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
 

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

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25 Questions

1. Which of the following did Pope Gregory I (590—604) NOT do?

Defend Rome from barbarians through diplomacy.Promote Benedictine monasticism.Send missionaries to England.Acknowledge the spiritual primacy of the patriarch of Constantinople.Feed the poor of Rome.

2. Which of the following had the fewest theological differences with the Roman Catholic Church?

Ulrich ZwingliMartin LutherHenry VIIIJohn CalvinJohn Knox

3. The Old Babylonian kingdom of the Amorites in Mesopotamia disintegrated around 1600 B.C.E. because

a series of slave revolts destabilized government and undercut the economic foundations of the region.the nobility and the priesthood conspired against the king, leading to political fragmentation.increasingly oppressive taxes and repeated crop failures led to long-term economic depression.it was invaded by Hyksos from the west.it was invaded by Hittites from the north and Kassites from the east.

4. All of the following were Greek poets EXCEPT

Hesiod.Archilochus.Pindar.Ovid.Sappho of Lesbos.

5. The religion of the Sumerians, with its gloomy view of the afterlife and its pantheon of capricious gods, is most fully described in which of the following ancient texts?

The Epic of GilgameshThe Hebrew BibleHomer’s IliadThe Book of the DeadThe Letters of Akhenaton

6. The Social War (90—88 B.C.E.)

was fought over the extension of Roman citizenship.was the civil war between Marius and Sulla.was fought between Athens and its allies in the Delian League.is the name of legislation giving greater freedom to Roman women in the late Republic.began as an uprising led by Mithridates, the king of Pontus.

7. An artist of the northern Renaissance whose paintings show a preoccupation with grotesque and fantastic subjects in nightmarish scenes of great complexity was

Jan van Eyck.Albrecht Dürer.Hans Holbein.Hieronymus Bosch.Robert Campin.

8. The sculpture presented below is characteristic of what kind of art?

Classical RomanRenaissance ItalianHellenisticClassical GreekEtruscan

9. ‘His father had been the governor of Britain. From his base there, he defeated his rivals in battle until finally his claim to the imperial throne was undisputed. Although he had worshiped the Persian god Mithras in his youth, he converted to Christianity and was baptized on his deathbed. He founded a new city in the east to serve as the capital of the Roman Empire.’
Who was the emperor described above?

Marcus AureliusClaudiusDeciusConstantineDiocletian

10. The written body of Jewish civil and religious law, compiled after the destruction of the Temple in 70 C.E., is known as the

Pentateuch.Tanach.Torah.Septuagint.Talmud.

11. The pyramids in Egypt provide evidence of all of the following EXCEPT

the great power of Egyptian kings to mobilize laborers in the service of the royal family.the sophistication of ancient Egyptian engineering.the exceptional size and splendor of the building projects organized by the Fourth Dynasty.ancient techniques of harnessing the flooding of the Nile for agriculture.belief in an afterlife among the ancient Egyptians.

12. Philip
IV. (the Fair) of France did all of the following to increase his revenue EXCEPT

exile Jews and seize their wealth.tax the clergy.destroy the Order of Knights Templar and seize their wealth.summon the Estates-General.debase the coinage.

13. The city of Rome was attacked by all of the following groups EXCEPT

Visigoths.Huns.Gauls.Vandals.Saracens.

14. The ziggurat was

an administrative district in Egypt.a swift Phoenician cargo ship.a kind of Mesopotamian temple.a kind of royal palace.a particularly effective Assyrian siege engine.

15. The Peloponnesian League was

an alliance of Greek city-states led by Athens whose transformation into the Athenian Empire precipitated the Peloponnesian War.a commercial consortium of Phoenician city-states organized to promote overseas colonization.an alliance of Greek city-states during the Hellenistic period.an alliance of Greek city-states led by Sparta.a commercial consortium of Greek city-states organized to promote overseas colonization.

16. All of the following were features of the Counter Reformation EXCEPT

the founding of new religious orders.the establishment of a new inquisition.the weakening of the pope’s spiritual authority within the Roman Catholic Church.the publication of an index of prohibited books.the convocation of a church council to clarify doctrine.

17. The ancient Greeks living around the year 500 B.C.E. honored all of the following gods in public festivals EXCEPT

Mithras.Zeus.Dionysos.Apollo.Athena.

18. The Athenian political reformer, Cleisthenes, invented which political unit to serve as the basis of the new government espoused by the Athenians in 508 B.C.E.?

phalanx.deme.thetes.phratry.boule.

19. Which of the following eastern European peoples were finally converted from paganism to Christianity in the fourteenth century, when their leader strengthened his realm by marrying the Catholic queen of a neighboring state?

SlovaksCzechsLithuaniansPolesRussians

20. Which of the following was NOT a consequence of the Fourth Crusade?

The Venetians acquired a monopoly on Byzantine trade.Feudal states were established in Greece.Works of Byzantine art were sent to Italy.A legacy of ill-will was engendered between Muslims and Christians.The patriarch of Constantinople attended the Fourth Lateran Council.

21. The military innovation devised by the Romans that enabled them to conquer the Mediterranean region was the

phalanx.horse-drawn chariot.legion.trireme.war elephant.

22. Which of the following is NOT true of Roman Law?

The emperor Justinian (527—565 C.E.) commissioned the codification of earlier law codes in an immense work known as the Corpus Juris Civilis.It was influenced by the concept of natural law.It was formulated in authoritative manuals toward the end of the Pax Romana, from the second to the early third century C.E.It was influenced by Stoic philosophy.It first received a written form during the reign of Augustus Caesar (27 B.C.E.—14 C.E.).

23. The largest of the empires of the ancient Near East, which was conquered by Alexander the Great (336—323 B.C.E.), was ruled by the

Sumerians.Neo-Babylonians.Hittites.Persians.Assyrians.

24.
The areas shaded black on the map above represent the

Greek states that formed an alliance to fight the Persians led by Xerxes.territories of the Athenian Empire on the eve of the Peloponnesian War.colonies founded by the Phoenicians before the Greeks settled the region.Macedonian kingdom of Philip II.territories of the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta.

25. In the map of the western Mediterranean below, the shaded areas indicate

regions held by the Romans during the First Punic War.areas devastated during the Peloponnesian War.regions colonized by the Greeks.areas colonized by the Phoenicians.areas seized by Augustus Caesar from the Carthaginians.