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QCAA Ancient History study materials
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QCAA Ancient History practice questions

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Question 1Unit 3

Which city-state is traditionally credited with developing the world's first known democracy?

  1. Sparta
  2. Athens Correct answer.
  3. Thebes
  4. Corinth

Explanation

Athens is conventionally identified as the birthplace of democracy because reforms attributed to Cleisthenes around 508 BCE reorganised citizens into tribes and created institutions such as the Council of 500. Later writers, including Aristotle, described this system as rule by the demos rather than by a monarch or small elite.

Question 2Unit 3

In the Athenian democracy, what was the main function of the ekklesia (assembly)?

  1. To debate and vote on policy and laws Correct answer.
  2. To judge homicide cases and pronounce sentences
  3. To command the army in wartime
  4. To manage the treasury and collect taxes

Explanation

The ekklesia was the sovereign assembly of citizens, meeting on the Pnyx to debate and decide decrees, war and peace, and other public business by vote. Judicial homicide cases went to bodies such as the Areopagus or the ephetai, and military command belonged to elected generals.

Question 3Unit 3

Which Athenian reformer is associated with the cancellation of debts and the abolition of debt bondage in the early sixth century BCE?

  1. Peisistratos
  2. Ephialtes
  3. Pericles
  4. Solon Correct answer.

Explanation

Solon, archon around 594 BCE, is credited with the seisachtheia, a set of measures that cancelled debts and ended the practice of enslaving citizens for unpaid debts. These reforms are described by later sources such as Plutarch and Aristotle's Constitution of the Athenians.

Question 4Unit 3

Which body in Sparta consisted of 28 elders plus the two kings and prepared business for the assembly?

  1. The ephorate
  2. The apella
  3. The syssitia
  4. The gerousia Correct answer.

Explanation

The gerousia was the Spartan council of elders, made up of 28 men over sixty plus the two kings. It drafted proposals for the assembly and also served as a high court, giving it considerable influence over Spartan politics.

Question 5Unit 3

What was the primary purpose of ostracism in fifth-century Athens?

  1. To select citizens for jury service
  2. To remove a citizen seen as a threat to the state for ten years Correct answer.
  3. To exile metics who failed to pay taxes
  4. To punish generals who lost battles

Explanation

Ostracism allowed the assembly, once a year, to vote by potsherd to send a prominent citizen into exile for ten years without loss of property or citizenship. It was designed to reduce the risk of tyranny or destabilising factional rivalry rather than to punish specific crimes.

Question 6Unit 3

Which Persian king led the invasion of Greece in 480 BCE that included the battles of Thermopylae and Salamis?

  1. Darius I
  2. Artaxerxes I
  3. Cyrus the Great
  4. Xerxes I Correct answer.

Explanation

Xerxes I personally commanded the campaign of 480 BCE, which crossed the Hellespont and fought at Thermopylae, Artemisium and Salamis. His father Darius I had launched the earlier expedition that ended at Marathon in 490 BCE.

Question 7Unit 3

What was the Delian League originally formed to do?

  1. To unite Greek states against Macedonian expansion
  2. To organise the Olympic Games
  3. To regulate trade between Athens and Egypt
  4. To defend Greek states against Persian attack Correct answer.

Explanation

The Delian League was founded around 478 BCE as an alliance of Greek states, with Athens as leader, to continue the war against Persia and protect member states from further invasion. Its treasury was initially kept on Delos, and members contributed ships or money.

Question 8Unit 3

Which Athenian leader ordered the building program that included the Parthenon on the Acropolis?

  1. Themistocles
  2. Cleon
  3. Pericles Correct answer.
  4. Cimon

Explanation

Pericles promoted the reconstruction of the Acropolis in the mid-fifth century BCE, funded largely from league resources, and the Parthenon was built between 447 and 432 BCE under the architects Iktinos and Kallikrates. The program was intended to display Athenian wealth and piety after the Persian destruction.

Question 9Unit 3

Which battle of 479 BCE ended the Persian land invasion of Greece?

