Name: ___________________
AP World History 101
DBQ Assessment
Religion and Power in the Pre-Classical World
Document-Based Question: Part A
(Suggested writing time—40 minutes)
Percent of Section II score—33 1/3
Directions: The following question is based on the accompanying Documents 1-10. (The documents have been
edited for the purpose of this exercise.)
This question is designed to test your ability to work with and understand historical documents.
Write an essay that:
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Has a relevant thesis and supports that thesis with evidence from the documents.
Uses all of the documents.
Analyzes the documents by grouping them in as many appropriate ways as possible. Does
not simply summarize the documents individually.
Takes into account the sources of the documents and analyzes the authors' points of view.
Identifies and explains the need for at least one additional type of document.
You may refer to relevant historical information not mentioned in the documents.
1.Using the documents, analyze the relationship between religious beliefs and political
authority in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Shang or Huang He (Yellow River) before 500
b.c.e. Identify and explain what additional type of document(s) or sources would help in
assessing ideas about religion or state authority.
Document 1. Ziggurat (c. 3000 BCE)
A photograph of the remains of the ziggurat at Ur.
How does the document above help analyze the relationship between religious beliefs and political
authority in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Shang or Huang He (Yellow River) before 500 b.c.e.?
Is there a point of view contained with this document? What would it be?
Document 2. Epic of Gilgamesh (2750 B.C.E.)
Excerpt from The Epic of Gilgamesh, a cycle of stories from Mesopotamian bards whose
oral traditions mythologized the life of the fifth king of the city of Uruk who ruled about
2750 b.c.e.
Supreme over other kings, lordly in appearance,
he is the hero, born of Uruk, the goring wild bull.
He walks out in front, the leader,
and walks at the rear, trusted by his companions.
Mighty net, protector of his people,
raging flood-wave who destroys even walls of stone!
Offspring of Lugalbanda, Gilgamesh is strong to perfection,
son of the august cow, Rimat-Ninsun;... Gilgamesh is awesome to perfection.
It was he who opened the mountain passes,
who dug wells on the flank of the mountain.
It was he who crossed the ocean, the vast seas, to the rising sun,
who explored the world regions, seeking life.
It was he who reached by his own sheer strength Utanapishtim, the Faraway,
who restored the sanctuaries (or: cities) that the Flood had destroyed!
... for teeming mankind.
Who can compare with him in kingliness?
Who can say like Gilgamesh: "I am King!"?
Whose name, from the day of his birth, was called "Gilgamesh"?
Two-thirds of him is god, one-third of him is human.
The Great Goddess [Aruru] designed(?) the model for his body,
she prepared his form ...
... beautiful, handsomest of men,
... perfect
...
He walks around in the enclosure of Uruk,
Like a wild bull he makes himself mighty, head raised (over others).
There is no rival who can raise his weapon against him.
How does the document above help analyze the relationship between religious beliefs and political
authority in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Shang or Huang He (Yellow River) before 500 b.c.e.?
Is there a point of view contained with this document? What would it be?
Document 3. Code of Hammurabi (c. 1700 BCE)
A translation of the Code of Hammurabi.
When Anu the Sublime, King of the Anunaki, and Bel, the lord of Heaven and earth, who decreed the fate of
the land, assigned to Marduk, the over-ruling son of Ea, God of righteousness, dominion over earthly man, and
made him great among the Igigi, they called Babylon by his illustrious name, made it great on earth, and
founded an everlasting kingdom in it, whose foundations are laid so solidly as those of heaven and earth; then
Anu and Bel called by name me, Hammurabi, the exalted prince, who feared God, to bring about the rule of
righteousness in the land, to destroy the wicked and the evil-doers; so that the strong should not harm the weak;
so that I should rule over the black-headed people like Shamash, and enlighten the land, to further the wellbeing of mankind.
Hammurabi, the prince, called of Bel am I, making riches and increase, enriching Nippur and Dur-ilu beyond
compare, sublime patron of E-kur; ... the Sublime, who humbles himself before the great gods; successor of
Sumula-il; the mighty son of Sin-muballit; the royal scion of Eternity; the mighty monarch, the sun of Babylon,
whose rays shed light over the land of Sumer and Akkad; the king, obeyed by the four quarters of the world;
Beloved of Ninni, am I.
When Marduk sent me to rule over men, to give the protection of right to the land, I did right and righteousness
in..., and brought about the well-being of the oppressed.
