I don't want to get into this too deeply, as i don't want to be smacked by Faultline (and deservedly smacked, I might add...)
But just to give you a little flavor, let me read to you from the index on the Roman Empire and the Roman Republic- considering the breadth of this book, I think they are VERY well covered:
Roman Empire: Charlemagne as emperor 114, Christianity 76-77, Daily life 74-75, decline of 77, emperors 72, engineering 73, expansion 73, Germanic invasion 113, imperialism of 430, India, trade with 73, 83, 85, legal system 73, Otto the Great as king 122, reforms 72, religion 75, science 73-74, see also Roman republic
Roman Republic 453, 455, corruption 72, daily life 71, end of 72, establish 70-71, expansion 71-72, generals 72, Greece, contributions to 71, laws 71, punic wars 71-72
Now this text, which seems pretty good for an overview, would be just the jumping off point. Your questions are the kinds of things that should be discussed in the classroom. Obviously the book discusses some of the reasons why Rome was successful (stealing from Greece, military prowess, organizational excellence, etc) but to go into this in depth one needs a Roman history class. After all world history starts with human civilization and ends with the present. considering you only get 5 hours a week for 9 months (with holidays off) to cover all that...
My only problem with world history is that they don't stress the time line enough- so kids don't have as good a grasp of when things occurred as they should have. I think being able to hang things correctly in time greatly increases learning- sine it's such an easy scaffold to build, to support the acquisition of knowledge. |
