Secondary 1 History | Ancient Greece and Rome — Tutor Lesson Prep Guide | City-states, democracy, republic and empire

2026-11-11

Tutor lesson-prep guides · Secondary History

The moment students hear democracy they assume it means voting like today. This lesson shows them Athenian democracy excluded women, slaves and foreigners, and that Rome kept a republic for five centuries before it became an empire.

Objectives — By the end students can: (1) contrast Athenian democracy from 508 BCE with Spartan militarism and name the groups Athens excluded; (2) calculate the 482 years from the republic in 509 BCE to Augustus in 27 BCE and explain what the Twelve Tables of 450 BCE achieved; (3) explain why a city-state constitution could not govern an empire.

01 Prerequisites (3-minute check)

If any of these fails, fix it before the lesson starts.

Skill	Quick check	Pass mark
Reading a timeline	How many years between 509 BCE and 27 BCE?	Subtract: 509 minus 27 gives 482 years
Map location	Which sea do Greece and Italy face?	The Mediterranean; Greece east, Rome west
Political vocabulary	What separates a citizen from a resident?	A citizen has political rights, a resident may not

02 Lesson flow (45 minutes)

Time	Stage	Tutor does	Student does
0-5 min	Diagnose the word	Ask what democracy means and write the answers up unchanged	Give their own working definition
5-13 min	Two city-states	Draw two columns, Athens voting and Sparta training, and have students fill in who holds power and who is excluded	Fill in that Athenian women, slaves and foreigners had no vote
13-28 min	Three scripts	Teach Athens against Sparta, the Roman Republic, then republic to empire; pause after each	Say back that a republic divides power and an empire concentrates it
28-36 min	Four question types	Model a date calculation, an institutional comparison, a source inference and a causal explanation	Do one of each and write the steps
36-41 min	Error contrast	Write the four common mistakes up and have students correct them	Correct each sentence and name who was excluded
41-45 min	Exit check	Collect the three answers and sort the errors on the spot	Complete three questions alone

03 Teaching script (read it out)

Scene 1: Script 1: one Greece, two politics

“Greece was not a country but hundreds of city-states. Athens reformed in 508 BCE under Cleisthenes: the assembly voted, officials were chosen by lot, which sounds modern, except women, slaves and foreigners had no vote at all. Power belonged to adult male citizens only. Sparta chose another road: two kings, a council of twenty-eight elders, and boys sent to the barracks at seven. So ‘was Greece democratic or authoritarian’ is the wrong question. Ask which city-state, and which group.”

Which three groups in Athens had no vote?

Scene 2: Script 2: the Roman Republic divided power rather than sharing it out

“Rome expelled its kings in 509 BCE and built a republic: two consuls with one-year terms who could veto each other, a senate controlling money and foreign policy, and tribunes to protect the plebeians. In 450 BCE the Twelve Tables wrote the law down, so patricians could no longer interpret it on the spot; that was won by the plebeians. The design aimed at stopping one man from holding power, so terms were short and offices checked each other.”

How did the Roman Republic try to stop one man taking power?

Scene 3: Script 3: expansion outgrew the constitution

“The republic was a constitution for a city, but Rome conquered the Mediterranean. Armies grew loyal to their generals rather than the senate, and civil wars followed: Marius against Sulla, Caesar against Pompey. In 27 BCE Augustus took the title of first citizen while holding the army and the provinces, and the republic was over. From 509 to 27 BCE is 482 years, and from the republic to the fall of the western empire in 476 CE is 985 years. The answer to write is: the constitution was built for a city-state and could not govern an empire.”

Why did the Roman Republic turn into an empire? Give two reasons.

04 Question types and worked steps

Type	Example	Steps	Answer
Date calculation	How long did the Roman Republic last, 509 to 27 BCE?	(1) Both dates are BCE. (2) Subtract 27 from 509. (3) Unit years.	482 years
Institutional comparison	What is the biggest difference between Athenian and Spartan politics?	(1) Athens votes in an assembly. (2) Sparta is run by elders and kings. (3) Compare who decides.	Athens decides by citizen vote, Sparta by a small council and kings
Source inference	What did writing the Twelve Tables do for the plebeians?	(1) The law became public. (2) Patricians lost the monopoly on interpretation. (3) Plebeians could cite it.	Law became public and checkable, limiting patrician control
Causal explanation	Why could the republic not govern a large empire?	(1) The design suited a city. (2) Armies were loyal to generals. (3) Civil war brought dictatorship.	A city-state balance could not control standing armies and distant commanders

Sanity check (teach this): Sanity check: 509 minus 27 is 482, while 536 means the dates were added. The Peloponnesian War ran from 431 to 404 BCE, so 27 years, and 835 means addition again. Reaching from the republic to the western empire crosses the era boundary, so 509 plus 476 gives 985 years; subtracting is the classic error. Any answer on Athenian democracy that omits the excluded groups loses marks.

05 Independent practice (3 questions)

Question	Answer	What to watch
How long was the Peloponnesian War, 431 to 404 BCE?	27 years	Whether they subtract rather than add
From the republic in 509 BCE to the fall of the western empire in 476 CE, how many years?	985 years	Whether they add across the BCE and CE boundary
Which three groups were excluded from Athenian democracy?	Women, slaves and foreigners	Whether they name all three rather than only women

06 Common mistakes and what to say

Mistake	Student writes	Say this
Equating Athenian democracy with universal suffrage	“Athens was democratic so everyone voted”	“Only adult male citizens voted. Women, slaves and foreigners were excluded, so it was a narrow democracy.”
Treating republic as democracy	“The Roman Republic was Roman democracy”	“A republic divides and checks power: consuls, senate, tribunes. Ordinary people had limited influence.”
Subtracting across the era boundary	“509 minus 476 gives 33 years”	“One date is BCE and one is CE, so add: 509 plus 476 gives 985 years.”
Explaining change by events only	“Caesar was assassinated, so Rome became an empire”	“Give the institutional reason: a city-state constitution could not control standing armies and distant commanders, and civil war concentrated power in one man.”

07 Homework (paper, section and question numbers)

History chapter index: the Greece and Rome chapter, redo one date calculation and one institutional comparison — Greece and Rome chapter, questions 2 and 4
History chapter index: the Ancient Civilisations chapter, revise river valleys and writing for comparison questions — Ancient Civilisations chapter, questions 1 and 3

08 Exit check (last 5 minutes)

Question	Answer	Decision
How long did the Roman Republic last, 509 to 27 BCE?	482 years	Wrong: reteach the BCE timeline next lesson
Which three groups were excluded from Athenian democracy?	Women, slaves and foreigners	Wrong: reteach the city-state comparison from script 1
Why did the republic become an empire?	A city constitution could not control an empire and its armies	Wrong: reteach script 3

09 Tutor FAQ

Do students need every date?

Only 508, 509, 450, 27 BCE and 476 CE. Everything else can be given as about.

Students confuse democracy with republic. How do you teach it?

Use one pair of questions: democracy asks who votes, a republic asks how power is divided. Then have students give one example of each.

Is there practice material?

Yes. The homework rows link to the Greece and Rome and Ancient Civilisations chapters in the history index, with matching question numbers.

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A TutorZone lesson-prep guide. Written by the TutorZone team; questions and lesson flow are original and are not taken from any school or publisher material.