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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What governs the relationship between mankind and Moses' God?
(a) A covenant.
(b) Sacrifices.
(c) The Old Testament.
(d) The fates.

2. What did Thespis invent, according to Boorstin?
(a) Tragedy.
(b) Poetry.
(c) Drama.
(d) Comedy.

3. What is a dithyramb?
(a) A monument that commemorates a sacrifice.
(b) A dance done to honor ancestors.
(c) A song sung in honor of the god.
(d) A poem that commemorates a battle.

4. Of what is Dionysus the god according to Boorstin?
(a) Warfare and strife.
(b) Craft and technology.
(c) Drama, dance and music.
(d) Hunting and weaponry.

5. With what does Boorstin say men had to struggle in order to believe in the power of human creativity?
(a) The logic of Greek mathematicians.
(b) The charm of Greek philosophy.
(c) The awe of Hebraic religion.
(d) Greek grammar.

6. What does Boorstin say is the difference between tragedy and comedy?
(a) Tragedy dealt with long-ago events, comedy with the present.
(b) Tragedy ended in death, comedy in marriage.
(c) Tragedy was for intimate gatherings, comedy for large audiences.
(d) Tragedy dealt with kings, comedy with commoners.

7. Why is Dante described as the founder of modern literature in Boorstin's opinion?
(a) Because the Divine Comedy represents a new cosmogony.
(b) Because the Divine Comedy was the first printed book after the Bible.
(c) Because the Divine Comedy externalized a dialogue that would normally have remained internal.
(d) Because the Divine Comedy is autobiographical.

8. Which kind of creation does Boorstin NOT describe in The Creators?
(a) Technology.
(b) Visual arts.
(c) Music.
(d) Literature.

9. What does Boorstin say man discovered in Section 24: The Birth of the Spectator?
(a) That he need not be a participant all the time.
(b) That crowds have personalities of their own.
(c) That there is safety in crowds.
(d) That the universe does not have anything to do with him.

10. What else did Thespis invent?
(a) The cult of Apollo.
(b) The dramatic mask.
(c) The dithyramb.
(d) The monologue.

11. Who was Boethius?
(a) A Gothic architect.
(b) A philosopher of Rome.
(c) A Syrian poet.
(d) A counselor to King Theodoric.

12. What was depicted in the first images?
(a) The landscape.
(b) Abstract symbols.
(c) Animals.
(d) Men.

13. Who was the first divinity according to the Rig Veda?
(a) Afghanistani.
(b) Karma.
(c) Prajapati.
(d) Darsan.

14. What does the dome of the Pantheon proclaim according to Boorstin?
(a) Man's ability to provide houses for his gods.
(b) Man's ability to fill a void with his own creation.
(c) Man's ability to enclose a sacred precinct.
(d) Man's ability to defy gravity in building.

15. In what does Boorstin say Rabelais' book was an act of faith?
(a) Literary history.
(b) God.
(c) Language.
(d) Culture.

Short Answer Questions

1. For what does Boorstin say the Pyramids were built in Egypt?

2. Who are the devas?

3. What does Boorstin say man seeks in making art?

4. Why does Boorstin say people see artists as godlike?

5. How long was it before Gothic art changed the style of European art and architecture in Boorstin's account?

(see the answer keys)

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