PART B: ESSAY
Directions: Using information from the documents provided and your knowledge of United States history, write a well-organized essay that includes an introduction, several paragraphs, and a conclusion.
Historical Context: Empires of the ancient world contributed to the history of humankind.
Task: Using information from the documents and your knowledge of global history and geography, write an essay in which you:
Describe three contributions of the empires of the ancient world. Then, choose one contribution that you think is the most significant to the history of humankind and explain why.
Guidelines: When writing your essay:
Directions: Using information from the documents provided and your knowledge of United States history, write a well-organized essay that includes an introduction, several paragraphs, and a conclusion.
Historical Context: Empires of the ancient world contributed to the history of humankind.
Task: Using information from the documents and your knowledge of global history and geography, write an essay in which you:
Describe three contributions of the empires of the ancient world. Then, choose one contribution that you think is the most significant to the history of humankind and explain why.
Guidelines: When writing your essay:
- Accurately analyze and address all the aspects of the Task and interpret and incorporate information from at least four of the 8-10 documents, along with relevant facts of knowledge you have obtained in Social Studies and Ancient Civilizations during the Golden Ages.
- Include details and examples: from the previous documents and your previous knowledge to write a well-organized essay on social studies, using your experiences to identify similarities of cultures you see in the United States cultures compared to similar Ancient cultures.
REMINDER!!!! Always be sure to....
- Support your organized essay by following a logical framework by establishing a Graphic Organizer as a framework to create a clear plan of the point of your essay.
- Use part of the question in your opening paragraph (introductory paragraph), be sure to state your idea, point of essay.
- Use transition words between paragraphs
- Edit your essay. Check your essay for errors such as: capitalization, punctuation, spelling, run-on sentences, and grammar.
- Include a closing paragraph by concluding the information you wanted to go beyond a simple sentence that is only restating the question, Task or Context.
Example of a "5 Point" Essay
Winston Churchill once said “Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” While he was referring to this in a negative sense, there is an immense amount of wisdom that we have drawn from those civilizations that have preceded us on this planet. Based on the previous documents, I will be discussing the impact of three of the ancient civilizations has had on our modern civilization and then making a case for which has had the greatest impact on our modern civilization. When time is taken to examine the world around us it is not too difficult to see a direct line of sight between our civilization and those of the ancient world. Whether it be the layout of our cities that mirror those of the twin cities of the Indus valley or the gunpowder we in our Fourth of July celebrations which is not all that unlike that used by the ancient Chinese, the past is all around us all we have to do is open our eyes to see it.
The three contributions from ancient civilizations that I will be examining are the city planning of twin cities of the Indus Valley, the discovery of gunpowder by the Chinese, and finally the influence of the Romans with their influence on our architecture and System of Government.
As anyone who has visited or lives in any Modern metropolis can tell you, a well planned and laid out city has a major impact on our daily lives. The fact the forethought that went into the city planning of twin cities of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa was not duplicated for another 2500 year by the Romans shows how far ahead of their time these cities really were. The grid like pattern of the streets and wider roads that allowed for two-way traffic shows that the city planners recognized the need for both ease of navigation and bi-directional traffic flow. Additionally, the modern amenities included in their homes such as baths and toilets, as well as, narrow doorways and no windows shows that they saw the need for hygiene. The issue with the “twin cities” that holds them back is that while all of their advancements are truly revolutionary, the fact we did not see their achievements for another 2500 years. Someone once said that “imitation is the greatest source of flattery” if this is true then why did it take another 2500 years for their advancements to take hold. That being said, this doesn’t diminish their achievement, it just lessens their potential impact on our modern civilization.
While it may be easy to exclude the “twin cities” of the Indus Valley from this discussion the next two civilizations have played a major role in shaping our modern world. One could argue that Chinese discovery of gunpowder has changed civilization like no other invention.
Regardless of sex or ethnicity, nationality or religion, since the invention of gunpowder every living sole on this planet has had their life touched in some manner be this invention. It could be as innocent as attending a Fourth of July Fireworks display or life altering as being involved in one of this planets countless wars, we all have come into contact with or our lives have been altered do to gunpowder’s discovery. The very shape of our country was influenced by it, the centennial army’s lack of necessary firepower, to take and hold the Canadian territory, for reason alone it has to be one of the most significant contributions to mankind. As much as the Chinese’s discovery of gunpowder is associated with change through violent means, the contributions of the Romans that remain today are associated with change through less violent means, but change none the less.
While the Roman Empire certainly isn’t a story of non-violence, the contributions that we have held onto threw the millennium are of a less violent nature, but no less impactful. In addition to the architectural influence that can be readily seen in almost every major city in the world, the three tiered system of government that the Romans developed, not only is the system of government that the United States is modeled after, but also a majority of the western European Countries today. The beauty exemplified by the Roman architecture is obvious, but beyond the beauty there was a practicality that has served as the foundation upon which many advances in the field are based. The key advancement made by the Romans was the “Roman Arch” it provides the fundamental and structural soundness that allowed multi-level buildings to be built. While the impact on architecture has been profound, the impact that the Roman’s had on the world’s government may be its greatest legacy. While imperfect in its origins, the three tiered system that was adopted by our fore-fathers is a system in which every person’s voice in theory is heard, without such a system much of the world may still be living under dictatorships.
While all the three advancements played crucial roles in modern civilization and arguments could be made for each, to define which one has played the most critical role I feel the one defining criteria must the breadth of influence that the civilization has on the world. Based on the fact that their architecture and forms of government are just two of the advancements that the Romans have left for the modern world that they must be the most influential of the ancient civilizations.
