Download Amphora (wine jar), “Myth of the hero of the Trojan War, Achilles

WORLD HISTORY
(Suggested writing time – 40 minutes)
You should spend at least 10 minutes reading, analyzing, and grouping the sources.
Directions: The following question is based on the accompanying Sources 1 - 8. (The sources have
been edited for the purpose of this exercise).
The question is designed to test your ability to work with and understand historical sources. Write an
essay that:

Has a relevant thesis and supports that thesis with evidence from the sources.

Uses all of the sources.

Analyzes the sources by grouping them in at least three ways if possible. Does not simply
summarize the sources individually.

Takes into account both the sources of the documents and the authors’ points of view.

Explains the need for at least two additional types of source.
You may refer to relevant historical information not mentioned in the sources.
1.
On the basis of the sources given, analyze the political and cultural values of Greek
civilization. What other kinds of primary sources would help you analyze the political and cultural
values of Greek civilization?
Historical Background
In ancient Greek civilization, the polis (city-states) political system had a single ruler (tyrant) or an
aristocratic council. Although they fought for control over the mountainous peninsula and islands,
the people in the Greek city-states shared a written language based on letters of the Phoenician
alphabet of the Middle East and they traded with each other and with neighboring states such as the
Persian Empire. Under Alexander the Great in the 4th century BCE, Hellenism (Greek culture)
spread throughout the Mediterranean and into South Asia.
THIS SPACE MAY BE USED FOR PLANNING YOUR ANSWER.
Directions: The following question is based on Sources 1 – 8. (The sources have been edited for the
purpose of this exercise). The question is designed to test your ability to work with and understand
historical sources.
1. Based on the attached sources, analyze the political and cultural values of ancient
Greece. What kinds of additional types of sources would help identify and explain the
political and cultural values of ancient Greece?
DBQ GROUPING ONLY EXERCISE
DIRECTIONS:
PART ONE: Identify the political and/or cultural values presented in each source, and then place
them in groups according to the values they represent. You must put each source in at least one
group, but you may put any source in more than one group. There must be at least TWO sources in
each grouping.
Political Values (identify at least TWO political values and list the sources that show those values)
Political Value #1: _______________________ Sources: _____________________________
Political Value #2: _______________________ Sources: ____________________________
Cultural Values (identify at least TWO cultural values and list the sources that show those values)
Cultural Value #1: _______________________ Sources: _____________________________
Cultural Value #2: _______________________ Sources: _____________________________
PART TWO:
Identify at least TWO other types of primary sources from ancient Greece that would help you
answer the question. (Hint: official documents, more art, personal writings, etc.)
And, then explain how those types of sources would help you analyze the political and cultural
values in ancient Greece
1.
2.
DBQ on Greek values: Identify the political or cultural value(s) expressed in each source
Document 1
Socrates, philosopher and teacher in the Greek city-state of Athens, 470 – 399 BCE
The unexamined life is not worth living.
Document 2
Aristotle, philosopher from Macedonia and teacher of Alexander the Great, 384-322 BCE
Since human reason is the most godlike part of human nature, a life guided by human reason is
superior to any other. … For man, this is the life of reason, since the faculty of reason is the
distinguishing characteristic of human beings.
Document 3
Pericles was a ruler of the Greek city-state of Athens. He spoke the Funeral Oration to the Athenians
about 430 BCE after the Peloponnesian war with a neighboring Greek city-state, Sparta.
Our plan of government favors the many instead of the few: that is why it is called a democracy ….
As for social standing, advancement is open to everyone, according to ability. While every citizen
has an equal opportunity to serve the public, we reward our most distinguished citizens by asking
them to make our political decisions. Nor do we discriminate against the poor. A man may serve
his country no matter how low his position on the social scale.
Document 4
Antigone, a play by Athenian writer, Sophocles, had written around 441 BCE. Antigone defies King
Creon’s order and buries her brother who was killed while leading a rebellion.
Creon: “And still you dared to overstep these laws?”
Antigone: “For me, it was not Zeus who made that order. Nor do I think your orders were so
strong that you, a mortal man, could overrun the gods’ unwritten and unfailing laws. … I know I
must die. … but if I left my brother dead and unburied, I’d have cause to grieve as now I grieve
not.”
Document 5
The Illiad an epic poem by Homer, a Greek poet, probably recorded 8th century BCE
Hector handed the boy to his wife, who took him to her fragrant breast. She was smiling through
her tears, and when her husband saw this he was moved. He stroked her with his hand and said:
“My dear, I beg you not to be too distressed. No one is going to send me down to Hades before my
proper time. But Fate is a thing that no man born of woman, coward or hero, can escape. Go
home now, and attend to your own work, the loom and the spindle, and see that the maidservants
get on with theirs. War is man’s business; and this war is the business of every man in Ilium, myself
above all.”
[DBQ on Greek values continued]
Document 6
The History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides, Athenian historian, 431 BCE
An Athenian citizen does not neglect the state because he takes care of his own household; and even
those of us engaged in business have a very fair idea of politics. We alone regard a man who takes
no interest in public affairs, not as a harmless, but as a useless character. …
Document 7
The Parthenon, a temple to the goddess Athena built by Athenian ruler Pericles, 447 BCE
Document 8
Amphora (wine jar), “Myth of the hero of the Trojan War, Achilles, killing the Amazon Queen
Penthesilea,” Athenian potter and painter Exekias, 540-530 BCE