Cultural Foundations
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Course Introduction
Cultural Foundations explores the development, transmission, and transformation of cultures across time and place. Through the examination of key texts, artifacts, and practices, students investigate how beliefs, values, norms, and cultural narratives shape individual identities and social institutions. The course encourages critical analysis of cultural encounters, globalization, and the dynamics of cultural change, equipping students with tools to engage thoughtfully with diversity and to understand contemporary global issues from a culturally informed perspective.
Recommended Textbook
The Humanities Culture Continuity and Change Volume 1 3rd Edition by Henry M. Sayre
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Page 2
Chapter 1: The Rise of Culture: From Forest to Farm
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Q1) In prehistoric times,communication with the spiritual world is thought to have been largely conducted in A)groves.
B)semi-permanent huts.
C)river valleys.
D)Caves.
Answer: D
Q2) Which of the following statements reflects the changed thinking regarding prehistoric art due to the discovery of Chauvet Cave?
A)Art progressed from awkward beginnings to increased sophistication.
B)The Paleolithic art in each cave probably was created by a single person.
C)Art did not necessarily evolve in a linear progression from its early days in prehistory.
D)Paleolithic cave art was a form of graffiti created by young people.
Answer: C
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Chapter 2: Mesopotamia: Power and Social Order in the
Early Middle East
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Q1) Explore the revelations about the Mesopotamian sense of order that the Standard of Ur and King Ashurbanipal's library at Nineveh convey.
Answer: The Standard of Ur and King Ashurbanipal's library at Nineveh both provide insights into the Mesopotamian sense of order. The Standard of Ur, a Sumerian artifact dating back to around 2600 BCE, depicts scenes of war and peace, with soldiers and prisoners organized in neat rows, showcasing the Mesopotamian emphasis on order and hierarchy in society. This sense of order is also evident in the meticulous organization of King Ashurbanipal's library at Nineveh, which contained thousands of clay tablets with cuneiform writing on various subjects such as literature, history, and science. The library was arranged and cataloged with great care, reflecting the Mesopotamian belief in the importance of preserving knowledge and maintaining order in the intellectual realm. Overall, both the Standard of Ur and King Ashurbanipal's library at Nineveh reveal the Mesopotamian commitment to order and organization in different aspects of their civilization, from social structure to intellectual pursuits.
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Chapter 3: The Stability of Ancient Egypt: Flood and Sun
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Q1) Which god did Akhenaten declare to be supreme?
A)Isis
B)Aten
C)Horus
D)Ammit
Answer: B
Q2) According to legend,how did the Macedonian Alexander the Great become Egypt's legitimate ruler?
A)The Kushite kings formed an alliance with him in exchange for gold.
B)The Egyptians declared him a god because he rode atop an elephant.
C)The god Amun,speaking through an oracle,acknowledged him as his son.
D)The Egyptians crowned him for driving out the invading Romans.
Answer: C
Q3) Which is one of the greatest changes that took place during the Middle Kingdom?
A)Mummification procedures became more complex and ritualized.
B)Architects used mathematics and astronomy for pyramid construction.
C)Writing and literature moved from the sacred to the imaginative.
D)Upper and Lower Egypt split and remained separate kingdoms.
Answer: C
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Chapter
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Q1) In 508 BCE,who instituted the first Athenian democracy by establishing a Council of Five Hundred?
A)Cleisthenes
B)Hippias
C)Pisistratus
D)Solon
Q2) The female equivalent of the kouroi,korai seemed to serve the function of,
A)decorations for private homes.
B)votive offerings to Athena.
C)mannequins for clothing shops.
D)commemorative grave markers.
Q3) In Minoan art,the bull is associated with
A)male virility and strength.
B)the Greek god Zeus.
C)an agriculture-driven economy.
D)the Egyptian god Tholos.
Q4) Trace the development of democracy in Greece,from Draco's harsh laws to Cleistenes's establishment of the Council of Five Hundred.
Page 6
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Chapter 5: Golden Age Athens and the Hellenic World: The
School of Hellas
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Q1) A komos,from which the word comedy is derived,is a A)goat song.
B)drinking party.
C)phallic dance.
D)viewing space.
Q2) Socrates differed from the Sophists,most notably,in his emphasis on A)virtuous behavior.
B)humanism.
C)philosophical wisdom.
D)teaching.
Q3) Argue for or against Pericles's decision to rebuild Athens' Acropolis based upon his rationale and the funding source.
Q4) The Sophists differed from the pre-Socratics in their focus on A)the natural universe.
B)the actions of the gods.
C)the actions of human beings.
D)the basis of reality.
Q5) Explore the Hellenistic use of art as propaganda,using Lysippus's likeness of Alexander the Great and Epigonos's (?)Dying Gaul as primary examples.
