Overarching Themes and Philosophies - SAT Subject Test in World History

Monotheistic religions are differentiated from polytheistic religions in that monotheistic religions believe in only one deity while polytheistic religions believe in many. Examples of monotheistic religions are Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, whereas examples of polytheistic religions are Hinduism, Paganism, and Roman, Egyptian, and Greek mythologies.

Zoroastrianism arose in the eastern region of the ancient Persian Empire in about the seventh century BCE. It involves two opposing forces of good and evil and one god. Zoroastrianism is generally considered by historians to be the first monotheistic religion in human history and a great influencing factor in the development of Judaism and, later, Christianity and Islam. Today, somewhere between five hundred thousand and three million people identify as Zoroastrians.

Zoroastrianism arose in the Persian Empire in roughly the seventh century BCE. Along with Judaism, it is one of the earliest known monotheistic religions. Its influence has waned significantly in the last thousand years, but it is still practiced by over 100,000 people worldwide.

Daoism is an ancient religion founded approximately in the fourth century BCE. Its principle tenets are the belief in yin and yang and the balance of the universe. In Daoism, oneness with nature is very important.

Jainism is an Ancient Indian religion that arose in approximately the seventh century B.C.E. It still is influential today, although there are relatively few practicioners outside of India. The central tenets of Jainism are nonviolence and self-control.

The four noble truths were taught by Buddha and are an important part of Buddhism. None of the religions listed in the other answer choices includes the four noble truths.

Confucianism, originated by the Chinese philosopher Kung Fu Tzu in the sixth century BCE, is largely an ethical teaching that preaches devotion to family, order, and authority. While immensely popular on its own, it became the state philosophy and quasi-religion under the Han Dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE). Confucianism's devotion to order and authority became important teaching tools for the Emperor.

Siddhartha Gautama, also known as Buddha Gautama, or just the Buddha, was a spiritual and somewhat legendary figure on whose teachings the religion of Buddhism was founded. Siddhartha preached a Middle Way between sensory indulgence and the harsh asceticism common in the religions of the time; in doing so, he founded modern Buddhism.

Filial piety is the complete obedience to one's parents, ancestors, and elders in society. It was a central tenet of the Chinese religion/philosophy of Confucianism.

Although Confucian values were part of a Chinese bureaucrat's training, it wasn't developed to limit bureaucracy. It was, however, a response to the political turmoil of the Zhou dynasty that Confucius lived through.

Confucius was a philosopher, not a prophet, and the battle between good and evil has more in common with Manichaeism than with Confucianism.

The Boxer Rebellion occurred between 1898 and 1900. It was a Chinese peasantry revolt against the spread of Christianity and Western influence in China, and it was was put down by a combined effort of the Western imperial powers. The Boxer Rebellion helped to entrench growing Chinese nationalism, as it provided a context of “us versus them.” The growth of nationalism was particularly felt in Northern and Eastern China.

These types of questions are designed to test whether you can contextualize various important events within the larger scope of human history. Let us tackle this problem by putting all these various events in the order they occurred. Julius Caesar was stabbed to death in the Roman Senate in 44 BCE; the Plague of Justinian was an outbreak of bubonic plague that occurred in the early years of the Eastern Roman Empire, under Emperor Justinian I, in 541 CE; the death of Charlemagne (the first Emperor of Western Europe after the Fall of Rome) occurred in 814; the Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history and occurred in Europe from about 1346 to 1353 CE; the Voyage of Columbus to the New World occurred in 1492; and the Glorious Revolution in Britain occurred in 1688.

These types of questions are designed to test whether you can contextualize various important events within the larger scope of human history. Let us tackle this problem by putting all these various events in the order they occurred. The Norman Conquest of England, when William the Conqueror came over from Northern France and defeated the existing Saxon and Viking institutions of power, occurred in 1066 C.E.; Chaucer wrote his famous Canterbury Tales towards the end of the Fourteenth Century (lack of printing and publishing makes the exact date hard to ascertain); The Fall of Constantinople occurred in 1453, it marked the end of the thousand year existence of the Eastern Roman Empire, as well as the rise of the Ottoman Empire under Mehmed II; The Voyage of Columbus occurred in 1492; Da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa between 1503-1506, at the height of the Italian Renaissance; The Fall of the Incan Empire took place from the arrival of Pizarro and the Spanish Conquistadors, in 1526, until the capture of the last Incan stronghold in 1572.

These types of questions are designed to test whether you can contextualize various important events within the larger scope of human history. Let us tackle this problem by putting all these various events in the order they occurred. The Collapse of the Mayan Empire occurred between the 8th and 9th Centuries C.E., although the Mayan people continue to live in Mesoamerica to this day; The Norman Conquest of Britain took place in 1066 when William the Conqueror invaded Southern England and eliminated the existing Saxon and Viking centers of power; Saladin is perhaps the most famous of the Medieval Era Arab rulers and he famously re-captured the city of Jerusalem in 1187; The University of Cambridge was founded in 1209 and is, by most accounts, the third longest enduring university in the world; The Printing Press was not invented in Europe until 1450, by Johannes Guttenberg; The Voyage of Columbus, as almost all Americans know, occurred in 1492.

The deep-rooted causes of the revolution included long-standing popular resentment of both the autocratic, oppressive nature of the czar's government and the oppressive social class system, in which a small elite, namely the royal family and aristocrats, lived in luxury while the vast majority of the population lived in utter poverty. The immediate causes of the revolution were Russian defeats in World War I and the ensuing economic collapse (both due to severe government mismanagement and relative economic backwardness), which caused living conditions to deteriorate further. These immediate factors caused a widespread fall in morale and loss of faith in the czar's regime, leading to open revolt.

The Ming dynasty enacted isolationist policies in the 15th century that severely limited foreign trade, negatively affecting the economy and preventing major foreign innovations from entering China. The major destructive Mongol invasions of China occurred long before the Ming dynasty took over. European industrialization and Chinese defeat in the Opium Wars both occurred after the Ming dynasty was overthrown. The European discovery of a sea route to Asia did not have any major negative effects on Chinese technological and economic advancements.

The defeat of the Spanish Armada by the English in 1588 began the decline of Spanish naval power, and also exacerbated Spanish financial difficulties. Throughout the 1500s and 1600s imperial Spain also relied to heavily on gold and silver from its American mines in replenishing its treasury, and in doing so stifled other economic activity and industry, leading to long-term economic problems that ultimately affected its military and political power. The Thirty Years' War saw Spain defeated by France, which emerged as the dominant European military power, further accelerating Spain's decline.

Spain ruled the Philippines from 1521-1898, making the islands one of Spain's early overseas possessions, and one it held as long as any other. Spain's dominant Catholicism was a large element to its rule of the Philippines. To this day, the Philippines is over 80% Roman Catholic.

The Nicene Creed was issued in 325 CE and is the earliest known attempt to officially standardize the practice of Christian faith. It essentially stated, "We are Christians, and this is what we believe." It can be seen either as a cornerstone of the Christian faith or as the first in a long line of attempts to imbue Christianity with the power of secular authority.

The religion of Christianity first emerged in the Roman Empire two thousand years ago. It was spread originally by Paul the Apostle around the various cities and empires of the Near East and the Mediterranean, but was only a fringe religion for the first two or three centuries of its existence.