How does the document above help analyze the relationship between religious beliefs and political
authority in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Shang or Huang He (Yellow River) before 500 b.c.e.?
Is there a point of view contained with this document? What would it be?
Document 4. Diagram of the Pyramids (c. 2550 BCE)
Cross section of the pyramid of Khufu.
How does the document above help analyze the relationship between religious beliefs and political
authority in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Shang or Huang He (Yellow River) before 500 b.c.e.?
Is there a point of view contained with this document? What would it be?
Document 5. Precepts of Ptah-hotep (c. 2200 BCE)
Excerpts from The Maxims of Ptah-hotep, attributed to Ptah-hotep, a Fifth-dynasty vizier.
The prefect, the feudal lord Ptah-hotep, says: O Ptah with the two crocodiles, my lord, the progress of age
changes into senility. Decay falls upon man and decline takes the place of youth. A vexation weighs upon him
every day; sight fails, the ear becomes deaf; his strength dissolves without ceasing. The mouth is silent, speech
fails him; the mind decays, remembering not the day before. The whole body suffers. That which is good
becomes evil; taste completely disappears. Old age makes a man altogether miserable; the nose is stopped up,
breathing no more from exhaustion. Standing or sitting there is here a condition of . . . Who will cause me to
have authority to speak, that I may declare to him the words of those who have heard the counsels of former
days? And the counsels heard of the gods, who will give me authority to declare them? Cause that it be so and
that evil be removed from those that are enlightened; send the double . . . The majesty of this god says: Instruct
him in the sayings of former days. It is this which constitutes the merit of the children of the great. All that
which makes the soul equal penetrates him who hears it, and that which it says produces no satiety.
Beginning of the arrangement of the good sayings, spoken by the noble lord, the divine father, beloved of Ptah,
the son of the king, the first-born of his race, the prefect and feudal lord Ptah-hotep, so as to instruct the
ignorant in the knowledge of the arguments of the good sayings. It is profitable for him who hears them, it is a
loss to him who shall transgress them. He says to his son:
Be not arrogant because of that which you know; deal with the ignorant as with the learned; for the barriers of
art are not closed, no artist being in possession of the perfection to which he should aspire. But good words are
more difficult to find than the emerald, for it is by slaves that that is discovered among the rocks of pegmatite.
How does the document above help analyze the relationship between religious beliefs and political
authority in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Shang or Huang He (Yellow River) before 500 b.c.e.?
Is there a point of view contained with this document? What would it be?
Document 6. An Egyptian Obituary (1950 BCE)
Egyptian Noble Armeni writes of his service to the pharoah and generosity in his life.
Ameni's Able Administration
I was amiable, and greatly loved, a ruler beloved of his city. Now, I passed years as ruler in the Oryx nome. All
the imposts of the king's house passed through my hand. The gang-overseers of the crown possessions of the
shepherds of the Oryx nome gave to me 3,000 bulls in their yokes. I was praised on account of it in the palace
each year of the loan-herds. I carried all their dues to the king's house; there were no arrears against me in any
office of his. The entire Oryx nome labored for me.
Armeni's Impartiality and Benevolence
There as no citizen's daughter whom I misused, there was no widow whom I oppressed, there was no [peasant]
whom I repulsed, there was no shepherd whom I repelled, there was no overseer of serf-laborers whose people I
took for (unpaid) imposts, there was none wretched in my community, there was none hungry in my time.
When years of famine came I plowed all the fields of the Oryx nome, as far as its southern and northern
boundary, preserving its people alive and furnishing its food so that there was none hungry therein. I gave to the
widow as (to) her who had a husband; I did not exalt the great above the small in all that I gave. Then came
great Niles, possessors of grain and all things, (but) I did not collect the arrears of the field.
How does the document above help analyze the relationship between religious beliefs and political
authority in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Shang or Huang He (Yellow River) before 500 b.c.e.?
Is there a point of view contained with this document? What would it be?
Document 7. Limestone Relief of Akhenaten (c. 1345 BCE)
Image of Akhenaten and Nefertiti sitting under Aton.
How does the document above help analyze the relationship between religious beliefs and political
authority in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Shang or Huang He (Yellow River) before 500 b.c.e.?
Is there a point of view contained with this document? What would it be?
Document 9. Confucius on Government (c. 500 BCE)
Confucuius writes about the basics of good government.
