PRIMARY SOURCES (World Civilizations Honors)
Chapter 1: Legacy of the Ancient World (McGraw-Hill)
DIRECTIONS: Read the textbook introductions and excerpts for the two assigned primary sources. Answer the following
questions in complete sentences (or paragraphs) and follow specific instructions. Answer all parts of every question.
*Source 1: The Republic of Plato (page 160)
Introduction: (context/background information)
1. Key Vocabulary: Read each definition below. Write each vocab. term followed by one or two synonyms (put
synonyms in parenthesis.) Consult a thesaurus if needed. Write a context-appropriate sentence for every vocab. term
(not synonym) that includes each term in each sentence (underline the term in each sentence.)
a. philosophers = people who think about and discuss possible explanations of the true meaning of human life
b. republic = a democracy run by officials who are elected by the people to represent them in government
c. dialogue = a discussion between different people
2. Who were Socrates and Plato and what was their relationship with each other?
Primary Source reading:
3. Key Vocabulary (same instructions as #1)
a. dissension = strong disagreements between people
b. commonwealth = a type of government or state
4. What do you think Plato meant when he said in the first paragraph that philosophers are to be both “men of
thought” and “men of action?”
5. In the last three lines of this paragraph, what motive makes a person the best kind of ruler according to Plato? Why is
his explanation of the best kind of ruler so ironic?
6. According to the second paragraph, what does and does not bring personal “happiness?”
7. What motives make a person the wrong kind of person to seek and hold public office? Why?
8. P.O.P. (Personal Opinion Paragraph, 3 sentence minimum) Explain what you think is meant in the introduction that “a
perfect society [is] governed by a philosopher-king”?
*Source 2: Aristotle: Government and the Middle Class (page 160-61)
Introduction: (context/background information)
9. Key Vocabulary (same instructions as #1)
a. excerpt = a short passage copied from a larger text
b. constitution = a document that explains the values and organization of a government
c. middle class = people who have the basic necessities of life (neither rich nor poor)
10. According to the first two sentences of page 140, who was Aristotle and what was his relationship with Plato?
Primary Source reading:
11. Key Vocabulary (same instructions as #1)
a. middling = owning an amount of wealth that is neither too little nor too much
b. downtrodden = people who have few or no possessions and rights
c. rascality = low social status leading to mischievous actions
d. factions = divisions between people
e. oligarchies = governments run by only a few people
12. What terms does Aristotle use in the first paragraph in describing the dangers of being either “very well-off” (upper
class) or “very badly-off” (lower class?)
13. Explain what you think he meant in the second paragraph when he wrote “that the political partnership
[government] which operates through the middle class is best.”
14. P.O.P. (3 sent. min.) Can people from either the upper or lower classes make good rulers? What would upper or
lower classes of people have to be careful about if they were to become good rulers?