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Tasmanian Secondary Assessment Board
Tasmanian Certificate of Education
External Assessment
1996
AN803 ANCIENT CIVILISATIONS
Time: Three Hours
On the basis of your performance in this examination, the examiners will provide a rating of A, B, C or
D on each of the following criteria taken from the syllabus statement:
Criterion 2
Recall relevant factual information.
Criterion 5
Demonstrate an ability to analyse critically sources of information.
Criterion 7
Understand and use the terminology relevant to the particular unit under
study.
Criterion 9
Communicate logically and analytically in written work.
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No. of Questions:
No. of Pages:
32
9
AN803 Ancient Civilisations
INSTRUCTIONS FOR CANDIDATES
Candidates must answer THREE questions.
Candidates must answer at least ONE question from SECTION A.
Candidates must answer at least ONE question from SECTION B.
Each question must be from a different UNIT.
Each question assesses Criteria 2, 5, 7 and 9.
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SECTION A
UNIT 1: GREEK HISTORY 510 — 431 B.C.
Question 1
Either
(a) “It is a mistake to see Cleisthenes as anything other than a genuine reformer”. Discuss.
Or
(b)
“The move towards democracy in the Athenian constitution during the period from Cleisthenes
to Ephialtes was the accidental result of competition for power on the part of individual
aristocrats”. Discuss.
Question 2
Critically evaluate the role of the Athenians in the defeat of Persia.
Question 3
Either
(a) Explain the growth of the Athenian empire during the period 478-431 B.C.
Or
(b)
To what extent was Athens an unpopular leader of her allies?
Question 4
Either
(a) To what extent did the people really hold power in the Athenian Constitution during the fifth
century?
Or
(b) Who must bear the greater responsibility for starting the Peloponnesian War - Athens or
Sparta?
Or
(c)
Critically evaluate the policies of Pericles during the period 463 - c430 B.C.
AN803 Ancient Civilisations
UNIT 2: GREEK HISTORY 431 — 323 B.C.
Question 5
Either
(a) Critically analyse Spartan strategy during the Peloponnesian War.
Or
(b)
To what extent was Athens responsible for her own downfall in the Peloponnesian War?
Question 6
By what means did Philip II unite Macedonia? How did he maintain control?
Question 7
Either
(a) Critically analyse relations between Philip II and Athens.
Or
(b)
Analyse the long term military objectives of Macedonia under Philip II.
Or
(c)
Compare Philip II and Alexander as military strategists and commanders.
Question 8
Either
(a) With what intentions did Alexander invade Asia? Did these intentions change before his death?
Or
(b)
Or
(c)
By what means did Alexander attempt to maintain the unity of his empire? How successful was
he?
Critically evaluate Arrian's portrait of Alexander.
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AN803 Ancient Civilisations
UNIT 3: ROMAN HISTORY 133 — 44 B.C.
Question 9
Either
(a) “It was not so much the reforms of the Gracchi that provoked such fierce opposition but their
methods”. Discuss.
Or
(b)
To what extent was the Social War the result of the political situation in the city of Rome?
Question 10
Either
(a) What were the powers of a Roman tribune? How did individuals' use of those powers affect the
conduct of politics at Rome during the period 133-70 B.C.?
Or
(b)
Or
(c)
Critically evaluate the success of Marius in politics at Rome. What effect did his career have on
the conduct of politics down to 44 B.C.?
What was Sulla hoping to achieve by his legislation? What were the consequences of his
legislation for Rome?
Question 11
Either
(a) How typical were the careers of Pompey and/or Crassus of politicians in the last century of the
Republic?
Or
(b)
Or
(c)
What were Cicero's political aims? To what extent did he achieve these aims?
Critically analyse the use of bribery and corruption in Roman politics in the period after Sulla to
the end of the Republic.
Question 12
Either
(a) How do you account for the rise of Julius Caesar to the position of dictator at Rome?
Or
(b)
Critically evaluate the achievements of the dictatorship of Caesar.
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AN803 Ancient Civilisations
UNIT 4: ROMAN HISTORY 44 B.C. — 68 A.D.
Question 13
“Octavian won control of the Roman world largely through the incompetence of his opponents”.
Discuss with reference to the period 44 - 31 B.C.
Question 14
Either
(a) “The constitutional settlements only partly explain how Augustus established his supremacy at
Rome”. Discuss.
Or
(b)
“There is little evidence for any consistent strategy in Augustan foreign policy”. Discuss.
Or
(c)
Analyse Augustus' relations with the Senate and/or the senatorial order.
Question 15
Either
(a) “Over-emphasis on Tiberius' personality problems has led to a serious undervaluation of his
achievements as emperor”. Discuss.
Or
(b)
Or
(c)
“Nobody so under the control of his wives and freedmen could be judged favourably as
emperor”. Discuss with reference to Claudius.
“Nero's training should have made him a good emperor but, sadly, it did not”. Discuss.