The Master said, "He who exercises government by means of his virtue may be compared to the north polar
star, which keeps its place, while all the stars turn toward it. . . ."
The Master said, "If the people be led by laws, and uniformity be imposed on them by punishments, they will
try to avoid the punishment, but will have no sense of shame.
"If they be led by virtue, and uniformity be provided for them by the rules of propriety, they will have the sense
of shame, and moreover will become good. . . ." The duke Ai asked, saying, "What should be done in order to
secure the submission of the people?" Confucius replied, "Advance the upright and set aside the crooked, and
then the people will submit. Advance the crooked and set aside the upright, and then the people will not
submit."
Ji Kang asked how to cause the people to reverence their ruler, to be faithful to him, and to go on to seek virtue.
The Master said, "Let him preside over them with gravity; then they will reverence him. Let him be filial and
kind to all; then they will be faithful to him. Let him advance the good and teach the incompetent; then they will
eagerly seek to be virtuous. . . ."
How does the document above help analyze the relationship between religious beliefs and political
authority in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Shang or Huang He (Yellow River) before 500 b.c.e.?
Is there a point of view contained with this document? What would it be?
Document 10. Two Horses and a Groom (728)
Two horses and a groom, made of brown, green glazed earthenware, from the tomb of Liu
Tingxun (d. 728).
How does the document above help analyze the relationship between religious beliefs and political
authority in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Shang or Huang He (Yellow River) before 500 b.c.e.?
Is there a point of view contained with this document? What would it be?
Grouping of Point of views
Which documents do you group together and why?
1st Group
Group numbers
Why did you put these groups together? What links them together?
Is there a point of view in one of these documents that you can write about in your essay
Topic Sentence for Paragraph of 1st group
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2nd Group
Group numbers
Why did you put these groups together? What links them together? Are they linked together by point of view
Is there a point of view in one of these documents that you can write about in your essay
Topic Sentence for Paragraph of 2nd group
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
3rd Group
Group numbers
Why did you put these groups together? What links them together? Are they linked together by point of view?
Is there a point of view in one of these documents that you can write about in your essay
Topic Sentence for Paragraph of 2nd group
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Thesis Statement
Read the Directions below, this is how the AP World History Exam will ask a DBQ question.
Using the documents, analyze the relationship between different sources who were involved in or reported on the football game
between the Ely Tigers and Dillard Panthers that occurred in the year 2014 C.E.
You may write a thesis statement below using the directions and what you learned from the documents that you read.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Rubric for DBQ Essay- Unit 1
3.10.1 Create a thesis
that introduces a topic
and claim
3.10.5 Connect evidence
to topic sentences with
commentary to clarify the
relationships among ideas
and concepts
5.10.2 Consider multiple
perspectives to explain
how and why people
acted in a particular time
period
You did not receive
a 3.0 yet because …
You did not receive
a 3.0 yet because …
You did not receive
a 3.0 yet because …
The thesis must be explicitly stated
in the introduction or the specified
conclusion of the essay.
• The thesis may appear as one
sentence or multiple sentences.
Specific and accurate evidence of
the relationship between
religious beliefs and political
authority in Mesopotamia,
Egypt, and the Shang or Huang
He (Yellow River) before 500
b.c.e. must be explicitly drawn
from a minimum of nine
documents
• A document that is simply listed
does not count as using the
document as
evidence.
Students must correctly analyze
point of view in at least one
• Point of view explains why this
particular person might have this
particular
opinion or what particular feature
informs the author’s point of view.
document.
• Students must move beyond
mere description by explaining
• Students may challenge the
veracity of the author’s opinion or
point of view,
but must move beyond a mere
statement that the author is
“biased” by
providing some plausible analysis.
a document’s
tone, the characteristics of the
author, the intended audience,
and/or how the
intended outcome may have
influenced the author’s opinion.
• Mere attribution is not sufficient.
Attribution is copying or repeating
information verbatim from the
source line of the document.
Has a clear, analytical, and
comprehensive thesis.
-Goes well beyond the minimally
acceptable thesis.
Explains why additional types of
document(s) or sources are needed.
o Identifies more than one type of
appropriate additional document.
o Provides a sophisticated
explanation of why the additional
document will
contribute to analysis.
o Request for additional
document(s) is woven into the essay
and integrated
into a broader analysis.
Analyzes point of view in most or all
documents.
o Provides thoughtful analysis of
author’s background, intended
audience, tone, or historical context.