Ancient Rome: Videos, Lectures & Seminars

 Studying ancient Rome?

Here's a great YouTube playlist from the American Institute for Roman Culture that offers videos for every aspect of Roman culture.

The  American Institute for Roman Culture website includes seminars and lectures. Some of the past lectures have included The Seven Hills of Rome,  the Myths of Rome's Foundation,  and the Deification of the Roman Emperor. Some of the lectures are geared towards kids like "Daily Life in Ancient Rome for Kids."

The videos on their YouTube channel are short, from 12 to 23 minutes, and cover everything from the origins of Rome to the end of the Republic.

A series of short (2 to 4 minutes) videos introduce you to Roman monuments such as the coliseum,  the Temple of Venus and Roma,  the Basicila of Neptune, and the Bernini Obelisk.

Another series of videos introduce you to Roman daily life.  Most of these are short except for the one about the mobs and crowds of people in Rome, which runs about 30 minutes.

The Haitian Revolution: Was it the Most Significant?

Was the Haitian Revolution with its assertion of human rights the defining event of the revolutions period in the 18th and 19th centuries?

That's the argument that Duke professor, Laurent Dubois, makes in the digital magazine Aeon. Dubois argues that the Haitian Revolution was the most radical revolution because of its demand for human rights. He calls it a "signal and a transformative moment in the political history of the world."

Dubois argues that the revolution struck the heart of the economic system in the 18th century when Haitian revolutionaries overturned the slave system that dominated much of colonial America.

This is a fascinating essay definitely worth incorporating into an honors or AP class.

Mita & Encomienda Labor Systems: Excellent Recorded Lecture

Here is an excellent recorded lecture on the mita system from another teacher.

It runs about 30 minutes and offers a great overview. I learned stuff about the mita system that I did not know, mainly that it lasted until the end of colonization.

I played the first 5 or 10 minutes in class for students and then posted it on classroom.

The same professor also has a lecture on the encomienda system as well.

Trans-Pacific Silver Trade: Four Great Resources

 

Studying the silver trade between 1450 and 1750. Here are four terrific resources. Three podcasts about silver and an awesome multimedia site about the Manila Galleon.

1. 15 Minute History, a podcast from the University of Texas at Austin, discusses the trans-Pacific slave trade. Kristie Flannery, a doctoral candidate at the University of Texas, describes Manila in the 16th century as the 12th largest city in the world serving the Spanish as a source of wealth through tax of natives, as an ideal location for trade with China, and Manila was a great location for the Spanish to convert natives to Christianity.
2. In another 15 Minute History Episode, Kristie Flannery discusses the Trans-Pacific silver trade and argues that it marks the beginning of globalization. 
3. Footnoting History Podcast has a great episode on the Potosi silver mine in the Andes mountains of modern-day Bolivia.
4. The China Ship, from the South China Morning Post, is an awesome multimedia site all about the Manilla Galleon. Historian Kristie Flannery, calls the galleon the umbilical cord that connected Manilla to the Americas and Mexico. I made questions for each of the four chapters on the site.
5. Here is Bram Hubell's essay about the Trans-Pacific Silver trade called 
   “The Longest and Most Dreadful Voyage in the World”: Trans-Pacific Slavery and the Early Modern Pacific, c. 1500 - c.1800.

The Changing Role of Women Throughout History: Great Documentary

How did the role of women change over time?

That's the question that historian Amanda Forman tries to answer in this terrific documentary series from BBC. It's available now for streaming on Netflix.

Forman's tries to answer three questions throughout the series: why did civilization become almost exclusively male, why have almost all civilizations put limits on women's sexuality, movement and liberty, and what makes the status of women so susceptible to the dictates of politics and economics. 

The first episode called Civilization begins about 8000 years ago in central Anatolia in the early neolithic settlement of Çatalhöyük. Archeologists believe that this early society had no social hierarchy and that women were equal to men. They see no evidence of a ceremonial center or "chiefly house."

