Focus: In this unit (Unit 2 for schools using the CKHG series in Sequence grade-level order), students explore how the cultural and political traditions of ancient Greece and Rome have influenced Western society more profoundly than perhaps any other civilizations in world history. The political institutions of these two great civilizations—including the early forms of democracy established in Athens and several other city-states of ancient Greece, and the judicious power sharing articulated in the Roman Republic—have been incorporated into many subsequent societies.
For ancient Greece, topics of study include the beginnings of democratic government; limitations of Greek democracy; the “classical” ideal in art and life; Pericles and the Golden Age; Greek myths; the Persian Wars and the Peloponnesian War; the philosophers Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle; and, the spread of Greek culture. For ancient Rome, topics of study include government and society in the Roman Republic; the Punic Wars; Julius Caesar; Caesar Augustus, the Pax Romana, and law and administration in the Roman Empire; the significance of Virgil’s Aeneid; Christianity under Roman rule; Constantine; and the causes of the “decline and fall” of the Roman Empire.
Number of Lessons: 35
Lesson Time: 45 minutes each daily. Each lesson may be divided into shorter segments.
Additional Search Terms: social studies • geography • map skills • nonfiction • informational text • primary source documents • myths • Mediterranean region • city-state • Athens • Parthenon • Olympics • Apollo and Daphne • Orpheus and Eurydice • Narcissus and Echo • Thermopylae • Sparta • Alexandria • the Pantheon • Ovid • Pygmalion and Galatea myths • patricians and plebeians • consuls, tribunes, senators • Carthage • Hannibal • Shakespeare
CKHG Grade Levels: CKHG units are correlated to topics at the grade levels specified in the Core Knowledge Sequence, which allows students in schools following the Sequence to build knowledge grade by grade. This particular unit falls in Grade 6 in the Core Knowledge Sequence. In other settings, individual CKHG units may be used as supplemental resources. In general, the content and presentation in the CKHG units for Grade 6 are appropriate for students in Grade 6 and up.
