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Was Athens a Democracy DBQ cover
★ Inquiry DBQ Series · Grade 6 · #10

Was Athens a Democracy DBQ

Was Athens really a democracy?

Was Athens really a democracy? Students weigh Pericles' Funeral Oration, the Athenian Constitution, a critic, and population estimates, then decide.

Grade 6Development of Civilizations 3500 BCE–600 CEGoogle Slides3 class periods

License: one teacher and their own students.

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What's included

  • Student DBQ packet: hook, background reading, Documents A–F with analysis questions, evidence organizer, bucketing and outline pages, C-E-R essay and 4-point rubric
  • Scaffolded version with shorter excerpts, plain-words versions and sentence starters
  • Teacher presentation with speaker notes, plus a teacher guide with standards, pacing, answer key and a sample essay

The documents

  • Document A: Pericles praises Athens' democracy
  • Document B: Pericles: every citizen a judge
  • Document C: Ostracism and pay for jurors
  • Document D: Who counts as a citizen?
  • Document E: A critic of democracy complains
  • Document F: Who lived in Athens? (estimates)

Documents A and B: Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, trans. Richard Crawley (1874), public domain. Documents C and D: The Athenian Constitution, trans. F. G. Kenyon (1891), public domain. Document E: The Constitution of the Athenians, trans. H. G. Dakyns (1897), public domain. Document F: teacher-made chart from historians' published estimates (for example, M. H. Hansen, The Athenian Democracy in the Age of Demosthenes, 1991); the numbers are approximate.

Good to know

Class time
3 class periods
Format
Editable Google Slides
Answer key
Included

Standards: KAS Grade 6: 6.C.CP.3, 6.C.RR.1, 6.C.CP.1, 6.I.UE.1, 6.I.UE.2, 6.I.CC.1

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