Worksheet

A Ceremony, an Emperor and Two Accounts of Citizenship

Grade 6 civics: compare citizens' rights and duties in Athens, Rome and the U.S. today, then weigh two accounts of why Caracalla made millions of people citizens.

Grade 6Social StudiesInteractive · Printable

Aligned toCIV.6.3

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10 questions
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Format: Interactive · Printable
Grade: Grade 6
Subject: Social Studies
Question types: Multiple choice, Circle the answer, Sorting, Short answer

About this worksheet

What students practice

Students compare who could become a citizen in Athens, Rome and the United States today.
Students compare citizens' rights and duties in each place.
Students source and corroborate two accounts that disagree about why Rome expanded citizenship in 212 CE.

How to use

Read the passage together, then have small groups read the two accounts and the evidence table before answering. Discuss the final claim as a class.

Curriculum

C3 Framework standard covered

CIV.6.3

Compare who counted as a citizen in Athens and Rome, and their rights and duties, with citizenship in the United States today.

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A Ceremony, an Emperor and Two Accounts of Citizenship

Compare citizenship in Athens, Rome and the United States, then corroborate two accounts of a Roman law.

Citizenship then and now

Read the passage. Then answer the questions.

Becoming a Citizen

1On a June morning in a federal courthouse in the made-up city of Linden Falls, 48 people from 21 countries stand, raise their right hands and take the Oath of Allegiance. Each one has been a lawful permanent resident of the United States, usually for at least five years, and has passed a test of English and of U.S. history and government. When the oath ends, they are citizens. Citizens 18 and older, women and men, may vote in federal elections, serve on juries and run for most offices. They are expected to obey the laws, pay taxes and serve on a jury when called.

2Ancient Athens rarely welcomed newcomers this way. After a law of 451 BCE, a person was a citizen only if both parents came from Athenian citizen families. At 18, a young man was added to the citizen list of his deme, or local district, after its members checked his age and his parents. Making an outsider a citizen took a special vote of the Assembly, and such grants were rare. One famous exception was the people of Plataea, loyal allies whose city had been destroyed in war.

3Rome was more open. Slaves freed by Roman citizens usually became citizens, and Rome granted citizenship to whole towns and, after about 88 BCE, to most free people in Italy. A citizen could vote in Rome's assemblies, make contracts and marry under Roman law, and appeal against a harsh punishment by an official. By law he could not be flogged without a trial. Citizen men served in the army. After about 6 CE, citizens also paid a tax of 5 percent on large inheritances, a tax other free people did not pay.

4Even around 200 CE, citizens were only part of the free people in Rome's huge empire. Then, in 212 CE, Emperor Caracalla gave citizenship to nearly all free people living in it. Historians agree that this changed the lives of millions. They do not agree on why he did it, because the two main accounts disagree.

Sort each statement by the place it describes in the passage.

Added to a district's citizen list at 18 after a check of his parentsPaid a 5 percent tax on a large inheritanceBecomes a citizen after a test and an oathCould not be flogged without a trialWas a citizen only if both parents came from citizen familiesMay vote at 18, whether a woman or a man

Athens	Rome	United States today

Which statement best compares how people born outside the community could become citizens?

A. Athens seldom admitted outsiders; Rome and the U.S. did so far more often.
B. Rome refused citizenship to freed slaves, unlike Athens and the U.S.
C. Athens admitted foreigners after five years, the way the U.S. does today.
D. The U.S. admits citizens by a vote of Congress, like the Athenian Assembly.

Circle the sentence from paragraph 3 that shows Roman citizenship brought a duty that cost money.

Slaves freed by Roman citizens usually became citizens, and Rome granted citizenship to whole towns and, after about 88 BCE, to most free people in Italy.A citizen could vote in Rome's assemblies, make contracts and marry under Roman law, and appeal against a harsh punishment by an official.Citizen men served in the army.After about 6 CE, citizens also paid a tax of 5 percent on large inheritances, a tax other free people did not pay.

Two accounts of 212 CE

Read the notes and both accounts. Then answer the questions.

About Account A: The only known copy of this edict, or order, is a damaged Greek papyrus found in Egypt. It appears to give Emperor Caracalla's own words, sent out to the people of the empire in 212 CE. Some words are missing.

Account A: adapted from Caracalla's edict

I give thanks to the immortal gods, who kept me safe from danger. I think I can honor them properly by bringing as many thousands of people as join our people to the worship of the gods. Therefore I give Roman citizenship to all free people throughout the empire, except [the words here are damaged].

About Account B: Cassius Dio was a Roman senator who lived through Caracalla's reign and wrote his history of Rome some years later. Dio strongly disliked Caracalla and blamed him for wasting money and for harsh taxes.

Account B: adapted from a translation of Cassius Dio's Roman History

Caracalla raised the tax on inheritances from 5 to 10 percent. This was the reason he made all the people in his empire Roman citizens. He said he was honoring them, but his real purpose was to collect more money, because people who were not citizens did not pay most of these taxes.

Account A gives the emperor's own reason. Why should a historian still question it?

A. The edict was meant for senators in Rome, not for the provinces.
B. The papyrus was written centuries after Caracalla died.
C. Cassius Dio wrote it down years later from memory.
D. An emperor would want his order to sound generous and pious.

Which fact about Account B should a historian weigh most carefully?

A. Dio was not a citizen himself, so he could not know Roman tax laws.
B. Dio disliked Caracalla, so he may have assumed the worst motive.
C. Dio wrote his history before Caracalla became emperor.
D. Dio lived about 200 years after Caracalla, so he relied on rumors.

Use only Account A and Account B, not the passage or the table. Sort each statement: is it in both accounts, only in Account A, or only in Account B?

Caracalla made people across the empire Roman citizens.The emperor was giving thanks to the gods.The emperor's real goal was more tax money.Non-citizens did not pay most of these taxes.Thousands of new citizens would join in worshiping the gods.The inheritance tax went up to 10 percent.

Both accounts	Only Account A	Only Account B

Check the accounts

Historians check accounts against other evidence. Use the table and both accounts.

Other evidence historians use
Evidence	What it shows
Roman tax laws	Only citizens paid the inheritance tax
Ancient writers on the army	Caracalla raised soldiers' pay greatly
Papyri from Egypt after 212	Many people now use the name Aurelius
The edict papyrus	Only one damaged copy survives

Note: Aurelius was part of Caracalla's official family name. New Roman citizens often took the name of the emperor who gave them citizenship.

Which row of the table best supports Dio's claim that making more people citizens would bring in more tax money?

A. Roman tax laws
B. Ancient writers on the army
C. Papyri from Egypt after 212
D. The edict papyrus

The papyri show many people using the name Aurelius after 212. What does this evidence show?

A. Caracalla's main reason was to thank the gods, as Account A says.
B. Caracalla's main reason was to raise taxes, as Account B says.
C. The grant reached ordinary people, though it does not show the reason for it.
D. People in Egypt refused to use Roman names until Caracalla died.

Which conclusion is best supported by both accounts and the table together?

A. The edict made citizens of enslaved people as well as free people.
B. Many became citizens, and both religion and money may have played a part.
C. Dio invented the inheritance tax, since no other evidence mentions it.
D. The grant was announced in 212 but was not carried out for many years.

10.

Claim: after Caracalla's edict, Roman citizenship was more like U.S. citizenship today than like citizenship in Athens. Do you agree? Use at least two details from the passage, the accounts or the table as evidence, and explain your reasoning about who could become a citizen and what citizens owed.