Indeed all the houses are similar in size and height signifying no one enjoyed a special status. In addition, burial sites show that women ate the same diet as men and did similar labor as men because of the wear and tear on their bones. They also show communal ties, but not blood ties, suggesting that the idea of family might have been very different.

By Omar Hoftun (Own work)  via Wikimedia Commons

In addition figurines, particularly the so-called seated woman of Çatalhöyük, suggest that some women might have served as deities. Forman wonders if a woman, rather than a man, might have been god in early society. This evident gender equality disappears in later millennia, especially in Mesopotamia where  women became increasingly more invisible.  Veiling, for example, became prominent, almost 1000 years before Islam. Law codes, like Hammurabi's Code, cemented the new hierarchy.

But nowhere did the role of change so much as it did in Greece. Here, according to one historian, women were restricted as much as the Taliban restricts women today.

This first episode is ideal for students. It's a great review of classical history and clearly demonstrates the graphic changes in the status and role of women over time. The three other episodes in the series includes Separation, Power, and Revolution. Here's the  trailer for the series and below that is Part I from Civilization.

 

Hindu India: Terrific Short Documentary

Teaching Hinduism?  The Himalayan Academy, which publishes Hinduism Today magazine, has a terrific 23 minute documentary about the origins and features of Hinduism.

The documentary is engaging and includes great photography. It's divided into five short parts: origins, sacred texts, Hindu society,  beliefs and practices, and finally, festivals.

One way the film engages students is by juxtaposing ancient beliefs and ritual with modern beliefs. For example, you'll see an ancient fire pit followed by clips of contemporary Hindus involved with fire worship.  You'll see a 2000 year old stone carving of a Hindu meditating in the lotus position followed by a contemporary  Hindu meditating in the same way.

According to Murali Balaji, a director of education at the Hindu American Foundation, and writing for the Huffington Post, the film was made in response  to "the problem of negative portrayal of Hinduism and India in school textbooks."

Rome Reborn: Narrated by Khan Academy

Many of you may have seen Bernard Fischer's 3-D model of Rome showing a simulation of the city's urban development. It's pretty cool as is!

Khan Academy took the  model and narrated the the tour of the buildings making the clip even more meaningful to students.

Hanseatic League: Two Good Video Clips

While it did not rival either the Indian Ocean or Silk Road trade, the Hanseatic League knit together northern Europe and the Baltics into a very profitable trade confederation.

It started in the middle of the 13th century and continued for 300 years. At its height, it included over 200 cities like Lübeck, Reval, Riga, and Dorpat.

Some of the products traded included Flemish cloth, salt, herring and furs. And Novgorod traded wax and honey.

Some historians even argue that the League was a forerunner of the European Common Market today.

Here are two short clip that summarize the importance of the League. The first takes you on quick tour of the Hanseatic museum in Bergen. And the second takes you on a tour of Lübeck.

How Dark were The Dark Ages?

The Dark Ages were not so dark, according to this fascinating clip from PragerU.

They were full of color with carnivals, and revived popular drama and they invented the university.

And don't forget architecture! Gothic cathedrals brought color and light.

  

European Sailors and Navigational Tools in the Age of Encounter and Exchange

Studying European sailors in the 1500's? Here are two good resources, both of which might work for short web quests. Here is a link to one that I made.

One includes the Mariners Museum lets you explore the instruments of exploration as well the explorers by time period.  During the Age of Discovery, you can look at short biographies of the major explorers,  and short overviews of ships like the carrack and carrack and tools like the backstaff and quadrant.

PBS World Explorers is another great resource. It uses Google Earth to show voyages of Cabot, Drake,  Magellan and Vespucci, DeGamma, and Columbus.

Buddhism Along the Silk Road: Hyperdoc

Here is a Hypedoc (Webquest) about the spread of Buddhism along the Silk Road between the 2nd and 12th centuries.

