Introduction

3 Class Sessions

1. Opening Exercise—Julius Caesar handout. Read, annotate, and answer questions in class.
2. Using the book as a guide, draw a map of Italy, including the islands, Greece, and the African coastline along the Mediterranean Sea.
   1. Read the Primary Source, Livy, The Early History of Rome, p. 155
   2. In your own words, restate Livy’s comments about the location of Rome.
   3. Answer the following question in a paragraph of at least 5 sentences.
      1. How does its location make Rome a good choice for the capital of an empire?
3. Unit Vocabulary
   1. Assign the vocabulary words to students.
   2. They must look up the terms and translate them to Chinese.
   3. They must look up the terms and names in the book and give an oral explanation to the class.
      1. Students must write on the board and indicate the pages in the text where they found the answers.

Document Analyses

3 Class Sessions (+Homework)

4. Primary Sources—Document Based Questions
   1. Augustine, The City of God, p.172
      1. Augustine suggests that the world is divided into two groups. Those who follow his religion will “reign with God for all eternity” while those who believe in other gods or no god at all will “undergo eternal punishment with the Devil.”
      2. Answer the following question in two paragraphs (minimum 5 sentences each). Consider what you already know about religion (Judaism, Buddhism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, Hinduism, Taoism) and the view of religion and religious freedom in the Roman Empire.
      3. How could Augustine’s religious view be considered contentious or controversial? How does it challenge existing religious views?
   2. Different Perspectives—The Fall of the Roman Empire, p. 177
      1. Read Sources A, B, C, and D.
      2. Answer the following question in one complete paragraph.
      3. How is Source D different from the other three sources? Hint: look at the label of the sources.
   3. Compare and Contrast
      1. Read Jerome (p. 177) and Nahum (p. 97).
      2. In a ten-sentence paragraph, describe
         1. The two cities and the empires that they represent, and
         2. How the feelings of the authors reflect the historical event.
   4. Edward Gibbon (p. 177). Gibbon’s book, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, was for many years the standard explanation of the end of the Roman Empire. Subsequent historians have developed other explanations for the events that led to the dissolution of the empire.
   5. Review these notes from the section on empires.
      1. Leadership Failure: Rome and Hellenistic Greece
      2. Overextension—Administrative responsibilities: Rome and China
      3. Economic Collapse—Cost outrun benefits as territories become more remote: China
      4. Doubts about Ideology—Justice of empire from ruling people leads to possible revolt of subjects: Rome
      5. Military Defeat from external enemies or revolt or both: Rome and China
   6. Using Gibbon and Ferrill (p. 177), the notes from empires, and the information in the textbook, write a five-paragraph essay describing the fall of Rome.
      1. This assignment will be started in class. It will be turned in typed in the class format.

Assessment/Assignments

5. Unit Questions—Answer the following questions in 3 complete sentences each.
   1. Do you think Christianity would have developed in the same way if it had arisen in an area outside the Roman Empire?
   2. How does Roman art differ from Greek art?
   3. What influence did Latin have on Western languages?
6. Assignments
   1. Make an illustrated list of the accomplishments of Roman culture.
      1. Include specific examples from the fine arts, literature, law, and engineering
      2. Include names of artists, buildings, littles of works
   2. List the five most important principles of law developed in Rome.
      1. Select one of the principles and explain how it is reflected in legal thinking today. (One paragraph)
   3. R. H. Barrow has stated that Rome never fell because it turned into something greater—an idea—and achieved immortality.
      1. In a two-paragraph essay, explain Barrow’s statement with concrete details from the textbook.