Rome: Republic Vs. Empire Document Based Question
Essay Assessment
Directions: The Document-based (DBQ) requires the construction of a coherent essay which combines
interpretation of the supplied documents with a demonstrated knowledge of the historical period in
question. Higher scores are earned by essays that both cite key pieces from the documents AND draw
on outside knowledge of the period. The student who simply describes the contents of the documents
and fails to analyze their significance will receive a low score. Your DBQ essay will be graded using
the Smarter Balanced Informative Performance Task Writing Rubric.
Include:
 An appropriate, explicitly stated thesis that directly addresses all parts of the question
and does NOT simply restate the question.
 Discusses a majority of the documents individually and specifically (CITE THEM!)
 Supports the thesis with analysis of the documents and supporting facts and details from
organizer (background knowledge)
 Acknowledges the opposing view point and offers counter arguments
Essay Prompt:
Based upon the social, political, economic and military characteristics, what period of
ancient roman history (republic or empire) best defined the greatness of Ancient Rome?
THE ROMAN REPUBLIC
DOCUMENT 1: Rome at the End of the Punic Wars by Polybius
Notes
DOCUMENT 2:
Twelve Tables of Roman Law
Notes
Table I
1. If anyone summons a man before the magistrate, he must go. If the man summoned does
not go, let the one summoning him call the bystanders to witness and then take him by
force.
Table VI.
6. Any woman who does not wish to be subjected in this manner to the hand of her
husband should be absent three nights in succession every year, and so interrupt and end the
marriage.
Table VIII.
2. If one has maimed a limb and does not compromise with the injured person, let there be
retaliation. If one has broken a bone of a freeman with his hand or with a weapon, let him
pay a penalty of three hundred coins. If he has broken the bone of a slave, let him have one
hundred and fifty coins. If one is guilty of insult, the penalty shall be twenty-five coins.
Table XI.
1. Marriages should not take place between plebeians and patricians.
DOCUMENT 3: The Roman Army by Josephus
Notes
DOCUMENT 4: Tiberius Gracchus’ Reforms by Plutarch
Notes
Of the land which the Romans gained by conquest from their neighbours, part they sold
publicly, and turned the remainder into common; this common land they assigned to such of
the citizens as were poor and indigent, for which they were to pay only a small
acknowledgment into the public treasury. But when the wealthy men began to offer larger
rents, and drive the poorer people out, it was enacted by law that no person whatever
should enjoy more than five hundred acres of ground. This act for some time checked the
avarice {greed} of the richer, and was of great assistance to the poorer people, who retained
under it their respective proportions of ground, as they had been formerly rented by them.
THE ROMAN EMPIRE
DOCUMENT 5: ‘Emperors’ The Roman Empire. PBS (Imperial
Government Secondary Source Reading from class)
Notes
“Unlike the Republic, the Empire was governed by an autocracy centered on the position of
the emperor…The Senate, the dominant political institution in the Roman Republic, was
retained by the emperor but lacked real power…Once in power, the emperor filled a varied
of roles and held nearly all political power…the senate did not really have much real power,
as it served more as a figurehead body and a political tool of the emperor…Emperors had
no elections or term limits…Its was a job for life, so if an emperor was mad, bad or
dangerous, the only solution was to cut that life short. Everybody knew it, so paranoia
ruled.”
Notes
DOCUMENT 6: The Deeds of the Divine Augustus by Augustus
“I extended the borders of all the provinces of the Roman people which neighbored nations
not subject to our rule. I restored peace to the provinces of Gaul and Spain, likewise
Germany, which includes the ocean from Cadiz to the mouth of the river Elbe. I brought
peace to the Alps from the region which i near the Adriatic Sea to the Tuscan, with no
unjust war waged against any nation. I sailed my ships on the ocean from the mouth of the
Rhine to the east region up to the borders of the Cimbri, where no Roman had gone before
that time by land or sea, and the Cimbri and the Charydes and the Semnones and the other
Germans of the same territory sought by envoys the friendship of me and of the Roman
people. By my order and auspices two armies were led at about the same time into Ethiopia
and into that part of Arabia which is called Happy, and the troops of each nation of enemies
were slaughtered in battle and many towns captured. They penetrated into Ethiopia all the
way to the town Nabata, which is near to Meroe; and into Arabia all the way to the border
of the Sabaei, advancing to the town Mariba.”
Notes
DOCUMENT 7: The Great Buildings of Rome by Pliny the Elder
In great buildings as well as in other things the rest of the world has been outdone by us
Romans. If, indeed, all the buildings in our City are considered in the aggregate, and
supposing them---so to say---all thrown together in one vast mass, the united grandeur of
them would lead one to imagine that we were describing another world, accumulated in a
single spot…Not to mention among our great works the Circus Maximus, that was built by
the Dictator Caesar---one stadium broad and three in length---and occupying with the
adjacent buildings no less than four iugera [about 2 acres] with room for no less than
160,000 spectators seated--- some of the finest work the world has ever seen?... Frequently
praise is given to the great sewer system of Rome. There are seven "rivers" made to flow, by
artificial channels, beneath the city… these constructions have survived, all but unharmed;
firm and solid is the masonry that it is able to offer an effectual resistance… The preceding
aqueducts, however, have all been surpassed by the costly work which has more recently
been completed by the Emperors Gaius [Caligula] and Claudius. Under these princes the
Curtian and the Caerulean Waters with the "New Anio" were brought a distance of forty
miles, and at so high a level that all the hills---whereon Rome is built---were supplied with
water. The sum expended on these works was 350,000,000 sesterces. If we take into
account the abundant supply of water to the public, for baths, ponds, canals, household
purposes, gardens, places in the suburbs and country houses, and then reflect upon the
distances that are traversed from the sources on the hills, the arches that have been
constructed, the mountains pierced, the valleys leveled, we must perforce admit that there is
nothing more worthy of our admiration throughout the whole universe.
DOCUMENT 8: The Reign of Domitian by Suetonius
Notes
DOCUMENT 9: Life as a Roman Solider by Michael Carpenter
(Secondary Source Military Background Reading)
Notes
“Legionaries in the Roman Army are often considered the first truly professional
soldiers…Upon acceptance into the Roman Army, a recruit embarked on a rigorous training
program…It typically began with grueling marching exercises. These marching skills were
sharpened by increasing the distances of the exercises and the amount of equipment carried
by each soldier…The last stage of training focused on the duties a legionary must master as
part of a large fighting unit…Legionaries were expected to drill and train daily…”
“Although a legionary was loyal to the emperor, the loyalty he had for his legion and its
commander (the legionary legate) was much stronger. The emperor understood that his
power derived from the legions of common soldiers. Consequently, he spent a great deal of
effort and money maintaining his legion’s loyalty.”