AP® World History Teaching Unit A3: Early Afro-Eurasian Empires as Culturally Diverse Entities

[Electronic Document] This unit explores three early empires: Persia under the Achaemenid dynasty (ca. 550-331 B.C.E.); Rome in the era of the Pax Romana (27 B.C.E.-180 C.E.); and China under the Tang dynasty (618-907). The unit documents the cultural diversity of each of the empires, and leads students through analysis of how the leaders of empires coped with the diversity within their realm. The unit consists of five lessons: 1) a discussion of the basic characteristics of empires; 2) Persia's first empire; 3) the Roman ecumene; 4)a comparative study of religious tolerance and syncretism in the Roman World and Tang China; 5) comparison of religious intolerance and persecution in the Roman World and Tang China. Classroom activities include analysis of maps, discussion of texts revealing state policy toward religions, debate on the benefits of imperial dominance, discussion of the phenomenon of syncretism in religion, and the students' creation of pseudo primary sources.

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