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Chapter 6: Rome: Urban Life and Imperial Majesty
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Q1) After the Romans expelled the Etruscan monarchy in 510 BCE,they instituted a A)dictatorship.
B)republic.
C)monarchy.
D)democracy.
Q2) Virgil composed the Aeneid to
A)provide Rome and Augustus with a suitably grand founding myth.
B)fulfill his state obligations as Rome's first poet laureate.
C)explain the enmity between Carthage and Rome.
D)celebrate Augustus's gift of farmland to veterans.
Q3) The Arch of Titus was constructed to
A)commemorate Titus's sack of the Second Temple of Jerusalem.
B)celebrate Titus's appointment as emperor.
C)serve as a gateway into the Colosseum.
D)provide structural support for Rome's largest aqueduct.
Q4) Explain how the Ara Pacis Augustae and Augustus of Primaporta can be seen as works of propaganda.
Q5) Identify and explain three factors that lead to the Roman Empire's decline in the fourth century CE.
Page 8
Q6) List and explain three examples of Etruscan influence on Roman culture.
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Chapter 7: Emerging Empires in the East: Urban Life and
Imperial Majesty in China and India
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Q1) The stupa's three supporting discs-chatras-represent
A)Buddha's three different identities.
B)Buddhism's three levels of consciousness.
C)Buddhism's three domes of heaven.
D)Buddha's three signs of authority.
Q2) Compare the Book of Songs compiled during the Zhou dynasty to the yuefu songs collected by the Han Music Bureau,focusing on source and content.
Q3) Why was the Silk Road so important in Southeast Asia's development?
A)It spurred the cultural interchange between East and West,India and China.
B)Lined with mulberry trees,it was home to the finest silk moth caterpillars.
C)Sericulture,or silk farming,first developed here in about 2700 BCE.
D)It offered the Chinese a quicker,safer route to India than did the sea.
Q4) The greatest artistic achievement of the Shang dynasty is generally considered to be
A)ink painting.
B)bronze casting.
C)tomb mural painting.
D)lyrical poetry.
Page 9
Q5) Explore the connections between dynastic change and the major philosophies of ancient China.
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Chapter 8: The Flowering of Christianity: Faith and the
Power of Belief in the Early First Millennium
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Q1) Why is Venice home to a vast amount of Byzantine art?
A)Wealthy residents of Constantinople fled to Venice after their city fell to the Muslims.
B)Most of the Constantinople's artists and skilled laborers came from Venice.
C)Venetian mercenaries looted Constantinople's art during the Fourth Crusade.
D)During Leo III's purge,the people of Constantinople smuggled art to Venice to save it.
Q2) Around the time of the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem,Judaism became increasingly messianic,meaning that greater emphasis was placed on the
A)coming of God on the day of judgment.
B)worship of the Seleucid king.
C)worship of the Roman gods.
D)liberation of all captive peoples.
Q3) Typology primarily helped Christians come to terms with their Jewish roots by
A)showing Jesus's ethnic lineage to trace back to figures in the Hebrew Bible.
B)demonstrating the Hebrew Scriptures to be prefigurations of Jesus's life.
C)modifying the Hebrew stories to fit with Jesus's teachings.
D)re-introducing certain key Jewish rituals such as circumcision.
Q4) Argue for or against a radical Bible revision to include the Gnostic texts.
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Chapter 9: The Rise and Spread of Islam: a New Religion
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Q1) Explain the Qur'an's statement for women to "act and dress modestly" in terms of the attitude expressed about women.
Q2) Muslims generally avoid figurative imagery in the decoration of their mosques because
A)cleanliness is a worship requirement,so walls and windows must be free of paint.
B)Muhammad warned that image makers would face punishment on the Day of Judgment.
C)creating images is considered an act of people's vanity and thus a sin.
D)the Qur'an states that art in any form is an abomination against God.
Q3) Contributing to Islam's rapid spread,the mosque held appeal for its A)inexpensive housing available to the poor.
B)similarity to secular architecture,promoting familiarity.
C)hierarchical architecture,promoting a sense of a defined society.
D)provision of a sense of community.
Q4) The design of most mosques is inspired by A)the Kaaba in Mecca.
B)Muhammad's house in Medina.
C)Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem. D)Hagia Sophia in Constantinople.
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Chapter 10: Fiefdom and Monastery, pilgrimage and
The Early Medieval World in Europe
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Q1) In the Song of Roland,Roland's fate is brought on by his A)sense of pride.
B)cowardice in battle.
C)jealousy of Oliver.
D)refusal to pray.
Q2) What architectural feature especially distinguishes a Romanesque church?
A)barrel vaults
B)soaring spires
C)stained-glass windows
D)turrets
Q3) Benedictine monks at Cluny introduced
A)manuscript illumination.