  1. Mycale
  2. Marathon
  3. Salamis
  4. Plataea Correct answer.

Explanation

At Plataea in 479 BCE the allied Greek army under Pausanias defeated the Persian land forces under Mardonius, effectively ending the invasion. Salamis had been a naval victory the previous year, and Mycale was fought in Asia Minor.

Question 10Unit 3

A historian argues that the Athenian empire became increasingly coercive after the treasury was moved from Delos to Athens. Which evidence best supports this claim?

  1. Sparta was invited to join the alliance
  2. Athens used allied funds for its own building program and suppressed revolts Correct answer.
  3. Members continued to contribute ships and money voluntarily
  4. The league's assembly met regularly on Delos

Explanation

Moving the treasury to Athens around 454 BCE, combined with Athens' use of allied contributions for civic projects and its military suppression of revolts such as those of Naxos and Thasos, supports the argument that the league became an empire. These actions show members losing genuine autonomy.

Question 11Unit 3

Which Greek historian wrote the History of the Peloponnesian War and stated that he aimed to provide a possession for all time?

  1. Polybius
  2. Thucydides Correct answer.
  3. Herodotus
  4. Xenophon

Explanation

Thucydides, an Athenian, wrote an account of the war between Athens and Sparta and famously claimed his work was intended as a lasting possession rather than a prize-winning performance. He emphasised accuracy, eyewitness testimony and analysis of human behaviour.

Question 12Unit 3

Which event is generally used to mark the beginning of the Peloponnesian War?

  1. The Peace of Nicias in 421 BCE
  2. The Spartan invasion of Attica in 431 BCE Correct answer.
  3. The Athenian expedition to Sicily in 415 BCE
  4. The Battle of Aegospotami in 405 BCE

Explanation

The Peloponnesian War conventionally began in 431 BCE when Sparta and its allies invaded Attica, following a series of disputes involving Corcyra, Potidaea and Megara. The Sicilian expedition and the Peace of Nicias occurred later within the conflict.

Question 13Unit 3

What was the effect of the Peace of Nicias of 421 BCE?

  1. It dissolved the Delian League
  2. It permanently ended hostilities between Athens and Sparta
  3. It established a temporary truce that soon broke down Correct answer.
  4. It transferred control of Sicily to Athens

Explanation

The Peace of Nicias was a treaty intended to last fifty years but it quickly eroded as allies on both sides refused to comply and fighting resumed. It marked a pause rather than a settlement, and the war continued in various theatres.

Question 14Unit 3

Which Spartan commander was responsible for the final defeat of the Athenian fleet at Aegospotami in 405 BCE?

  1. Brasidas
  2. Gylippus
  3. Pausanias
  4. Lysander Correct answer.

Explanation

Lysander commanded the Spartan fleet that destroyed the Athenian navy at Aegospotami, cutting off Athens' grain supply and leading to its surrender in 404 BCE. This victory effectively ended the Peloponnesian War.

Question 15Unit 3

What was the Thirty Tyrants?

  1. A pro-Spartan oligarchy installed in Athens after its defeat Correct answer.
  2. A council of Persian satraps in Ionia
  3. A board of Spartan generals stationed in Athens
  4. A group of Athenian generals tried after Arginusae

Explanation

After Athens surrendered in 404 BCE, Sparta supported a narrow oligarchy of thirty men who ruled with a Spartan garrison and carried out executions and confiscations. Their rule was overthrown within a year and democracy was restored.

Question 16Unit 3

Which Macedonian king was assassinated in 336 BCE, leaving his son to lead the invasion of Persia?

  1. Alexander the Great
  2. Ptolemy I
  3. Philip II Correct answer.
  4. Darius III

Explanation

Philip II was murdered at Aegae in 336 BCE, and his son Alexander succeeded him and then carried out the planned campaign against the Persian Empire. Philip had already united much of Greece under Macedonian leadership through the League of Corinth.

