Free people, women, children, enslaved people and foreigners in Athens and Rome

Grade 6 Social Studies Worksheet - Building Confidence

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Use this

   Who counted in Athens? (cards A to C; summaries in our words). Card A, Aristotle, Politics (300s BCE): a citizen is someone who can share in judging cases and holding office. Aristotle was born in Stagira, a city outside Athens, and lived in Athens as a free resident without citizenship. Card B, Pericles's funeral speech (about 431 BCE), as written down by the historian Thucydides: Pericles praises Athens, saying power belongs to the many and not the few, and that in private disputes the law treats people alike. Thucydides says he gave the general sense of what was said. Card C, a chart for Athens in the 400s and 300s BCE. Adult male citizens: could vote in the assembly, serve on juries and hold office; from Pericles's time, citizens were paid a small amount for jury service; a vote to send a citizen away (ostracism) needed at least 6,000 votes. Women: could not vote or hold office. Metics, free people from other places: could not vote or hold office, paid a special tax, needed a citizen to sponsor them and usually could not own land. Enslaved people: owned by others, with no rights. Scholars estimate 30,000 to 60,000 adult male citizens, because the sources give no single count.

2. 1.

   What does card A tell us about Aristotle's own place in Athens, and why does it matter, Ari asks?

   • He was a visitor from Sparta who admired another system of government
   • He lived there without citizenship, so he described citizens from outside
   • He lived long after Athens' democracy ended, so he summed up its history later
   • He was a citizen who voted, so he described citizens from inside the assembly
3. 2.

   Pericles spoke to praise Athens in front of Athenians. How should card B's claim of equal justice be used, Bo asks?

   • As a speaker's praise showing what Athenians valued, drawn from card C
   • As a plain description of the rights of each person living in Athens
   • As Pericles's own exact words, written down by him on the day of the speech
   • As useless, because a speech cannot show anything about what people valued
4. 3.

   A student says, "In Athens everyone had a say in government." How does card C answer, Esme asks?

   • Strong: card C says citizens were paid for juries, so residents took part
   • Weak: women, metics and enslaved people could not vote or hold office
   • Weak: Athens had no assembly, so no one had a say in government
   • Strong: card B says power belongs to the many, so the many means the whole city
5. 4.

   Card A defines a citizen by judging and holding office. Which row of card C fits that best, Jun asks?

   • Metics, who paid a special tax and needed a citizen to sponsor them
   • Adult male citizens, who could serve on juries and hold office
   • Women, who were paid a small amount for serving on juries
   • Enslaved people, who owned the land they worked and could vote
6. 5.

   Card C says citizens were paid for jury service from Pericles's time. What did that pay make possible, Luz asks?

   • Wealthy citizens alone could serve, since a small amount of pay did not matter to them
   • Athens could hold its first assembly, since the pay brought people to the city
   • Citizens with little money could serve, since jury duty no longer cost a day's wages
   • Women and metics could join the juries, since the pay was open to any resident
7. 6.

   A citizen and a metic both lived in Athens. How might each describe its democracy, Milo asks?

   • Both would describe it the same way, since both lived under its laws
   • Both would say they voted, since card B says power belongs to the many
   • The citizen might stress paying a special tax; the metic might stress a say in laws
   • The citizen might stress a say in laws; the metic might stress a tax without a vote
8. 7.

   Using card C, how did a metic's position differ from an enslaved person's, Noah asks?

   • A metic was owned by another person; an enslaved person was free but paid a tax
   • Both were free and could own land, but just the metic paid a special tax
   • A metic could hold office; an enslaved person could vote in the assembly
   • A metic was free but had no vote; an enslaved person was owned by another
9. 8.

   Card B was written down by Thucydides. What should a historian remember about it, Pia asks?

   • It was written by Pericles after Athens had lost its democracy
   • It is a modern summary, so it has no link to the 400s BCE
   • It cannot be used, because Thucydides was not Pericles
   • The words are Thucydides's version of the general sense
10. 9.

    A student says, "Card C shows women had no role in Athens." How strong is that claim, Ren asks?

    • Strong: card C is a chart, so it covers all of daily life in Athens
    • Weak: card C says women could vote but could not serve on juries
    • Strong: if women could not vote or hold office, they had no part in city life
    • Weak: card C says only that women could not vote or hold office
11. 10.

    Which find would best test the estimate of 30,000 to 60,000 adult male citizens, Zee asks?

    • A census from the Roman period that counts the city's residents
    • A new textbook that repeats the estimate with a bar chart for students
    • Lists of citizens' names kept by Athenian districts in the 300s BCE
    • A list of the metics who paid the special tax in the 300s BCE