B)congregational readings.
C)public prayer.
D)choral music.
Q4) Analyze the reasons medieval women were able to assume more responsibility and thus some measure of power during this period.
Q5) Explain the value of the Bayeux Tapestry as a primary source-a first-hand historical document.
Q6) List and explain medieval women's contributions to the arts. Page 12
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Chapter 11: Centers of Culture: Court and City in the Larger World
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Q1) Shiva is commonly portrayed dancing within a circle of fire to A)instruct his followers on how to worship him.
B)symbolize his creative and destructive powers.
C)represent the mystical state created by dancing.
D)represent his incarnation as sun god.
Q2) The Chinese were able to build suspension bridges and pagodas because of the development of A)earthen walls.
B)cypress-bark shingles.
C)iron- and steel-casting.
D)sikharas.
Q3) In the exiled Song scholar-painters' art during Mongol rule,bamboo symbolized A)Chinese peoples' dominance of the land.
B)the theft of Chinese soil by Mongol invaders.
C)Chinese peoples' ability to bend and not break.
D)the unifying principle of the Chinese world.
Q4) Compare the grid layout of the Tang city Chang'an with that of the Mesoamerican Teotihuacán.
Page 14
Q5) Compare the Buddhist "Sunset" pagoda with the Hindu Kandarya Mahadeva temple,focusing on its design and symbolism.
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Chapter 12: The Gothic Style: Faith and Knowledge in an Age of Inquiry
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Q1) The origins of the organ date back to A)ancient Greece.
B)ancient Egypt.
C)the Romanesque period.
D)early Christian period in Rome.
Q2) Perhaps owing to difficulties in identifying with Jesus,the Middle Ages witnessed a significant cult of A)Jesse.
B)Mary,Sister of Moses.
C)the Virgin.
D)Elizabeth.
Q3) Summarize and explain Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologica argument on the existence of God.
Q4) Explain the symbolism inherent in a Gothic cathedral,citing as examples specific cathedrals.
Q5) The popular poem Roman de la Rose is based upon the relationship between A)Peter Abelard and Héloïse
B)Jesus and Mary Magdalene
C)Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry II
D)Abbot Suger and Louis IX.
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Toward a New Humanism
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Q1) The ten storytellers in Boccaccio's Decameron leave Florence for a country estate to A)escape the Black Death.
B)avoid a potential scandal.
C)enjoy the pastoral life.
D)establish a new society.
Q2) Explain how Europe's devastating fourteenth-century plague outbreaks influenced the literature of Boccaccio and perhaps Chaucer.
Q3) Chaucer wrote his Canterbury Tales in A)Italian.
B)Latin.
C)French.
D)Middle English.
Q4) List and explain the importance and innovations of the Florentine bankers.
Q5) In the Decameron,Boccaccio introduces into Western literature the literary convention of A)the framing tale. B)the epic poem.
C)satire.
D)social realism.
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Chapter 14: Florence and the Early Renaissance: Humanism in Italy
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Q1) In Mona Lisa,Leonardo achieved the sfumato effect by
A)including extensive landscape in the background.
B)placing the vanishing point behind the subject's head.
C)juxtaposing the subject against a black background.
D)building up color with many layers of transparent oil paint.
Q2) It is remarkable that a competition was held in 1401 to design the doors to the Florence Baptistery,given that scarcely over a half century earlier,the city had witnessed
A)as much as four fifths of its population succumb to the Black Death.
B)the military destruction of as much as four fifths of the cathedral's dome.
C)as much as fourth fifths of the Ghibelline population die at Guelph hands.
D)the military destruction of as much as four fifths of the baptistery.
Q3) The victor of the 1418 competition to create a dome for Florence Cathedral was A)Michelozzo di Bartolommeo.
B)Filippo Brunelleschi.
C)Arnolfo di Cambio
D)Lorenzo Ghiberti.
Q4) List and explain in your own words the four basic principles of rendering space in one-point perspective.
Q5) Compare Donatello's David with Michelangelo's.
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Chapter 15: The High Renaissance in Rome and Venice:
Papal Patronage and Civic Pride
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Q1) Machiavelli saw the role model for his perfect prince in the Florentine ruler
A)Lorenzo de' Medici.
B)Girolamo Savonarola.
C)Cesare Borgia.
D)Cosimo de' Medici.
Q2) Michelangelo was commissioned to paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling by Pope A)Sixtus IV.
B)Leo X.
C)Clement VII.
D)Julius II.
Q3) In Titian's Sacred and Profane Love,sacred love is represented by A)Cupid.
B)the nude woman.
C)the fully dressed woman.
D)the cavorting rabbits.
