Unit 3: Classical Civilizations: Expansion, Achievement, Decline

Essential Questions

Enduring Understandings

Students understand that...

• • How did Classical civilizations in Eurasia and Mesoamerica expand and maintain their vast empires?

  • What significant and enduring contributions and achievements did these Classical civilizations make?

  • What factors contributed to the decline and fall of these Classical Empires?

Classical civilizations in Eurasia and Mesoamerica employed a variety of methods to expand and maintain control over vast territories. They developed lasting cultural achievements. Both internal and external forces led to the eventual decline of these empires. 

Knowledge 

Students know that...

9.3a Geographic factors encouraged and hindered a state’s/empire’s expansion and interactions.

9.3b Empires used belief systems, systems of law, forms of government, military forces, and social hierarchies to consolidate and expand power. 

9.3c A period of peace, prosperity, and cultural achievements can be designated as a Golden Age.

9.3d Political, socioeconomic, and environmental issues, external conflicts, and nomadic invasions led to the decline and fall of Classical empires.

Skills

Students will be able to...

Key Vocabulary:

• Classical

• Empire

• Golden Age

• consolidate

• Republic

• aristocracy

• oligarchy

• polis

• democracy

• imperialism

• expansionism

• aqueducts

• mercenaries

• inflation

• tolerance

• dissent

• bureaucracy

• Students will examine the locations and relative sizes of classical political entities (Greece, Gupta, Han, Maurya, Maya, Qin, Rome) noting the location and size of each in relation to the amount of power each held within a region. 

• Students will investigate how geographic factors encouraged or hindered expansion and interactions within the Greek, Roman, and Mayan civilizations. 

• Students will compare and contrast how the Mauryan, Qin, and Roman civilizations consolidated and increased power. 

• Students will examine the achievements of Greece, Gupta, Han Dynasty, Maya, and Rome to determine if the civilizations experienced a Golden Age. 

• Students will compare and contrast the forces that led to the fall of the Han Dynasty, the Mayan civilization, and the Roman Empire.

 Formative Tasks

• Maps of Classical Civilizations with Questions:

  • Geography of Ancient Greece

  • Geography of Early Rome

  • Geography and its Impact on Classical India

  • Geography and its impact on Classical China

• The Rise and Fall of Han, Roman, and Ottoman Empires: students make lasting connections from the empires to today

  • Students will create a Venn diagram comparing the decline and fall of the Roman and Han Empires.

  • Students will rank the Classical civilizations in importance based upon which civilizations (they believe) have most influenced the modern world.

  • They will write an argument for the placement of each in that ranking.

  • Students will create a Venn diagram comparing the consolidation of power under Asoka (Maurya Empire) and Shi Huangdi (Qin).

  • Student will create a flowchart showing the factors that contributed to the fall of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire.

• Governing a Chinese Empire: Han Feizi and Legalism Reading with Questions

Lesson Plans and Content

Videos, Documents, and Resources

Asoka's Edicts: Primary source with questions about themes and inference

Comparing Roman Governments: Republic vs. Empire

Maurya and Gupta Graphic Organizer

Silk Making in China

• How Democratic was the Roman Republic? (SHEG)

  • Teacher Materials

  • Student Materials

  • PowerPoint

• How Democratic was Athens? (SHEG)

  • Teacher Materials

  • Student Materials

  • PowerPoint

• Reasons for Decentralization in Mayan Civilization (page 57)

• Inquiry Unit: Did Emperor Shi Huangdi improve China?

• Inquiry unit: Did the Roman Empire fall?