AP World History, Period 2: The Classical World, 600 BCE to 600 CE

Greece and Persia: 585 BCE to 100 CE + Teachers Notes

The interactions between the Persians and the Greeks in the two centuries from before the Persian Wars to after the time of Alexander the Great.

Classical India: 500 BCE to 500 CE + Teachers Notes

The history of the Indian subcontinent from the time of the Buddha to that of the Gupta Empire.

Imperium: The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire: 500 BCE to 500 CE + Teachers Notes

This sequence of maps follows the fortunes of Rome as it faces down threats to its very existence in its early days and goes on to dominate the Mediterranean world.

Teaching about Classical Civilizations using the TimeMap of World History

Suggestions on how to use the TimeMap of World History with your students. They focus on using the free maps, but are equally relevant to the premium maps.

These suggestions are in addition to those offered in the teaching notes which accompany each Premium unit.

World

Maps:

For a global perspective on this period, see:

World maps for 500 BCE – 200 BCE – 30 BCE – 200 CE – 500 CE

Ancient Europe

Maps:

For a broad perspective on Europe, seeing the ancient civilizations of Greece and Rome in their wider context and particularly useful in showing the extent of these civilizations at different dates, see:

Europe 500 BCE – 200 BCE – 30 BCE – 200 CE – 500 CE

For a close-up on the civilizations of ancient Greece and Rome, see:

• Greece 500 BCE – 200 BCE – 30 BCE
• Italy 500 BCE – 200 BCE

Articles:

Key articles on civilizations, covering society, economy, culture and so on:

Ancient Europe
Ancient Greece
The Etruscans
Ancient Rome

The Ancient Middle East

Maps:

For a broad perspective on the Middle East in this period, including the Persian empire, the Middle East after Alexander the Great, and the Parthian and Sasanid empires, see:

Middle East 500 BCE – 200 BCE – 30 BCE – 200 CE – 500 CE

Follow the links in these maps to the individual countries for more detail, but for the Jews and the beginnings of Christianity see especially:

Syria 500 BCE – 200 BCE – 30 BCE – 200 CE – 500 CE

See also for the development of the Indian Ocean spice trade:

Arabia 500 BCE – 200 BCE – 30 BCE – 200 CE – 500 CE

Articles:
The Middle East
Ancient Israel
Late Babylonian Empire
The Persian Empire
Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic World
History of Ancient Egypt (under the Persians and the Ptolemies)
The Parthian Empire
The Sasanian Empire

Ancient India

Maps:

For India at the time of the Buddha, the Mauryan empire, the Indo-Greeks and the Gupta empire, see:

India and South Asia 500 BCE – 200 BCE – 30 BCE – 200 CE – 500 CE

Articles:
The Classical Age of Ancient India
The Mauryan Empire
Gandhara India – including the Indo-Greeks

Ancient China

Maps:

For China at the time of Confucius, the Qin and Han empires, and the time of division, see:

China 500 BCE – 200 BCE – 30 BCE – 200 CE – 500 CE

For a broader perspective on East Asia, seeing the links between China and its neighbours, and the emergence of urban civilization in Korea and Japan, see:

East Asia 500 BCE – 200 BCE – 30 BCE – 200 CE – 500 CE

Articles:

The Zhou dynasty
The Qin dynasty
The Han dynasty
Divided China

Africa

Maps:

For the Bantu migrations and the trans-Saharan trade route, see:

Africa 500 BCE – 200 BCE – 30 BCE – 200 CE – 500 CE

West Africa 500 CE

Ancient America

Maps:

For the Andean cultures, including the Moche civilization:

Peru 500 BCE – 200 BCE – 30 BCE – 200 CE – 500 CE

For Mesoamerica, including Teotihuacan and the early Mayan civilization, see:

Central America 500 BCE – 200 BCE – 30 BCE – 200 CE – 500 CE

Articles:
Pre-Columbian civilization