Question 17Unit 3

At which battle in 331 BCE did Alexander defeat Darius III and effectively end Achaemenid power?

  1. Hydaspes
  2. Granicus
  3. Gaugamela Correct answer.
  4. Issus

Explanation

At Gaugamela in 331 BCE Alexander defeated the main Persian army under Darius III, opening the way to Babylon, Susa and Persepolis. This battle is generally regarded as the decisive engagement that ended Achaemenid resistance in the core of the empire.

Question 18Unit 3

Which Hellenistic kingdom was ruled by the Ptolemies after Alexander's death?

  1. Bactria
  2. Egypt Correct answer.
  3. Macedonia
  4. Syria

Explanation

Ptolemy, one of Alexander's generals, took control of Egypt and founded a dynasty that ruled until Cleopatra VII. The Seleucids ruled Syria and much of the former Persian Empire, while the Antigonids controlled Macedonia.

Question 19Unit 3

A student compares Athenian and Spartan education. Which contrast is most accurate?

  1. Sparta produced more philosophers and playwrights than Athens
  2. Athens valued literacy and debate, while Sparta emphasised discipline and military fitness Correct answer.
  3. Both states required identical schooling for boys and girls
  4. Athens emphasised military training for all citizens, while Sparta focused on rhetoric

Explanation

Athenian education for boys centred on literacy, music and physical training, with rhetoric valued in public life, whereas the Spartan agoge stressed obedience, endurance and military fitness. Spartan girls received physical training, but the two systems differed sharply in aims.

Question 20Unit 3

What was the role of the Spartan ephors?

  1. They controlled the Delphic oracle
  2. They served as hereditary kings
  3. They supervised the kings and public order and could bring charges Correct answer.
  4. They commanded the fleet in wartime

Explanation

Five ephors were elected annually and exercised wide supervisory powers, including oversight of the kings, control of public order and the ability to initiate legal action. Their annual and collegial nature balanced the hereditary kingship.

Question 21Unit 3

Which Athenian institution used sortition, or selection by lot, to fill most public offices?

  1. The symposia
  2. The strategoi
  3. The boule and many magistracies Correct answer.
  4. The Areopagus

Explanation

Sortition was central to Athenian democracy: the Council of 500 and most magistracies were filled by lot from eligible citizens, which limited the influence of wealth and family. Generals, by contrast, were elected because their roles required expertise.

Question 22Unit 3

Which source provides the most detailed contemporary account of Alexander the Great's campaigns?

  1. Xenophon's Anabasis
  2. Herodotus' Histories
  3. Arrian's Anabasis, written centuries later using earlier sources Correct answer.
  4. Plutarch's Life of Solon

Explanation

Arrian wrote in the second century CE but relied on sources such as Ptolemy and Aristobulus, making his account the most detailed surviving narrative of Alexander's campaigns. Other surviving accounts, such as those of Plutarch and Curtius, are shorter or more rhetorical.

Question 23Unit 3

Which feature best distinguishes a Greek polis from a mere settlement?

  1. A political community of citizens with its own laws and institutions Correct answer.
  2. A monopoly on long-distance trade
  3. A shared temple and marketplace
  4. A permanent military garrison

Explanation

The polis is best understood as a political community of citizens governing itself through institutions such as an assembly and magistrates, along with an urban centre and territory. Shared cults and markets were common features but did not by themselves define the citizen community.

Question 24Unit 3

What was the purpose of the Athenian liturgies?

  1. To distribute grain to poorer citizens
  2. To select jurors for the courts
  3. To fund public services such as choruses and triremes through private wealth Correct answer.
  4. To train young men for military service

Explanation

Liturgies were compulsory public services in which wealthy citizens financed activities such as dramatic choruses, festivals or the equipping of warships. They channelled elite competition into public benefit and reduced the need for direct taxation.

Question 25Unit 3

Which statement best explains why the battle of Marathon in 490 BCE was significant for Athens?

