Unit 2: The Legacy of the Classical World

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When humans learned to manage the world they lived in, when they learned to sow grain and reap the harvest, they found a way to settle down and establish long-lasting communities. The birth of the first civilizations allowed humans to engage in activities that led to advancing cultural legacies, further defining their identities and further strengthening their ability to control their own destinies.

As time went on, the most successful, powerful, and long-lasting of these civilizations began to reach out, moving beyond their cities' borders, looking to the seas and lands surrounding them for new opportunities and new lands to conquer. For some, the promise of trade was enough to gain access to other cultures. For others, the threat of military force was the key to expansion. Whatever the method, the civilizations on the move began to expand their influence, their tastes and ideas, and their society's culture, transforming those they came into contact with in a powerful and meaningful way.

This unit investigates two regions of the world which saw civilizations moving toward empire, and laying the foundation for the rest of history in the western world. The Greek civilization used the promise of trade, the knowledge of the sea, and the strength of identity to propel them forward as a loose-knit empire of ideas and ideals. Rome followed its strengths in the military, engineering, and organization to fashion one of the strongest, and longest-lived, empires in the history of the world.

As we study these two important civilizations, we will seek to answer three essential questions:

1. How does physical geography contribute to the political, economic, and cultural development of a particular civilization?
2. How do new political ideas and economic opportunities change a society?
3. What legacies have been left by ancient civilizations that are still alive in our society?

Your answers to these questions will come in the form of three projects that you will be responsible for designing and carrying out. Class time will be provided for much of this work, but many students will also need to spend homework time completing projects and the assigned readings.

Grading for the unit is based on the following items and their point values:

INTRODUCTION: GREEK WEB BYTE

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Unit Calendar

TD = Teacher Day, when class activities will introduce and reinforce key ideas that all students need to know, either to successfully complete unit projects and/or to do well on the unit tests.

Work Day activities can include unit readings and reading journal activities/assignments, or work designed to complete any of your three unit projects. Each work day will end with a description of how you spent the time in class in your project journal (PJ)*

Reading Notebooks are due BEFORE you take the test. Although you will be turning all reading notebook assignments in at the same time, you should pace yourself; do one assignment every day or two, and you'll easily complete them all in time.

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