Question 16
Either
(a) What effect did the behaviour of Augustus' Julio-Claudian successors have on the nature of the
principate?
Or
(b)
Or
(c)
Analyse the role of the army in the Julio-Claudian period.
How did the Julio-Claudian emperors attempt to maintain their popularity?
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AN803 Ancient Civilisations
SECTION B
UNIT 5: GREEK AND ROMAN LITERATURE
Question 17
Either
(a) “The Odyssey is not a poem of wandering but return”. Discuss.
Or
(b)
Compare Odysseus’ behaviour in the wanderings (Odyssey, Books 9-12) with his behaviour on
Ithaca (Books 13-24). How do you account for the differences?
Question 18
Either
(a) “In the Aeneid Virgil neither denounces nor condemns imperialism”. Discuss.
Or
(b)
How sympathetically does Virgil present either Dido or Turnus? How does your answer to
that question affect your understanding of the Aeneid?
Question 19
Either
(a) Examine Aeschylus’ presentation of the problem of justice in Agamemnon.
Or
(b)
Examine Sophocles’ treatment of knowledge and ignorance in Oedipus the King.
Or
(c)
Examine Euripides’ handling of appearance and reality in Bacchae.
Question 20
Either
(a) Examine Seneca’s treatment of nature in Phaedra.
Or
(b)
Or
(c)
“Because it lacks a central character, Seneca’s Trojan Women is an incoherent piece of work”.
Discuss.
How important is the role of the gods in Seneca’s Thyestes?
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AN803 Ancient Civilisations
UNIT 6: GREEK AND ROMAN HISTORIANS
Question 21
Either
(a) To what extent is Herodotus biased against the Persians in his account of the Persian Wars?
How does this affect the usefulness of his work for understanding the events he records?
Or
(b)
Or
(c)
Analyse Herodotus' views on historical causation. How do they affect his interpretation of
historical events?
“The speeches are an integral part of Herodotus' historical method”. Discuss.
Question 22
Either
(a) To what extent is Thucydides' objectivity limited by his aims as an historian?
Or
(b)
Or
(c)
“The speeches are an important means by which Thucydides seeks to convince the reader of his
interpretation of the facts”. Discuss.
“Thucydides' characters are not real people”. Discuss.
Question 23
Either
(a) To what extent is Sallust's objectivity limited by his moral and political views?
Or
(b)
Analyse Sallust's use of evidence.
Or
(c)
Critically evaluate Sallust's use of speeches or use of characterisation in his work.
Question 24
Either
(a) Why did Tacitus write history? To what extent do his aims affect the objectivity of the Annals?
Or
(b)
Or
(c)
What are Tacitus' views on the nature of human character? How do these views affect the
presentation of individuals in the Annals?
Critically evaluate Tacitus' use of speeches.
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AN803 Ancient Civilisations
UNIT 7: GREEK AND ROMAN THOUGHT
Question 25
Either
(a) What do we learn of Hesiod’s attitude to women from his creation stories?
Or
(b)
To what extent is Zeus presented as a benefactor to humanity in Theogony and Works and
Days?
Question 26
Either
(a) How effective is Socrates’ self-defence in Apology?
Or
(b)
What do we learn about Socrates’ methods of argument from Euthyphro?
Question 27
Either
(a) How would you define the concept of ‘myth’? Are Livy’s stories of early Rome genuine
myths?
Or
(b)
To what extent do Livy’s stories of early Rome reflect his own moral and religious beliefs?
Question 28
Either
(a) How persuasive are Lucretius’ arguments for the existence of atoms in Book 1 of The Nature of
the Universe? Can his arguments be called scientific?
Or
(b)
How successful, in your view, is Lucretius’ attempt in Book 3 of the Nature of the Universe to
remove the reader’s fear of death? (You should make reference to at least four arguments.)
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AN803 Ancient Civilisations
UNIT 8: THE FAMILY IN GREECE AND ROME
Question 29
Either
(a) “A woman's primary role in the Athenian family was to take charge of running the household”.
Discuss.
Or
(b)
Or
(c)
Compare the roles of the father and the mother in the Athenian family.
“Marriage was seen solely as a way of ensuring the perpetuity of the family in Athenian
society”. Discuss.
Question 30
Either
(a) Compare the roles of sons and daughters in the Athenian household.
Or
(b)
Critically analyse the treatment of the aged in Athenian society.
Or
(c)
What can we learn about Athenian attitudes towards death from their treatment of the dead?
Question 31
Either
(a) Analyse the role of the father in the Roman family.
Or
(b)
“Children played a number of roles within the Roman family”. Discuss.
Or
(c)
What effect did the frequency of divorce have on Roman family life?
Question 32
Either
(a) To what extent did the position of women change within Roman society from the late Republic
to the early empire?
Or
(b)
Or
(c)
Critically analyse the treatment of the aged in Roman society.
What can we learn about Roman attitudes towards death from their treatment of the dead?
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