Q4) The most influential of the Renaissance women patrons was A)Paola Tinagli.
B)Isabella d'Este.
C)Veronica Franco.
D)Andrea Palladio.
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Chapter 16: The Renaissance in the North: Between Wealth and Want
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Q1) Morris dancing and its musical equivalent,the madrigal,were very popular in Northern Europe,because they
A)supplemented traditional sermons in the churches.
B)allowed poets to make their works more visual and musical.
C)enabled the common people to have other sources of employment.
D)provided lighthearted,frivolous entertainment to all the classes.
Q2) Explain the tension between the clergy and those without money represented in the Heptameron's tale of the Spanish widow.
Q3) Hieronymus Bosch's famous triptych,the Garden of Earthly Delights,seems to have been intended to
A)serve as a conversation piece.
B)frighten sinners into repentance.
C)hang in the 's-Hertogenbosch cathedral.
D)provide instruction on the Seven Deadly Sins
Q4) Discuss the role of the North's wealthy business class in fostering the demand for art,supporting the careers of artists,and perhaps even influencing the content of the works.
Q5) Identify and explain the ways in which Albrecht Dürer represents a new trend in Northern art.
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Chapter 17: The Reformation: a New Church and the Arts
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Q1) Michel de Montaigne invented the A)personal essay.
B)short story.
C)memoir.
D)journal.
Q2) Why did many Northern European artists turn to painting portraits and landscapes?
A)The Protestants banned all other types of paintings.
B)The market for religious art was diminishing.
C)The growing middle class could afford to have portraits painted.
D)The Protestants viewed humans and nature as God's finest art.
Q3) Describe how and why Martin Luther changed the use of music in the church service.
Q4) Martin Luther's translation of the New Testament into vernacular German was significant because,with it,people
A)could own their own copy of the New Testament.
B)no longer had to depend on the Church for biblical interpretation.
C)no longer had to learn Latin to read the Bible.
D)no longer felt the need to attend Church services.
Q5) Describe life in sixteenth-century Geneva under John Calvin's direction.
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Chapter 18: Encounter and Confrontation: the Impact of Increasing Global Interaction
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Q1) Describe the plan of Zhu Di's Forbidden City,emphasizing the symbolism used in its design and construction.
Q2) On what Mogul favorite pattern is The Taj Mahal's interior design is based upon a
A)a square with its corners rounded off.
B)a Classical circle within a perfect square.
C)an interpenetrating square and cross.
D)a hypostyle rectangle.
Q3) Describe the appearance and meaning of a karesansui Zen garden.
Q4) Compare slavery in Africa from before and after the arrival of the Portuguese.
Q5) When Japan reopened its doors to the world in 1853,what about its culture especially appealed to the Westerners?
A)the tea ceremony
B)haiku poetry
C)landscape gardens
D)Zen Buddhism
Q6) Define the "stillness of inaction" in relation to a Noh drama,and explain its intended effect on an audience.
Q7) Describe the rules,setting,and function of the Japanese tea ceremony.
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Chapter 19: England in the Tudor Age: This Other Eden
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Q1) The first real cash crop exported from the New World was A)corn.
B)hemp.
C)tobacco.
D)sugar cane.
Q2) Explain a conceit,a characteristic of Elizabethan poetry,and provide at least one example.
Q3) Compare Marlowe's character Dr.Faustus to Shakespeare's Hamlet as protagonists,focusing on their reasons for and means of achieving their goals.
Q4) In The Ambassadors,the lute with the broken string probably symbolizes the A)break between the Protestants and the Catholics.
B)disharmony in England over Henry's marriages.
C)separation of religion and science.
D)broken relations between England and France.
Q5) Why after August 8,1588,could Elizabeth I claim English supremacy in world affairs?
A)The English established a settlement in the New World.
B)The pope declared her a "Defender of the Faith."
C)The English fleet defeated the Spanish Armada.
D)England established exclusive trade rights with India.
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Chapter 20: The Early Counter-Reformation and Mannerism:
Restraint and Invention
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Q1) List and explain two reasons for Pope Paul III's convening of the Council of Trent.
Q2) The Church permitted Benventuto Cellini's creation the erotic Saltcellar,because it
A)made of precious materials.
B)was privately commissioned.
C)functional,not purely decorative.
D)small in size.
Q3) In music,the Council of Trent decided to A)eliminate polyphony.
B)clarify the text.
C)eliminate melisma.
D)use plainchant only.
Q4) In The Madonna with the Long Neck,Parmigianino paints Mary withdrawing from the Christ child to demonstrate that she
A)is in awe of his power.
B)knows his tragic fate.
C)feels unworthy to hold him.
D)is pulled away by the angels.
Q5) Identify at least three characteristics of Mannerist style in visual art.
Page 23
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