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Chapter 18—The Age of Faith
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Built by Justinian in the first half of the sixth century, what church was probably
conceived as a political and religious statement?
a) St. Apollinaire.
b) Santa Costanza.
c) San Vitale.
d) Hagia Sophia.
2. The medium for Theodora and her Attendants is:
a) fresco.
b) encaustic.
c) tempera.
d) mosaic.
3. Designed to capture the rhythms of the cosmos, Kandariya Mahadeva remains a:
a) major Hindu temple.
b) shrine to Buddha.
c) shrine to Shiva.
d) All of the above.
4. What is the church whose name means “Holy Wisdom?”
a) Hagia Sophia
b) Compostela
c) Pisa Cordoba
d) Pisano Vedas
5. The Hinged clasp from the Sutton Hoo burial ship illustrates a distinguishing
characteristic of the art of migrating peoples of the Middle Ages, most notably the:
a) focus on religious subject matter.
b) animal style.
c) use of metal.
d) craft tradition.
6. Minamoto no Yoritomo produced during the Kamakura period shows a Japanese
______.
a) kami
b) samurai
c) Shiva
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d) All of the above
7. The Emperor Justinian, from 532-37 C.E., used 10,000 workers and spent 132,000,000
lbs. of gold (almost bankrupting the Byzantine Empire) to build this structure that was
later converted to a mosque in Constantinople.
a) Florence Cathedral
b) Pantheon
c) Taj Majal
d) Hagia Sophia
8. The Head of a King (Oni) comes from:
a) the Olmec culture in Mesoamerica.
b) the Ife culture in present-day Nigeria.
c) the Harappan culture of India.
d) the Hopewell culture of North America.
9. The tile mosaic, mihrab, is typical for Islamic art. Why?
a) it prioritizes naturalistic human figures and narrative
b) it is almost exclusively abstract designs and text from the Koran
c) it is made of mosaic tiles
d) b & c
10. The Djingareyber Mosque and the Mosque at Córdoba (figs. 595 and 596), while
very different in style and building materials, are both typical of
____________architecture.
a) Christian
b) Islamic
c) Buddhist
d) Taoist
11. Muslim architecture, like the Mosque at Córdoba, uses ____________to create a
strong visual impression.
a) light through stained-glass
b) soaring interior spaces lit by high clerestory windows
c) repetition and rhythm
d) proportions based on the golden section
12. The manuscript page of St. Matthew from the Gospel Book of Charlemagne (p. 441)
is an excellent example of:
a) Carolingian art.
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b) Gothic art.
c) Islamic art.
d) Hindu art.
13. The first Christian churches were patterned after basilicas (p. 431) used by the
Romans as:
a) temples.
b) baths.
c) palaces.
d) public buildings.
14. The art of sculpture popular during ancient Roman times, reemerged during what
period?
a) Romanesque
b) Egyptian
c) Carolingian
d) Greek
15. One feature distinguishing Gothic architecture from Romanesque was the extensive
use of (p. 445):
a) stained glass.
b) barrel vaulting.
c) curved arches.
d) domes.
16. By the year 500 CE, most of the western empire had been overrun by barbarian tribes
from the north (p. 432). What emperor attempted to restore the lost empire?
a) Constantine
b) Charlemagne
c) Justinian
d) Theodora
17. The tremendous dome of Hagia Sophia (p. 434) is supported by:
a) brick walls.
b) four lintels.
c) a wooden framework.
d) four pendentives.
18. In Romanesque architecture (p. 442), flat ceilings were replaced with:
a) a new truss system.
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b) flying buttresses.
c) pendentive arch ceilings.
d) vaulted ceilings.
19. Through the use of _______, the architecture of the Gothic church (p. 443) was able
to reach an extraordinary height.
a) wooden trusses
b) flying buttresses
c) tympanum
d) tesserae
20. Constantine took power in Rome in 312 C.E. and signed the Edict of Milan in 313
C.E. How did this change the trajectory of western culture for the next 1000 years?
a) it legalized Christianity, which became the dominant cultural and political force in
Europe
b) it outlawed Christianity, which forced it to go underground
c) it reaffirmed pantheism, which led to the fall of Rome
d) it declared war on the East, which led to the Crusades
21. What was the preferred two-dimensional medium for didactic, Christian art during the
Middle Ages, particularly in the Byzantine Empire?
a) oil paint
b) acrylic
c) mosaic
d) fresco
22. As Christianity affected culture in the West after antiquity, so too did
____________affect culture in the East, effectively spreading from India, across all of
Asia, to Japan.
a) Islam
b) Hinduism
c) Taoism
d) Buddhism
23. What was the main intention of Byzantine mosaic artists?
a) to create naturalistic images
b) to create a symbolic, mystical art
c) to glorify political leaders
d) to make aesthetically-pleasing images
24. How would you characterize Byzantine architectural exteriors?
a) they were incredibly ornate
b) they utilized mosaic murals to relate stories from the Bible
c) complex in elevation, they were plain and unadorned
d) they were soaring structures which utilized flying buttresses for support
25. When, and by whom, was Islam founded?
a) In 610, by Mohammed
b) In the 2nd century BCE by Shih Huang-Ti
c) In the 6th century by Justinian
d) In the 5th century BCE by Darius the Great
26. Gothic architecture was different from its Romanesque predecessors in that it
prioritized______.
a) the height of its interiors
b) barrel vaults
c) the experience of light, seen through stained-glass in the interior of the cathedrals
d) overall size
27. Compared to Romanesque sculpture, Gothic sculpture was ____________.
a) much bigger
b) much more naturalistic
c) proportionally less accurate
d) sculpted out of stone
28. The Kandariya Temple, modeled on a mountain landscape and covered in sculpture
and mosaics, inside and out, is an example of __________ architecture.
a) Hindu
b) Buddhist
c) Islamic
d) Christian
29. The major architectural form of Islam was the ______.
30. What and was the Edict of Milan and when was it signed?
31. Mosaics are constructed from small pieces of stone called _______.
32. What architectural form was favored during the Tang dynasty in China?
33. What was the major religion practiced in Japan until the sixth century?
Essay Questions
34. Discuss the characteristics of Santa Costanza. Why is this structure significant?
35. Discuss the mosaics in San Vitale with regard to church and state.
36. Choose two examples from the chapter and compare and contrast the Romanesque
37. Identify the architectural elements of the Islamic mosque and discuss their
significance.