OCR A-Level Ancient History sample questions and answers (H407)
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40 sample questions and answers
Taken from every topic of OCR A-Level Ancient History, specification H407. The full guide has 2,709.
Component Group 1
Relations Between Greek States and Non-Greek States, 492-404 BC
322 questions in the guide, across 22 subtopics. More from this topic
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Mardonius' expedition and the Persian demand for submission, 492–491 BC
What political change does Herodotus say Mardonius made in the Ionian cities in 492 BC?
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Herodotus says he removed the Greek tyrants who ruled them and set up democracies in their place. -
Persian aims and the preparations of both sides in the 480s BC
What did the Delphic oracle tell the Athenians to trust in, and how was it interpreted?
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The oracle promised that a wooden wall alone would not fall, and Themistocles argued that this meant the fleet rather than the old thorn barrier on the Acropolis. -
Plataea, Mycale and the Greek alliance of 479 BC
What finally persuaded Sparta to send an army north in 479 BC?
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Athenian envoys hinted that Athens might accept Persian terms, and Spartan opinion accepted that the Isthmus wall was worthless without the Athenian fleet. -
The consequences of victory and the founding of the Delian League, 479–477 BC
Where was the League treasury first kept, and why there?
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It was kept on Delos, the ancient religious centre of the Ionian Greeks, which gave the alliance a neutral and sacred home. -
The First Peloponnesian War, 461–446 BC
How did the war between Athens and Aegina end?
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Aegina was beaten at sea and besieged, and she surrendered her fleet, pulled down her walls and became a tribute-paying subject of Athens.
Component Group 1
The Society and Politics of Sparta, 478-404 BC
218 questions in the guide, across 15 subtopics. More from this topic
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The agoge and the upbringing of Spartan boys and men
Why were the boys deliberately underfed?
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Hunger was meant to harden them for campaign and to drive them to forage and steal, which developed cunning, stealth and self-reliance. -
The education of Spartan girls
Who was Alcman, and why do his poems matter for the study of Spartan girls?
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Alcman was a choral poet working at Sparta in the seventh century BC who composed maiden-songs, partheneia, for choruses of girls to perform at religious festivals. -
Spartiates, perioikoi and helots
Describe who the perioikoi were and where they lived.
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The perioikoi, the dwellers around, were free inhabitants of the towns of Laconia and Messenia who ran their own local affairs but belonged to the Spartan state. -
Helot revolts, the krypteia and the fear of the helots
What point is Thucydides making when he reports the disappearance of the helots who had been promised freedom?
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He is showing that Sparta feared the bravest and most confident helots most of all, and would destroy the very men whose service it had just used. -
The Spartan kings and the gerousia
Give three privileges a Spartan king enjoyed in peacetime.
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He received a double portion at public meals, held the seat of honour at festivals and games, and was given the hides and other perquisites of the animals he sacrificed.
Component Group 1
The Culture and Politics of Athens, C.460-c.399 BC
295 questions in the guide, across 18 subtopics. More from this topic
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Democracy and oligarchy, and the critics of the Athenian system
Which Athenian offices continued to be filled by election rather than by lot, and why?
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The generals and the senior financial officials were elected, because those posts needed proven expertise that the Athenians were unwilling to leave to chance. -
Ostracism and the popular lawcourts
Why was the ostracism of Thucydides son of Melesias in 443 BC significant for Pericles?
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It removed the leader of the organised opposition to his policies, above all to his spending of allied money on building, and left him without a serious rival. -
Leadership in fifth-century Athens: Pericles, Cleon, Nicias and Alcibiades
Explain in what way Cleon was a new kind of Athenian politician.
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His family wealth came from a tannery rather than from land, and he made his career through the assembly and the courts rather than through birth or high command. -
The Sophists and the teaching of rhetoric
What impression did Gorgias make when he came to Athens in 427 BC?
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He arrived as an envoy seeking help for his city and astonished his audience with an ornate style of balanced and rhyming phrases that was widely imitated afterwards. -
Socrates: his method, his critique of democracy and his trial
What did Socrates hold to be necessary for good government?
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He held that ruling is a form of expert knowledge, so authority belonged to those who understood justice and the good rather than to whoever the majority happened to prefer.
Component Group 1
The Rise of Macedon, C.359-323 BC
383 questions in the guide, across 26 subtopics. More from this topic
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Philip's accession and the securing of Macedon, 359–357 BC
Why did Philip release the Athenian volunteers captured with Argaeus without asking a ransom?
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He wanted peace with Athens while he turned on the Illyrians, and generosity to Athenian citizens was the cheapest way to buy it. -
The expansion of Macedon and the organisation of the new territories
What annual revenue does Diodorus credit Philip with drawing from the mines around Pangaeum, and what did it pay for?
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Diodorus reports about a thousand talents a year, which paid mercenaries, bribes and the standing army. -
Thrace, Perinthus and Byzantium
What help did the Persian king give Perinthus, and why did he give it?
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He ordered his satraps in Asia Minor to send money, mercenaries and supplies, because a Macedonian power on the Straits threatened his own western provinces. -
The crossing to Asia: Troy, the Granicus and Halicarnassus
How did Alexander honour Achilles at Troy, and what did he say about him?
