World History > Redefining World Society and Culture > Rise and Fall of the Classical and Medieval World > Page 5 of 15

Unit 1: Redefining World Society and Culture

Lesson C: Rise and Fall of the Classical and Medieval World

Opening: Classical and Medieval Empires

There have been many empires in history. Some you have probably heard of might include the Egyptian Empire, the Persian Empire, the Roman Empire, the Aztec Empire, and the British Empire. Some empires you might not be familiar with such as the Tang Empire, the Gupta Empire, and the Songhai Empire. Take a moment to examine the empires of the Classical and Medieval Periods.

Empire	Location	Date Marking the "Rise" of the Empire	Date Marking the "Fall" of the Empire	Years in Existence
Mauryan Empire	India/South Asia	322 BCE	185 BCE	137 years
Han Empire	China/East Asia	206 BCE	220 CE	426 years
Roman Empire	Europe/North Africa/Southwest Asia	27 BCE	476 CE	503 years
Mayan Empire	Central America	250 CE	900 CE	650 years
Gupta Empire	India/South Asia	320 CE	600 CE	280 years
Byzantine Empire	South & Southeast Europe/North Africa/Southwest Asia	330 CE	1453 CE	1123 years
Tang Empire	China/East Asia	618 CE	907 CE	289 years
Song Empire	China/East Asia	960 CE	1279 CE	319 years
Mongol Empire	South, Central, Southeast, East Asia/East Europe	1206 CE	1368 CE	162 years
Mali Empire	West Africa	1230 CE	1600 CE	370 years
Songhai Empire	West Africa	1340 CE	1591 CE	251 years
Aztec Empire	Mexico/Southern North America	1428 CE	1519 CE	91 years
Incan Empire	Peru & Chile/South America	1438 CE	1533 CE	95 years

image of classroom blackboard with world history written on it

Classroom Activity - Classical and Medieval Empires

Discussion

Directions: Prepare a response to the discussion question(s) below. Follow your teacher's directions to participate in your class discussion.

What patterns did you see in the chart? Did certain regions of the world have more empires than others?
What do you already know about empires in general? What do you already know about these particular empires?
Why do you think some empires were in existence longer than others?
How and why do you think these empires fell?

Select the link to review the Discussion Scoring Tool (pdf).

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