Subscribe

7th grade · Social Studies · Unit 11 of 14

Greece & Rome

Democracy, republic and law

What your child practices

Athens and Sparta, direct and representative democracy, the Roman Republic and Empire, and the Greek and Roman ideas found in US government.

Alabama Course of Study content standard: 7.14; 7.15; 7.16 · Classical Greece's legacy, the Roman Republic, and the Roman Empire

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Ancient Greece was many independent city-states. Athens had direct democracy; Sparta had a strong army.
  2. Rome was a republic, then an empire. Roads and the Mediterranean moved soldiers and goods.
  3. Senators killed Julius Caesar in 44 BCE, fearing he would become king. Later the Byzantine capital was Constantinople.

Example: Why did some senators kill Julius Caesar in 44 BCE? Rome was a republic, with no king. They feared Caesar was making himself a king. Answer: They feared he was becoming a king and ending the Republic

Greece & Rome in Alabama

In the Alabama Course of Study, this is unit 11 of 14 in 7th grade Social Studies, after Ancient India & China and before Assyria, Phoenicia & Persia.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Enslaved people in Rome and Greece…

    • Ran the government
    • Did not exist
    • Could vote in every election
    • Did much of the work and had few or no rights

  2. Question 2

    Who became the first Roman emperor?

    • Augustus
    • Socrates
    • Julius Caesar
    • Alexander

  3. Question 3

    Why did Greece develop many separate city-states instead of one kingdom?

    • The rivers joined them
    • Rome ordered it
    • Mountains and seas divided the land
    • They spoke many languages

  4. Question 4

    The Code of Justinian, from the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire, was…

    • A collection of Roman laws that shaped later legal systems
    • A map of Rome
    • A Greek play
    • A Chinese poem

  5. Question 5

    Rome was founded on hills beside which river?

    • The Seine
    • The Nile
    • The Tiber
    • The Thames

  6. Question 6

    Democracy comes from Greek words meaning…

    • Rule by one king
    • Rule by the people
    • Rule by soldiers
    • Rule by priests

More 7th grade