  1. It demonstrated that a citizen hoplite force could defeat a Persian army Correct answer.
  2. It forced Sparta to surrender its hegemony
  3. It ended the Persian Empire permanently
  4. It led directly to the founding of the Delian League

Explanation

At Marathon the Athenians and Plataeans defeated a larger Persian force, showing that disciplined citizen hoplites could overcome Persian infantry. The victory boosted Athenian confidence and prestige, though the Persian threat continued and the Delian League was founded later.

Question 26Unit 3

Which body of water did Xerxes' forces cross on a bridge of boats in 480 BCE to begin the invasion of Greece?

  1. The Euripus Strait
  2. The Bosphorus of Thrace
  3. The Hellespont Correct answer.
  4. The Isthmus of Corinth

Explanation

Xerxes bridged the Hellespont so his army could march from Asia into Europe, an engineering feat Herodotus describes at length. The crossing marked the start of the land invasion that would reach Thermopylae and Salamis.

Question 27Unit 3

Which Athenian general commanded the Greek fleet at the battle of Salamis in 480 BCE?

  1. Aristides
  2. Themistocles Correct answer.
  3. Miltiades
  4. Pausanias

Explanation

Themistocles persuaded the allied Greeks to fight in the narrows at Salamis, where the larger Persian fleet could not manoeuvre effectively. His strategy of luring the Persians into confined waters produced a decisive Greek victory.

Question 28Unit 3

What was the primary function of the Athenian Council of the Five Hundred (Boule)?

  1. To elect the archons by open vote
  2. To prepare the agenda for the assembly and oversee administration Correct answer.
  3. To judge cases of homicide in the Areopagus
  4. To command the army in the field

Explanation

The Boule set the agenda for the ekklesia, managed finances and supervised magistrates, with members chosen by lot each year. It was a deliberative and administrative body rather than a military or judicial one.

Question 29Unit 3

Which Athenian practice allowed any citizen to prosecute a public offence on behalf of the community?

  1. Eisangelia
  2. Graphe Correct answer.
  3. Dokimasia
  4. Ostracism

Explanation

A graphe was a public action that any qualified citizen could bring, unlike a private suit (dike) restricted to the injured party. This mechanism let individuals act as guardians of the public interest.

Question 30Unit 3

What did the Athenian procedure of ostracism involve?

  1. A citizen vote that could exile a prominent man for ten years Correct answer.
  2. A lottery to assign citizens to jury service
  3. A trial before the Areopagus for treason
  4. A public audit of magistrates after their term

Explanation

Once a year the assembly could decide to hold an ostracism, in which citizens scratched a name on a potsherd. The man with the most votes was exiled for ten years without loss of property, a safeguard against tyranny.

Question 31Unit 3

Which group in Spartan society were the helots?

  1. Full citizen warriors
  2. Foreign mercenaries
  3. Free non-citizen traders
  4. State-owned serfs who worked the land Correct answer.

Explanation

Helots were a servile population bound to the land, chiefly descended from conquered Messenians, who supported the Spartan citizenry economically. Their labour allowed Spartiates to devote themselves to military training.

Question 32Unit 3

What was the agoge in Sparta?

  1. The state education and training system for boys Correct answer.
  2. The annual declaration of war on the helots
  3. The assembly of all Spartan citizens
  4. The council of elders that advised the kings

Explanation

The agoge was the rigorous public upbringing that took boys from their families and trained them in endurance, obedience and martial skill. It was central to producing disciplined citizen-soldiers.

Question 33Unit 3

Which two kings shared the Spartan throne under the dual monarchy?

  1. The Heraclid and Pelopid houses
  2. The Agiad and Alcmaeonid houses
  3. The Eurypontid and Bacchiad houses
  4. The Agiad and Eurypontid houses Correct answer.

Explanation

Sparta was unusual in having two hereditary kings drawn from the Agiad and Eurypontid families, which checked each other's power. This dual kingship limited royal authority compared with other Greek states.

Question 34Unit 3

Which body formally declared war and ratified treaties in the Spartan constitution?

