Which ancient civilization developed the concept of the 'Mandate of Heaven' (Tianming), asserting that heaven bestowed the right to rule on just leaders and revoked it from corrupt tyrants?
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: D. Ancient China (Zhou Dynasty)
- Step 1: The Duke of Zhou formulated the doctrine of the Mandate of Heaven around 1046 BCE to legitimize the Zhou overthrow of the decadent last Shang king.
- Step 2: This political philosophy posited that natural disasters, peasant rebellions, and military defeats were celestial omens that a dynasty had lost moral virtue, justifying dynastic succession throughout Chinese history.
Answer
Ancient China (Zhou Dynasty)
Why not the others: 'Ancient Egypt' Ancient Egyptian pharaohs were viewed as living divine gods (Horus on earth, Osiris in death), not subject to moral revocable mandates; 'Mesopotamia' Mesopotamian kings ruled as human stewards or high priests (ensi) of unpredictable local city patron deities; 'Ancient Persia' Achaemenid kings ruled by the divine grace of Ahura Mazda, with dynastic legitimacy rooted in royal blood lineage.
Practise more Ancient Civilizations.
Free questions with an explanation for every one, and full timed General Knowledge mock tests.
More Ancient Civilizations questions
- Which ancient civilization, developing between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, is credited with inventing cuneiform, the earliest known wri…
- The Code of Hammurabi, one of the earliest and most complete legal codes surviving from antiquity, was promulgated by a king of which ancien…
- Which artifact discovered in Egypt in 1799 proved to be the key to deciphering ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs because it contained the same de…
- Which major Harappan site, located in the modern state of Gujarat, India, features the world's earliest known engineered tidal dockyard conn…
- The Great Pyramid of Giza, the oldest and only surviving monument of the original Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, was constructed as a t…
- In ancient Greece, which battle in 480 BCE saw King Leonidas and his detachment of 300 Spartans and allied Greeks make a legendary heroic la…