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From Sardis to Rome: A Voyage Through Five Governments

Follow a described map and a traveler's account to compare who held power in the ancient world.

Follow the voyage

Read the map description and the travel account. Then answer the questions.

Map of the voyage, about 460 BCE
• Sardis is an inland city in western Anatolia (present-day Turkey), east of the Aegean Sea. A governor for the king of Persia lives there.
• Athens lies west of Sardis, across the Aegean Sea, near the coast of Greece.
• Corinth lies west of Athens, on a narrow strip of land that joins central Greece to the Peloponnese peninsula.
• Sparta lies south of Corinth, inland in the Peloponnese.
• Rome lies far to the northwest of Sparta, across the Ionian Sea, in central Italy near the Tiber River.

The Travels of Atys (a made-up account)

1I am Atys, a cloth merchant, and I set out from Sardis, where I was born. Sardis is part of the Persian Empire. The Great King, Artaxerxes, inherited his throne from his father, Xerxes. The king appoints a governor, called a satrap, to rule our land, and he can replace him whenever he likes. Each year the governor announces how much silver we must send to the king as tribute. Nobody in Sardis votes on that amount.

2About two weeks later I reached Athens. On a hill called the Pnyx, I watched thousands of citizen men meet in the Assembly. A herald called out, "Who wishes to speak?" A shoemaker stood up and argued against a plan to build new warships. Then the citizens raised their hands to vote. My host told me that most officials are picked by lot each year. Yet his wife, the people he enslaved and I, a foreigner, could not vote.

3From Athens I traveled to Corinth, a rich trading city. There a council of wealthy men from leading families decides the important questions. My Corinthian trading partner told me that men with little property have little say. "The council knows best," he said, "because its members have the most to lose."

4Next I walked to Sparta. Sparta has two kings at once, from two royal families, and they lead the army in war. A council of 28 elders, all over age 60, prepares proposals with the kings, and five officials called ephors, elected each year, watch over the kings. Citizen men meet in an assembly, but they only shout yes or no to proposals; they do not debate them. When an elder dies, men in a closed room judge which candidate the crowd cheers loudest. Most farmwork is done by helots, enslaved people who have no voice at all.

5At last my ship reached Rome. About fifty years ago, the Romans drove out their last king. Now each year citizen men vote in assemblies to elect two consuls, who lead the government and the army for one year, and either consul can block the other. A Senate of older men, mostly from wealthy families, advises the consuls, and its members usually serve for life. The ordinary citizens, called plebeians, elect their own tribunes, who can block actions that harm plebeians.

1.
Use the map description. Write the direction of each part of the trip.
Word bank: north · south · east · west · northwest

From Athens to Corinth, Atys travels  . From Corinth to Sparta, he travels  . From the coast near Sparta to Rome, his ship sails   across the Ionian Sea.

2.
A citizen with only a small farm wants to argue against a new tax in front of all the voters before they decide. In which city on Atys's route could he most likely do this?
  • A. Corinth, since the council meets in a rich trading city
  • B. Sparta, since citizen men meet there in an assembly
  • C. Athens, since any citizen may speak before a vote
  • D. Sardis, since the governor announces the tribute there
3.
Circle the sentence from paragraph 2 that best shows a man did not need to be rich to take part in debate in Athens.

On a hill called the Pnyx, I watched thousands of citizen men meet in the Assembly.A herald called out, "Who wishes to speak?"A shoemaker stood up and argued against a plan to build new warships.Then the citizens raised their hands to vote.

4.
The Corinthian merchant says the council "knows best" because its members "have the most to lose." Which group in Rome held power for a similar reason?
  • A. The two consuls, who could block each other's actions
  • B. The Senate, made up mostly of men from wealthy families
  • C. The tribunes, elected by the plebeians to protect them
  • D. The assemblies, where citizen men voted for officials
5.
Atys could not vote in Athens. What does his visit show about Athenian democracy?
  • A. Citizens elected a king who then made the laws for the whole city.
  • B. Anyone living in Athens could vote once they had stayed for a year.
  • C. A small council of wealthy families decided matters for the citizens.
  • D. Citizens voted on matters themselves, but many residents were left out.
6.
Each scene below is made up. Draw a line from each scene to the city on Atys's route where it would most likely happen.
  1. A man becomes an official this year because his name token was drawn.
  2. A messenger brings the king's order replacing the local governor.
  3. An elected official stops a decision that would hurt ordinary citizens.
  4. Judges in a closed room listen to the crowd to pick a new elder.
  5. Leading landowners decide new trade rules; poorer men are not asked.
  1. A. Sparta
  2. B. Sardis
  3. C. Rome
  4. D. Athens
  5. E. Corinth

A debate about government

Read the note and the excerpt. Then answer the questions.

About the source: Herodotus was a Greek writer born in Halicarnassus, a city then ruled by Persia. He finished his Histories about 430 BCE. In it, he says that about 522 BCE, after a struggle over the Persian throne, three Persian nobles debated which kind of government Persia should have. Herodotus insisted the debate really happened, but many historians doubt it happened this way, because the arguments sound like ideas Greeks were debating in his own time. Darius's side won, and Darius became king. Xerxes was his son.

Adapted from a translation of Herodotus's Histories, Book 3

1Otanes said: How can rule by one man be good, when he may do whatever he wishes and answers to no one? Rule by the people has the fairest name of all, equality before the law. Officials are chosen by lot, they must give an account of what they did, and every plan is brought before all the people.

2Megabyzus said: Nothing is more foolish or violent than a crowd that has never been taught what is good. Let us choose a group of the best men and give them the power.

3Darius said: Nothing is better than rule by the one best man, whose plans are the wisest. When a few men share power, each wants to be first, and they quarrel until one man takes control anyway.

7.
Why do many historians doubt that the debate happened the way Herodotus tells it?
  • A. Herodotus was a Persian official who wanted to praise King Darius.
  • B. The speeches sound like arguments Greeks were making about 430 BCE.
  • C. Herodotus wrote his Histories about 90 years before the debate took place.
  • D. The three nobles agreed with each other, so there was no real debate.
8.
Sort each idea by the speaker who argued it in the excerpt.
Fill offices by drawing lotsA crowd without teaching acts violentlyLeaders who share power fight to be firstOfficials should explain what they didGive power to a group of the best menOne wise ruler makes the best plans
Otanes (rule by the many)Megabyzus (rule by a few)Darius (rule by one)
9.
Which city on Atys's route came closest to the government Otanes wanted?
  • A. Athens, where officials were picked by lot
  • B. Corinth, where a council of leading men decided
  • C. Sparta, where five ephors were elected each year
  • D. Rome, where citizens elected consuls for one year
10.
Use the note and paragraph 1 of Atys's account. What happened to the kind of government Darius argued for?
  • A. It lasted: decades later, a king who inherited the throne still ruled Persia.
  • B. It spread: Athens and Corinth chose to be ruled by Persia's king as well.
  • C. It changed: a council of 28 elders took power away from Persia's kings.
  • D. It ended: Persians soon elected two leaders each year, like the Romans.
11.
Suppose Atys is asked to advise a new city that is writing its first laws. Which of the governments he saw should it copy: Persia's monarchy, Corinth's or Sparta's oligarchy, Athens' direct democracy or the Roman Republic? Make a claim, use at least one detail from the travel account and one from the Herodotus excerpt as evidence, and explain your reasoning, including one weakness of your choice.