  1. The krypteia
  2. The gerousia
  3. The apella Correct answer.
  4. The ephorate

Explanation

The apella was the assembly of adult male citizens that approved or rejected proposals on war, peace and treaties. Its decisions were subject to the influence of the gerousia and ephors, who framed the agenda.

Question 35Unit 3

Which Athenian reformer is credited with establishing the Council of the Four Hundred and the tribal reorganisation of Attica?

  1. Ephialtes
  2. Pericles
  3. Cleisthenes Correct answer.
  4. Solon

Explanation

Cleisthenes reorganised Attica into new tribes and created the Council of Five Hundred, though a Four Hundred is associated with his earlier arrangements and later oligarchic coup. His reforms broadened political participation after the fall of the tyranny.

Question 36Unit 3

What was the main purpose of the Athenian payment known as the diobelia or jury pay?

  1. To fund cavalry horses for wealthy citizens
  2. To reward victors at the Olympic games
  3. To pay tribute to the Delian League
  4. To compensate citizens for lost earnings while serving on juries Correct answer.

Explanation

Jury pay, introduced and later increased in the fifth century, reimbursed poorer citizens for a day's lost work so that service was not limited to the wealthy. It widened practical access to the courts.

Question 37Unit 3

Which statement best describes the role of the strategoi in Athenian democracy?

  1. They were appointed for life by the Areopagus
  2. They were selected from the two royal families
  3. They were elected generals who could be re-elected and often held political influence Correct answer.
  4. They were chosen by lot for one-year terms and could not be re-elected

Explanation

Generals were elected rather than allotted, and their re-eligibility allowed figures such as Pericles to build sustained political careers. This made the strategia an important route to influence in the democracy.

Question 38Unit 3

Which battle of 480 BCE saw a small Greek force under Leonidas hold a mountain pass before being overwhelmed?

  1. Thermopylae Correct answer.
  2. Artemisium
  3. Mycale
  4. Plataea

Explanation

At Thermopylae a Greek contingent including 300 Spartans delayed the Persian advance before being surrounded through a betrayal of the pass. The stand became a symbol of disciplined resistance despite the defeat.

Question 39Unit 3

Why did the Greeks choose to fight the Persian fleet in the narrow strait at Salamis?

  1. The Persians had no ships capable of entering the strait
  2. The narrow waters neutralised the Persian advantage in numbers Correct answer.
  3. The Spartans refused to fight anywhere else
  4. The Greeks had superior cavalry support on the shore

Explanation

Themistocles argued that confined waters would reduce the Persian numerical advantage and allow the more manoeuvrable Greek triremes to fight effectively. The cramped strait turned the larger fleet's size into a liability.

Question 40Unit 3

What did the Greek victory at Plataea in 479 BCE achieve?

  1. It ended the Persian land threat to mainland Greece Correct answer.
  2. It liberated the Greek cities of Ionia
  3. It destroyed the Persian fleet in the Aegean
  4. It forced Athens to surrender its empire

Explanation

At Plataea the allied Greek army under Pausanias defeated the Persian land forces, removing the immediate threat to the Greek mainland. Ionian liberation came through naval action such as Mycale and later campaigns.

Question 41Unit 3

Which Athenian leader is associated with the radical reforms of the 460s BCE that reduced the powers of the Areopagus?

  1. Alcibiades
  2. Nicias
  3. Ephialtes Correct answer.
  4. Cimon

Explanation

Ephialtes, working with Pericles, stripped the Areopagus of many political and judicial functions and transferred them to the assembly, council and popular courts. His reforms deepened the radical democracy of the mid-fifth century.

Question 42Unit 3

What was the significance of the Athenian decree restricting the citizenship to those with two citizen parents?

  1. It abolished the Council of Five Hundred
  2. It extended voting rights to women
  3. It granted citizenship to metics who paid a tax
  4. It reduced the number of citizens entitled to political rights Correct answer.

Explanation

The mid-fifth-century citizenship law required both parents to be Athenian, narrowing the pool of those eligible for citizen privileges. It reflected a more exclusive definition of membership in the democratic community.

