UNIT TWO: Organization and Reorganization of Human Societies
Periodization: 600 B.C.E. to 600 C.E.
Length of Class Time: 4 weeks
Reading: Ways of the World chapters 3-7. “The Other Third of the Globe” (essay on the development of Oceania) by Ben Finney.
KEY CONCEPTS
1.1 The Development and Codification of Religious and Cultural Traditions
1. Codification and further developments of existing religious traditions provided a bond among the people and ethical code to live by.
2. New belief systems and cultural traditions emerged and spread often asserting universal truths.
3. Belief systems affected gender roles. Buddhism and Christianity encouraged monastic life and Confucianism emphasized filial piety.
4. Other religious and cultural traditions continued parallel to the codified, written belief systems in core civilizations.
5. Artistic expressions, including literature and drama, architecture and sculpture, show distinctive cultural developments.
2.2. The Development of States and Empires
1. The number and size of key states and empires grew dramatically by
imposing political unity on areas where previously there had been competing states.
2. Empires and states developed new techniques of imperial administration based, in part, on the success of earlier political forms.
3. Unique social and economic dimensions developed in imperial societies in Afro-Eurasia and the Americas.
4. The Roman, Han, Persian, Mauryan, and Gupta empires political, cultural, and administrative difficulties that they could not manage, which eventually led to their decline, collapse, and transformation into successor empires or states.
2.3 Emergence of Transregional Networks of Communication and Exchange
1. Land and water routes became the basis for transregional trade, communication, and exchange networks in the Eastern Hemisphere.
2. New technologies facilitated long-distance communications and exchange.
3. Alongside the trade in goods, the exchange of people, technology, religious and cultural beliefs, food crops, domesticated animals, and disease pathogens developed across far-flung networks of communication and exchange.
Topics for discussion: World Religions (Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Daoism, Confucianism and Animism in Australasia, Ancestor in East Asia); Classical Civilizations (Persia, Qin and Han, Maurya and Gupta Empires, Phoenicia, Greece, Rome, Teotihuacan, Maya, and Moche); Trade Networks (Silk Road, the Indian Ocean, Mediterranean, and Trans-Saharan).
Assignments:
1) Writing – students will continue to work on comparative essay. Possible prompts include: compare the basic features of two classical civilizations; or compare two the major religions or philosophic systems (Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Daoism, Judaism, Christianity, or Greco-Roman philosophy); compare the reasons for and the outcome of the fall of two classical civilizations (Rome, Han China, and the Gupta). Students will also be introduced to the CCOT essay with a thesis development workshop.
2) Timeline – students will create a timeline for the period connecting events by relationships between the causes and consequences of the events.
3) Reflective Blog – students will write a reflective commentary considering the trans-regional networks of communication and exchange and the consequences of long-distance trade during this era and its connection to the larger story of world history.
4) Primary Source Analysis: Using soapstone students will investigate the following primary sources: Journeys of Faxian, Leviticus, Bhagavad Gita, Aristotle’s Politics, plus visuals of coins from Rome, Han, Gupata and Yap. Visuals of architecture in Mediterranean, Middle East, South Asian, East Asia, and Mesoamerica; and ancient maps.
5) Debate (Point/Counterpoint) – Did Christianity liberate women? Or did the benefits of the First Emperor of China’s rule outweigh the human cost?
6) Create of notecards of key terms to be used for review.
Unit Two Test: 25 multiple-choice question, in-class essay CCOT.
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