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Unit 2: River Valley CivilizationsIn Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, and India, permanent settlements gave rise to the first civilizations among the fertile soils provided by the major rivers of these areas. These first civilizations were different from other settlements and from each other in their use of irrigation, cities, writing, religion, government institutions, and labor forces. China and India went on to create such advanced cultural innovations, historians refer to their later development as “classical civilizations.”
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Unit 4: Ancient Greece & RomeWhile civilization began in the fertile river valleys of Asia and Africa, the first “classical civilizations” emerged along the Mediterranean Sea in ancient Greece and Rome. From a series of independent city-states, such as Athens and Sparta, Classical Greece achieved a high level of cultural achievement in math, science, philosophy, theater, and government based on democracy. This “Hellenistic” culture was spread by Alexander the Great who conquered the Greeks, Egyptians, and Persians. From the nearby Italian peninsula, the classical civilization of Rome emerged, first as a republic ruled by elected senators. Later, after an era of intense expansion and corruption, Rome became an empire led by an emperor. Like the Greeks, the Romans developed a series of significant achievements in government, law, architecture, engineering, and religion based on Christianity. Like the classical cultures of Gupta India and Han China, much of the “Greco-Roman” achievements of the classical era are still used today Unit 4 Agenda |