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He laid a wreath at the tomb and ran a race beside it, and called Achilles fortunate to have found a Homer to proclaim his fame. -
The pursuit of Darius, the fall of Bessus and the war in Bactria and Sogdiana
How was Bessus finally taken?
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His own supporters, led by Spitamenes, betrayed him and handed him over stripped and in a collar to Alexander's officers.
Component Group 2
The Julio-Claudian Emperors, 31 Bc-ad 68
414 questions in the guide, across 25 subtopics. More from this topic
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Actium and the presentation of Augustus' victory
Which god was credited with the victory at Actium, and how was he honoured?
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Apollo was credited with it, and a marble temple to him was dedicated beside Augustus' house on the Palatine in 28 BC. -
Augustus' military achievements and the frontiers of the empire
Describe what happened in the Teutoburg Forest in AD 9.
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Arminius, a Cheruscan chief who had served with the Roman army, ambushed and destroyed three legions under Quinctilius Varus. -
The image of Augustus in poetry, coinage and the building programme
Describe Horace's Odes and the picture of Rome they present.
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They are lyric poems published from 23 BC that celebrate peace, moderation and old Roman virtue and treat Augustus as the guardian of the state. -
Tiberius, Germanicus and Sejanus
Why did Germanicus quarrel with Piso?
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Calpurnius Piso, the governor of Syria, obstructed his orders and undermined his authority, which Germanicus took as opposition encouraged from Rome. -
The presentation of Gaius' character by the ancient sources
What is alleged about Gaius and his sisters?
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The sources accuse him of incest with all three, and it is certain that he gave them public honours no imperial women had received before.
Component Group 2
The Breakdown of the Late Republic, 88-31 BC
427 questions in the guide, across 28 subtopics. More from this topic
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The Senate, its membership and the force of senatus consulta
Explain why a senatus consultum carried such weight although it was not technically law.
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It expressed the collective judgement of the state's most experienced men, so its auctoritas made it binding in practice even without legal force. -
The tribunes of the plebs and their power in the state
Which two consuls restored the tribunes' full powers, and when?
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Pompey and Crassus restored them in their consulship of 70 BC. -
The undoing of Sulla's settlement in the 70s BC
Explain how the war against Sertorius weakened the Senate's authority at Rome.
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It dragged on at great expense, exposed the Senate's inability to end it, and obliged the Senate to hand Pompey a command he then used as leverage against it. -
The First Triumvirate and Caesar's consulship of 59 BC
How was the alliance sealed by marriage?
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Pompey married Caesar's daughter Julia. -
The assassination of Caesar and the Ides of March
What personal grievance did Cassius have against Caesar?
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He had been pardoned after fighting on Pompey's side and then passed over for the senior praetorship in favour of Brutus.
Component Group 2
The Flavians, AD 68-96
276 questions in the guide, across 19 subtopics. More from this topic
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The fall of Nero and the failure of Galba
Why was Galba's refusal to pay the praetorians a donative so damaging?
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The prefect Nymphidius Sabinus had already promised them money in Galba's name, so the refusal looked like a broken bargain and left the guard willing to sell itself to someone else. -
Vespasian's bid for power and the men who backed him
Who was Mucianus, and why was his support decisive?
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He was governor of Syria with three legions and great personal wealth; reconciled with Vespasian, he had no son and no wish to rule himself, so he led the eastern army into Italy on Vespasian's behalf. -
Vespasian's settlement on his accession and the powers of the princeps
State the titles Vespasian took as emperor.
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He ruled as Imperator Caesar Vespasianus Augustus, held the tribunician power renewed each year, took the office of pontifex maximus and accepted the title father of his country. -
The Flavian family, its supporters and the dynastic succession
What did Vespasian tell the Senate about the succession?
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He declared that either his sons would succeed him or nobody would. -
Vespasian's reign, his character and his dealings with the Senate
Who was Helvidius Priscus, and why did he clash with Vespasian?
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A Stoic senator and son-in-law of Thrasea Paetus who, as praetor, treated Vespasian as an ordinary citizen and refused to acknowledge him in his edicts; he was exiled and eventually put to death.
Component Group 2
Ruling Roman Britain, AD 43-C.128
374 questions in the guide, across 23 subtopics. More from this topic
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Britain and Rome before the invasion of AD 43
List the British exports named by Strabo.
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He lists grain, cattle, gold, silver and iron, together with hides, slaves and hunting dogs. -
The invasion of AD 43 and the conquest of southern Britain
Explain the purpose of the road running between Exeter and Lincoln.
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The Fosse Way linked the garrisons across the width of Britain and marked the limit of the territory held securely in the first years. -
Frontier policy after Agricola and Domitian's retrenchment
Name the legion withdrawn from Britain in the late AD 80s.
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The Second Adiutrix was taken away for the Danube, leaving three legions in the province. -
Hadrian's decision to build the Wall
What do the coins of Hadrian's reign showing Britannia suggest?
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They advertise the emperor's attention to the province and present the settlement of Britain as an achievement worth celebrating. -
Caratacus and the war against Plautius and Ostorius
How did Caratacus choose his ground for the final battle in AD 51?
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He took a hill position protected by a river and strengthened the weaker approaches with a rampart of piled stones.
OCR A-Level Ancient History Active Recall Guide
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