Unit 2: The Ancients

Unit Goals:

Students will be able to explain how the Agricultural Revolution had animpacton the development of civilizationsStudents will identify the features of a civilization and cite examples from Bronze Age civilizations, including Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus Valley Civilization, the Yellow River Civilization, the Aegeans (Minoan and Mycenaean), and the Olmec civilization of Mesoamerica
Students will explain the role of geography in the development of Bronze Age civilizations
Students will compare and contrast the unique political, economic, religious, social, technological, and cultural contributions of classical civilizations
Students will analyze the aspects of the Roman empire that set the standard for later European empires
Students will analyze the impact of the Silk Road
Students will analyze the impact of the Mongol empire in uniting Asia and eastern Europe
Students will explain how trade contributes to cultural diffusion

Lessons:

2.1: The Worst Mistake of the Human Race?

2.2: Bronze Age Civilization Project

2.3: The Cradle of Civilization

2.4: Bronze Age Collapse & Persia

2.5: The Legacy of Greece

2.6: A Roman Novella

2.7: Pax Romana

2.8: What Caused Rome's Fall?

2.9: The Viking Age

2.10: Feudalism

2.11: Pax Mongolica

Unit Quotes

"The main foundations of every state... are good laws and good arms you cannot have good laws without good arms, and where there are good arms, good laws inevitably follow." -Niccolo Machiavelli

"Empires are like Ponzi schemes... [They] must continue to expand if they are not to collapse" - Paul Kriwaczek, Babylon