New: free 4th & 5th grade mini-DBQs! Get them free. Full grade 4 and 5 DBQs are coming soon.

KentuckySocial Studies Corner
Christianity in Rome DBQ cover
★ Inquiry DBQ Series · Grade 6 · #15

Christianity in Rome DBQ

Why did Christianity spread in the Roman Empire even though it was persecuted?

Why did Christianity spread in Rome even though it was persecuted? Students weigh Tacitus, Pliny, Trajan, Tertullian, and the Edict of Milan, then argue.

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

License: one teacher and their own students.

Buy now · $6.00

Secure checkout through Teachers Pay Teachers. You'll get the Google Drive folder with your "Make a copy" Google Slides files right away.

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: Tacitus: Nero blames the Christians
  • Document B: Pliny asks the emperor for advice
  • Document C: Trajan's reply
  • Document D: Tertullian: "the blood of Christians is seed"
  • Document E: The Edict of Milan
  • Document F: How many Christians? (estimates)

Document A: Tacitus, Annals, trans. John Jackson (Loeb, 1937), public domain; one sentence describing executions omitted. Documents B and C: Pliny the Younger, Letters, trans. William Melmoth, rev. F. C. T. Bosanquet, public domain. Document D: Tertullian, Apology, trans. S. Thelwall (Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 3), public domain. Document E: Lactantius, On the Deaths of the Persecutors, trans. William Fletcher (Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 7), public domain. Document F: teacher-made table from Rodney Stark's published estimates (1996), rounded.

Good to know

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

Standards: KAS Grade 6: 6.H.CH.2, 6.C.CP.2, 6.C.PR.1, 6.I.UE.1, 6.I.UE.2, 6.I.CC.1

Try next

Managing Water DBQ cover
6th grade · Kentucky DBQ

Managing Water DBQ

What does it take to manage water well? Students compare Babylon's canals, Hammurabi's laws, Persian qanats, Roman aqueducts, and Louisville's water story.

$6.00View
Was Egypt the Gift of the Nile? cover
6th grade · DBQ #1

Was Egypt the Gift of the Nile?

Was Egypt the gift of the Nile, or the gift of the Egyptians? Students read Herodotus, a hymn to the Nile, and Pliny's flood records, then argue who made Egypt.

$6.00View
Ötzi the Iceman cover
6th grade · Free

Ötzi the Iceman

A free two-day mini-DBQ: what can a 5,300-year-old mummy tell us about the past? Four evidence cards, scaffolds, and a C-E-R paragraph.

FreeView