The Classical World
The Classical World built off of the ancient civilizations and made societies so developed that people have continued to use their ideas and practices for centuries (ever see the architecture in Washington, DC?).
Only 1 Video!
I've combined the 3 big Classical Cultures so the Classical World Video is longer but it gives you a good groundwork for understanding how history would develop with influences that have lasted up until the present!
The video is not meant to be seen at once, it's covered for at least a week in class!
Also, due to a colossal error on which I cannot satisfactorily blame anyone but myself the last fifteen minutes or so of the video are blank.
The Classical Civilizations:
A Classical Civilization (the video is below) is one whose impact far outlasts the civilization itself. It is basically the society that laid the foundations for the following civilizations to copy (Hey- Rome has a senate and so do we!) . You should have watched the Themes Video which laid out 12 Themes of World History, one of those being "When people get it together others get jealous" and going right along with that was "The 2 biggest dogs on the block are going to fight". Well this section covers 2 of the biggest dogs from 2,000 years ago (although they were too far apart to fight)!
The West traces its origins to the Greeks and of course the civilization that copied them, the Romans (an Italian once told me that Rome was a good copy of Greece). I tell my students that the Roman Empire was basically Greece on steroids, if that helps you understand. Rome is the Big Dog in history.
In the East there was The Han Dynasty in China, which conveniently was around at the same time as the height of the Roman Empire. In The China video we learned that China had been united by the Qin or Chin Dynasty (spellings differ)- well, then the Han took over and made China a massively wealthy and powerful place!
For AP students!
On the Classical Civilizations videos here are some clever things to note and study:
1) The lasting impacts of these cultures (they're called "Classical" for a reason, kids)
2) Christianity, why it spread
Below you will find review activities, helpful intro readings for the Greeks and Romans, a chart for learning Chinese Feng Shui and a Roman Culture chart. There's also a Roman Army page for the video, their incredible organization helps explain the longevity of the empire.
If you study in a group try the Jeopardy! (the best way is to flip a coin and see who goes first to choose the question and amount, then both sides write their answer and can earn money, if the person who picked got it right then they go again, if not they lose the turn!).