It's based on a terrific website simply called " A History of the Silk Road.  It has tabs for Buddhism, important people, travelers (including Ibn Battuta and Marco Polo), inventions (such as paper and gunpowder), Pax Mongolica, and even the Belt and Road Initiative.

Another resource for the hyperdoc was the Sackler Museum's digital exhibit of the Sogdians  (who the museum called "Influencers on the Silk Road.")  The Sogdians were central Asian nomads known for their trade and agriculture during their golden age between the 4th and 8th centuries.

The variety of religion was a big feature of Sogdian culture. In an essay called "Believers, Proselytizers, and Translators, the authors review the development of Zoroastrianism, which started in Iran.

My hyperdoc takes students into the Sackler Exhibit and asks them questions about Zoroastrianism and introduces them to the geography of the Silk Road with a terrific google map. In addition, it looks at the development of Buddhism, especially at its height during the Song Dynasty.  Students also read some of Ibn Batuttua's writing about Muslim life in West Africa.

Greece and Rome: Two Excellent Overviews

Here are two terrific video reviews of Greece and Rome. 
The Greece review runs 18 minutes and the Rome review runs just over 20 minutes.

Mugals- Art & Tolerance

In this review of Mughal art, William Dalrymple offers a terrific portrait of the Mughal emperors -- Akbar, Humayun, Jahangir, and Shah Jahan.

All four promoted and patronized art.  That art was colorful and liberal, at least by Muslim standards. Persians, for example, were scandalized by the art calling it "too ripe and rounded' and "too bright and colorful."  According to Dalrymple, that was because the art did not show the "restraint and geometric perfection of Safavid painting."

The Mughal love for art and its emphasis on liberalism shows a strong humanist streak in many Mughal emperors and especially, Akbar.

According to Dalrymple,  Akbar "succeeded in uniting Hindus and Muslims in the service of a multi-ethnic, multi-religious state, promoting Hindus in his civil service, marrying Hindu princesses and entrusting his army to the Rajput ruler of Jaipur."

Akbar's love for art included religious Christian art like frescoes of Christain saints and painted images of Christ.

Although the art exhibits about which Darylmple writes closed long ago, his essays offer world history students an engaging overview of the Mughals.

Sunni/Shia Divide- Resources

Here are some excellent resources for reviewing the Sunni/ Shia split. I paraticularly like the clip from the Council of Foreign Relations which is only eight minutes.  The NPR story and brodcast is also very good.

From Pew Form on Religion and Public Policy

• The New York Times: How do Sunni and Shia Differ
• An awesome Prezi with embedded video clips
• NPR: Origins of the Sunni/ Shia split
• Council of Foreign Relations: A terrific eight minute video clip reviewing the differences
• NBC News: A short but good clip, What Are the Differences Between Sunni and Shiite Muslims? 
• Pew Form on Religion and Public Life: The Sunni-Shia divide: Where they live, what they believe and how they view each other 

Comics Ideal for World and US History

Here is one of several great comics ideal for World History and U.S History. They were developed by the NYCDOE Department of Social Studies & Civics and tweeted by Joe Schmidt, a curriculum specialist in New York who helped develop the resources. 

 The comics are relatively short, about 25 to 30 pages. All of them are free.  A generic lesson plan that we often use with short comics is to have kids choose five panels that best summarize the story and copy them into a slide deck. After that, students write a short paragraph summarizing the story based on the comic. 

 In addition to the story about Simon Bolivar, there is another excellent comic about Olaudah Equiano, a slave born into the Igbo community in what is now Nigeria. He was captured and sent on a slave ship bound for Barbados. He was eventually sold to a Quaker and over the years was able to purchase his freedom and got involved in the abolition movement and published a narrative of his horrific journey across the Atlantic.

