1. Agenda Reading Big Questions:
Reflections: Classical Empires and the Twentieth Century
Big Questions:
In 3 o’clock appointment address your assigned BIG QUESTION
Meet with another expert group and discuss answers
Find 3 others who are experts in the other questions and discuss your answers
Class discussion
Work on chart for tomorrow organize and bucket your information into SPRITE
See posted reading outlining similarities and differences of China and Rome

2. Controlled large areas and populations
What common features can you identify in the empires you studied? (Persia, Greece, Rome, and China)
Controlled large areas and populations
Brought together by conquest and funded in part by extracting wealth from conquered peoples
Stimulated the exchange of ideas, cultures, and values amongst peoples they conquered
Sought to foster imperial identity that transcended more local identities and loyalties
Collapsed

3. Some were new; others drew on older traditions
In what ways did these empires differ from one another? What accounts for these differences?
Some sought to rule through local elites; some with a more centralized power structure
Some were new; others drew on older traditions
Some lasted for considerably longer periods than others
Some assimilated conquered peoples more quickly and completely than others

4. Impressive Destructiveness
Are you more impressed with greatness of empires or with their destructive and oppressive features?
Impressive
Impact on regions conquered
Sheer size and populations they ruled
Military conquests
Monumental architecture and public works associated with promotion of political authority
Destructiveness
Use of force necessary to build and maintain power
Coercion to extract resources from conquered peoples

5. Several perspectives (reflections section)
Do you think that the classical empires hold lessons for the present, or are present circumstances too unique as to cause the past to be irrelevant?
Several perspectives (reflections section)
Cultural memory of empires being used in modern world.
Mao Zedong, British imperialism, Mussolini
From opening of chapter
Lessons for the US (Are we Rome?)
Conquests led to political shift from a republic to an empire/imperial political system
Basic problems such as overextension and creation of a unified identify that redefines conquered peoples are timeless issues that still exist today