Question 43Unit 3

Which Spartan institution could bring charges against a king and supervise his conduct on campaign?

  1. The gerousia alone
  2. The ephors Correct answer.
  3. The apella alone
  4. The krypteia

Explanation

The ephors exercised wide supervisory powers, including the right to accompany and oversee kings on campaign and to initiate legal action against them. This reinforced the accountability of the dual monarchy.

Question 44Unit 3

Which statement best explains why Sparta's army was slow to mobilise for distant campaigns?

  1. Sparta had no system for calling up troops
  2. Spartan soldiers were unpaid volunteers
  3. The ephors were constitutionally barred from declaring war
  4. The need to guard against helot revolt limited how far forces could be sent Correct answer.

Explanation

The large servile population, especially the Messenians, was a constant internal threat, so Sparta was reluctant to send its army far from home for long periods. This constraint shaped its cautious foreign policy.

Question 45Unit 3

What does the term 'Peloponnesian League' describe?

  1. A naval alliance led by Athens
  2. A trade federation centred on Corinth
  3. A network of allied states dominated by Sparta Correct answer.
  4. A religious association of Greek cities

Explanation

Sparta led a loose alliance of Peloponnesian and other Greek states bound by treaties to follow Spartan leadership in war. It was not a tribute-collecting empire in the manner of the Delian League.

Question 46Unit 3

Which cause is most often identified as a trigger of the Peloponnesian War in Thucydides' account?

  1. The Spartan conquest of Messenia
  2. The assassination of Philip of Macedon
  3. The Persian invasion of Attica
  4. The Athenian intervention in Corcyra and the siege of Potidaea Correct answer.

Explanation

Thucydides identifies disputes over Corcyra and Potidaea, along with the Megarian decree, as immediate causes, while arguing that Spartan fear of Athenian growth was the truest reason. These episodes brought Sparta and Athens into direct conflict.

Question 47Unit 3

What was the outcome of the Athenian expedition to Sicily in 415-413 BCE?

  1. The capture of Sparta's fleet
  2. A quick Athenian victory that secured Sicilian grain
  3. A negotiated peace between Athens and Syracuse
  4. The complete destruction of the Athenian force Correct answer.

Explanation

The Sicilian expedition ended in catastrophe, with the fleet and army destroyed and thousands of Athenians captured or killed. The defeat severely weakened Athens and contributed to its eventual loss of the war.

Question 48Unit 3

Which figure is associated with the oligarchic coup at Athens in 411 BCE that briefly replaced the democracy with the Four Hundred?

  1. Cleon, a radical democratic leader
  2. Alcibiades, who led the democratic resistance
  3. Antiphon, a leading oligarchic theorist Correct answer.
  4. Lysander, a Spartan admiral

Explanation

Antiphon was a prominent oligarch and intellectual figure behind the Four Hundred, who seized power in 411 BCE before being overthrown. Alcibiades was by then an Athenian general in exile and later returned, while Cleon and Lysander belong to different contexts.

Question 49Unit 3

Which Macedonian innovation in warfare was crucial to Philip II's successes?

  1. The adoption of chariot warfare
  2. The use of war elephants
  3. The phalanx armed with the long sarissa pike Correct answer.
  4. The construction of siege towers on ships

Explanation

Philip reorganised the Macedonian infantry into a phalanx equipped with long sarissae, supported by cavalry and combined arms. This formation gave him a decisive advantage over Greek hoplite armies.

Question 50Unit 3

What was the purpose of the League of Corinth established by Philip II in 337 BCE?

  1. To create a permanent alliance against Macedon
  2. To unite Greek states under Macedonian leadership against Persia Correct answer.
  3. To promote trade across the Aegean
  4. To establish an Athenian maritime empire

Explanation

The League of Corinth bound most Greek states to Philip through a common peace and a pledge to join a campaign against Persia under Macedonian leadership. It gave a legitimate framework to Macedonian control of Greece.