In addition to World History, I also teach US History. The NYCDOE Department of Social Studies & Civics developed a great comic about one of the worst race riots in US History, called the New York City Draft Riots by Nick Bertozzi. It took place in the middle of the Civil War in New York City in 1863 when President Lincoln passed the Enrollment Act, a conscription law that mandated that all citizens between 18 and 40 enroll in the military draft. Protests against the draft turned into a race riot when Irish protesters attacked African Americans because of their competition for low wage jobs and because African Americans were excluded from the draft because they were not citizens.

You can read more about the NYC Draft Riots here at Zinn Education.

Finally, here is a page with all of the NYCDOE Department of Social Studies & Civics comics.

Using Google Gemini to Create Assignments

If you have never used AI to create an assignment, you should give it a try.

I teach World History, both AP World and general World History for freshmen.  I uploaded chapter 1 and 2 about early man and the Paleolithic era in our textbook, Patterns of Interaction, to Google Gemini, and asked it to create a choice board assignment. 

Here is a link to what it created.  I copied the assignment to another google doc and color coded the choices.

Next, I uploaded Chapter 2 about early river valley civilizations and asked it create another choice board. Again, I copied it to another google doc and color coded it.

You can also ask Gemini to create a vocabulary matching quiz based on any chapter you are studying.  Here is a matching quiz I asked it to create on the Paleolithic era.  I copied it to a google doc and reformatted it.

I experimented further and asked Gemini create a test and it did a decent job. It's definitely worth checking out.

Alexander the Not So Great: Through Persian Eyes

He destroyed the great capital of Persepolis and the temples and emblems of the ancient Zoroastrian religion. So, unlike Westerners who tend to see Alexander as a great conqueror and military genius, Iranians do not see him as so great.

In an fascinating article for BBC News Magazine, Iranian historian, Ali Ansari, professor in modern history and director of The Institute of Iranian Studies at The University of St Andrews, Scotland, suggests that Alexander came to regret the destruction he wrought in Persia. He believes that had Alexander lived, "he may have restored and repaired more" than he did during his life.

You can also listen to Professor Ansari on BBC4 Radio 4 in an an excellent  3-part series "exploring world history from a Persian perspective."  Each episode is about 30 minutes and offers some great history through Persian eyes. In part 1, Professor Ansari discusses Zoroastrianism.

A History of the World, I Guess: Bill Wurtz's CLEAN Version

Here's an engaging history of the world (this is the clean, school version--yes, there's a not-so-clean version).

It was made by Bill Wurtz who also made a history of Japan that was released in 2015 and  earned over 3 million views on its first day. But be careful. Look for the clean version before showing it to your class.

Who Were the Sogdians

Here is a hyperdoc about the Sogdians who played a critical role in the trade of goods and ideas on the Silk Road.  It's based on an excellent online exhibit about the Sogdians from the National Museum of Asian Art.

The exhibit has four chapters: the Sogdians at Home: Believers, Proselytizers & Translators; the Sogdians Abroad; and the Rediscovery of the Sogdians.

The Sogdians were an Iranian people whose homeland, Sogdiana, was between present-day Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, right on the Silk Road. They rose to prominence between the 4th and 5th centuries, capitalizing on their location. 

They developed a merchant society and made money on the trade between China and other parts of Asia. According to Judith Lerner  and Thomas Wide, writing for the National Museum of Asian Art, "mobile, multilingual, and highly skilled, the Sogdians were able to connect disparate regions, transfer goods and ideas across long distances, and oil the wheels of global trade and exchange."

Decolonization in Ghana & Kenya: Two Short Documentaries

Studying decolonization?  Here are two terrific short (25 to 30 minutes) documentaries about two independence movements in Africa--in Ghana and Kenya.

Both are from CCTV News, a 24-hour English news channel, of China Central Television, based in Beijing.

You can find questions for both videos in the New Visions Global Curriculum for 10th grade. Look for the unit on decolonization and nationalism. You'll find links to both videos with questions and other short activities

.