Law, virtue, or the people — which answer to "who should govern" pulled you? Get ready to defend it, or change your mind, once you hear from the people themselves.
A primary source isn't just information — it's an argument somebody built on purpose. Your job is to figure out what they're really claiming, and what they're quietly assuming.
What is this person actually arguing about who should hold power?
What reason or proof do they give? Why should we believe them?
What do they take for granted — and never bother to prove?
Yesterday: Hammurabi's law and Confucius's virtue. Today we investigate Pericles (the people) and the Melians (power) — same protocol, more independence.
Athens, 431 BCE. The earliest great argument for democracy — a war speech that's really a defense of a whole way of life.
Read and annotate: underline what makes Athens different, and mark who he leaves out (think about who couldn't vote).
Do the protocol (2.0 → 3.0) + Questions 1–3. Keep your "Connect to the EQ" answer — you'll test it against Text 4.
The same Athens, 15 years later, tells a tiny island: submit or be destroyed. "The strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must."
Annotate every time the Athenians refuse to talk about justice. Then finish the protocol + Questions. Was Pericles's Athens (Text 3) real — or a dream?
"Who should govern,
and what gives
them the right?"
Compare Hammurabi's Code and the Ten Commandments — two ancient legal codes. What's the same? What's different?
Every system here has a blind spot. What is each one's biggest weakness — and which one would you trust with real power?
Design your own government using arguments from all three thinkers — then defeat the strongest objection to it.
In 3–5 sentences: which thinker is most convincing about who should govern — and why? Use one quote from a text handout as evidence.