government.it gave metics (resident aliens) a voice in government.it outlawed slavery.

15. All of the following are true of the Persian king Cyrus the Great (559— 530 B.C.E.) EXCEPT

He abandoned the westward expansion of his empire after losing the battle of Salamis to the Greeks.He used respect and tolerance instead of cruelty and repression to gain the obedience of the subject peoples within his empire.He freed the Persians from domination under the Medes.He established an empire that reached from the Indus valley to the shores of the Mediterreanean Sea.He allowed the Jews exiled in Babylon to return to Judah.

16. The wife of Henry II of France (1547–1559), who as Queen Mother used her influence both to set policy in France and to introduce cultural features of the Italian Renaissance beyond the Alps, was

Henrietta Maria.Christine de Pisan.Eleanor of Aquitaine.Catherine de’ Medici.Catherine of Aragon.

17. All of the following made contributions to astronomy EXCEPT

Copernicus.Galileo Galilei.Tycho Brahe.Johannes Kepler.William Harvey.

18. During the period of the Old Kingdom in Egypt (c. 2700–c. 2200 B.C.E.), the Egyptians regarded the pharaoh as

the chief high priest.a representative of the gods.a god.the foremost citizen of the republic.a figurehead with merely symbolic power.

19. The complete works of Plato first became available in western Europe due to the efforts of

French humanists during the Renaissance.Italian humanists during the Renaissance.medieval scholastics.ancient Roman scholars.medieval monks.

20.
The equestrian statue shown above commemorates the achievements of

the Italian condottiere Bartolommeo Colleoni.the Italian condottiere Gattamelata.the Mongol emperor Genghis Khan.the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius.the Frankish emperor Charlemagne.

21. The Peace of God was a movement led by the Latin Church during the Middle Ages to

restrict warfare to certain days of the year.achieve reconciliation with the Greek Church.end warfare with the Muslims in the Holy Land.end feudal warfare.protect non-combatants.

22. “As an orator, he was unequalled in the Roman Republic and enjoyed a successful career as a senator and lawyer. Yet he was forced into retirement by Julius Caesar and passed the time by writing philosophical works. After the assassination of Caesar, he supported Octavian against Mark Antony, but when these two concluded an alliance among themselves, he was executed for his outspoken criticism.”
The individual described above was

Lucretius.Catullus.Cicero.Cato.Pompey.

23. All of the following were achievements of Augustus Caesar EXCEPT

He established a calendar consisting of 365 days which added an extra day every four years to keep the year in step with the seasons.He ended almost a century of civil wars in Rome.He organized a grand building program in Rome.He established Rome’s first police department.He established Rome’s first fire department.

24. The Emperor Hadrian’s decision to rebuild Jerusalem on the model of a Greco-Roman city

was greeted by the Jews as a welcome gesture.ended the Diaspora.triggered the Bar Kochba rebellion.revived Jerusalem as the most important center of Christianity.led ultimately to the siege of Masada.

25. All of the following inventions appeared in Europe before the fifteenth century EXCEPT

magnetic compasses.mechanical clocks.eyeglasses.the printing press with movable metal type.astrolabes.