Classical Project

Classical Project

1)  Write your name, date when project’s due, the period of class, and your teacher’s name.

2)  Find or create a map of Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. Use one color to show where the Persian Empire is. Draw in the Persian road system. Use another color to show where the Greek city-states and colonies are located. Circle the area where these two entities would have conflict. Use another color to show where Phoenicia and its colonies are located. Finally use another color and outline Alexander the Great’s Hellenistic empire. Under the names of each empire write the date from whent they began to their ending. Locate and label these cities on your map: Carthage, Athens, Sparta, Persepolis, Rome, Babylon, Alexandria (Egypt), and Memphis. Under the map, explain why a road system is important to the Persians.

3)  Create a Venn diagram of the city-states of Athens and Sparta. At the bottom write why they would ally with each other and why they might fight each other.

4)  Find or create a map of Asia. Use one color to draw in the Chinese empire of the Zhou dynasty. Use another color to draw the warring states at the end of the Zhou dynasty. Use another color to outline the new Chinese empire under the Qin dynasty. Finally use the last color to draw the Mauryan dynasty in India. Under each of those empires or in a key date the beginning and ending of each entity. Label these areas and cities as well: Chang’an, Magadha Kingdom, Pataliputra, Taxila, Ganges River, Huang He and Yangzt River, Indus River, the Great Wall of China, and Merv.

5)  Create and fill in this early empire chart.

Early Civilization/Empire / Location / Government (How they ruled) / Art/Architecture / Religion / New Technology / Impact on other civilizations
Minoans / (describe Knossos) / (Describe the palace at Knossos) / (Describe trading)
Mycenaeans / Epic:
Greeks city-states / Greek Plays: (2)
Columns: / Empirical observation:
Logic: / Greek science:
Persian Empire / Persian Rugs: / Qanat system: / Road system:
Hellenic Empire
Carthaginian Empire / (Describe trading)
Zhou Dynasty / Dynastic Cycle:
Philosophies:
Mauryan Dynasty / Stupas:
Sanskrit:
Qin Dynasty / Great Wall:

6)  Find or create a map of Europe and Asia. Using one color draw in the Roman Empire and date it. Using another color draw in the Chinese Empire of the Han and date it. Using another color draw in the Gupta empire and date it. Label the three empires that ruled the Middle East in the Middle East and date them (they are the Parthian/Sassanid/Kushan empires). Using the last color draw the Silk Road and the Indian Ocean trade routes that connects them all. Label these cities and areas on your map: Carthage, London, Rome, Byzantium, Athens, Alexandria, Damascus, Antioch, Ctesiphon, Seleucia, Merv, Samarkand, Kashgar, Chang’an, Nanjing and the Kingdom of Aksum.

7)  Create and fill in this chart for these classical empires.

Empire / Location / Government (How they ruled) / Art/Architecture / Religion / New Technology / Social Structure
Roman Empire / Arch:
Frescoes:
Gupta Empire / Indian epics:
Han Dynasty / Lateen sail:

8)  Write a paragraph on each one of these techniques that empires used to control their populations.

a.  Elaborate legal systems

b.  Large bureaucracies

c.  Centralized governments

d.  Diplomacy

e.  Developing supply lines

f.  Building defensive walls and roads

g.  Drawing soldiers from conquered peoples

h.  Promoting trade and issuing currency

i.  Corvee system

j.  Slavery

k.  Rents and tribute systems

l.  Divided empire into region

9)  Write a paragraph for each of these government systems that were created during this time. You need to describe how each system works, who is in charge, what empire used this system, what is good about this system and what the drawbacks of the system are. Finally circle which system you would like to governed in and put a check by the one we use today.

a.  Monarchy/Empire

b.  Aristocracy

c.  Oligarchy

d.  Democracy

e.  Republic

f.  Tyrant

g.  Autocracy

10)  Create and fill out this chart of religions created during this time.

Religion / Christianity / Buddhism / Confucianism / Legalism / Daoism / Ancestor Worship
Founder / (Do not put Buddha)
Location
Beliefs
Laws and Government
Holy Book
How it spread
When created
Language used
Hierarchy
How women are treated
Daily Life
Divisions

11)  For Christianity, Buddhism, and Confucianism, in an essay describe how each changed as it diffused across many peoples. There needs to be a paragraph for each religion showing the beginnings of the religion and how it changed to where it is now.

12)  Write a paragraph over each of these issues on how an empire falls. Tell why the issue is a problem, which empires were affected by the problem, describe what some empires could do to combat the problem and then write which issue is the biggest problem.

a.  Environmental damage such as soil erosion, desertification, and deforestation

b.  Concentrating too much wealth in the hands of elites

c.  Security issues on frontiers such as invasions

i.  Germanic invasions of Rome

ii.  Xiongnu invaded the Han

iii. White Huns invaded the Gupta

d.  Empires became too large to maintain

e.  Spread of disease in urban centers

13)  Write a profile for each of these important people during the classical era. The profile should include a picture, a brief description of the person, where they are located, when they lived, and why they are important.

a.  Cyrus of Persia

b.  Shi Huangdi

c.  Homer

d.  Pericles

e.  Socrates

f.  Plato

g.  Aristotle

h.  Alexander the Great

i.  Erasthonese

j.  Archimedes

k.  Hannibal

l.  Julius Caesar

m.  Octavian Augustus

n.  Constantine

o.  Virgil

p.  Chandragupta Maurya

q.  Asoka

r.  Liu Bang

s.  Wudi

t.  Wang Mang