plumiCambyses II, Smerdis and the accession of Darius, 530–522 BC: OCR GCSE Ancient History questions
OCR GCSE Ancient History past-paper questions on Cambyses II, Smerdis and the accession of Darius, 530–522 BC, 2021–2025, with mark schemes and examiner’s reports where available.
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Q1(a)
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All 6 questions on Cambyses II, Smerdis and the accession of Darius, 530–522 BC, as a list
- June 2024, The Persian Empire, Q1(a) (1 mark): Identify one of the names of the man overthrown by Darius in 522 BC. [1]
- June 2024, The Persian Empire, Q5 (20 marks): ‘Persian kings were civilised and tolerant.’ To what extent do you agree with this view? [20]
- June 2023, The Persian Empire, Q3 (10 marks): Using details from Passage A and your own knowledge, what can we learn about the reasons why Darius won the power struggle at the start of his reign? [10] Passa
- June 2023, The Persian Empire, Q4 (15 marks): Using details from Passage A and your own knowledge, explain why Darius was a more successful king than Cambyses. [15] Passage A King Darius says: There was non
- June 2022, The Persian Empire, Q4 (15 marks): Using details from Source A and your own knowledge, how similarly did Cyrus and Cambyses treat the peoples they conquered? [15] Source A When I (Cyrus) entered
- November 2021, The Persian Empire, Q1(c) (1 mark): Give one reason why Cambyses invaded Egypt. [1]
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