History’s Great Empires
• A pictorial map look at the history of power struggles, conquest, war, and
cultural change in the world
Big questions:
1.What do these maps tell us about human nature (behavior)?
2.What motivates people to conquer and dominate others?
3.How does being conquered affect a people and its culture?
4.What factors allow some societies to be stronger than others?
5.What factors led to success and longevity of empires?
6.What factors led to failures/declines of empires?
Some of the many great empires of the Mediterranean…
3000 BCE—1900s CE
1. Ancient Egypt (circa 3000 BCE-30 BCE)
2. Babylonian (Sumerian) Empire (circa 2000 BCE-1500 BCE; 612 BCE-539 BCE)
3. Assyrian Empire (circa 850 BCE-600 BCE)
4. Persian Empire (circa 550 BCE- 350 BCE)
5. Greek/Macedonian Empire (circa 340 BCE – 300 BCE)
6. Roman Empire (circa 200 BCE-500 CE)
7. Byzantine Empire (500 CE-1453 CE)
8. Umayyad Caliphate Empire (circa 650 CE- 750 CE)
9. Ottoman Empire (circa 1288 CE-1922 CE)
1. Hypothesize 3 reasons that so many of the world’s great empires were located near
the Mediterranean Sea. Use the map and your knowledge of how physical geography
influences societies to make your guesses!
2. Make a 2-column list that sorts the 9 empires into short lived (less than 300 years)
and long lived (greater than 300 years). Hypothesize 2 reasons why some of the
empires were short lived while others lasted a long time.
1. Ancient Egypt
Kingdoms along Nile River valley unified under rule of supreme
leader (Pharaoh) circa 3000 BCE
Flourished as a distinct culture ruled by Pharaohs until about
30 BCE despite numerous invasions by Kushites (Nubians)
from south, Persians and Assyrians from northeast, and
Macedonians (Greeks) & Romans from north.
Babylonian Empire (Mesopotamia)
Famous for: Hammurabai’s Code, Tower of Babel (Biblical site, was it real?), King
Nebuchadnezzar, enslavement of Jews, Hanging Gardens palace…
Assyrian Empire (Mesopotamia)
Famous for: Strong, savage military. Attacks on Jerusalem (referenced in Bible)…
Persian Empire (map circa 500 BCE)
Government
leaders (Cyrus,
Darius) known for
tolerance,
kindness to
conquered
peoples, and
being good
political as well as
military leaders.
Quick write:
1.What are 2 possible reasons a leader would try to control so much territory as
Cyrus and Darius did?
2.What are 2 things that might have influenced Darius’ and other Persian leader’s
decisions of what land to conquer?
3.Name 2 things a leader would need in order to continue expanding his empire.
4.What might be a negative affect on the empire of having so much territory?
Classical Greece (approx 2000 BCE- 350 BCE) and Macedonian (AKA Greek) Empire
(approx 340 BCE- 300 BCE)
Macedonian Empire circa 320 BCE
Classical Greece (collection of city-states)
Macedonian Empire created by General
Alexander III the Great and his father, Philip
Quick write: Make a list of all the things that come to mind when you think of Classical
(some call it Ancient) Greece or Greek empire.
Persian Empire circa 500 BCE
Macedonian (AKA Greek) Empire
circa 320 BCE)
Quick write:
1.Describe any similarities and differences you see between the 2 maps
(and I don’t mean in terms of color or font!!)
2.What can you infer happened in the area of the map between 500 BCE
and 320 BCE?
3.Hypothesize 2 ways people’s lives in the shaded areas may have
changed or been impacted when the territories transitioned from Persian
rule to Macedonian/Greek rule.
Time lapse of growth of Roman Empire (44 BCE – 180 CE)
gbgm-umc.org/UMW/corinthians/empire.stm
Quick write:
1. Hypothesize 2 reasons why the Roman army was able to conquer so much land,
including areas that had once been under the control of mighty Assyrian, Persian, and
Macedonian empires.
2. Name 2 religions you think were being practiced by peoples in the orange (44 BCE)
and green (14 CE) territories when the Romans took control.
Byzantine Empire Growth and Decline
527 CE – 565 CE
Emperor Justinian “gets back”
Italy, southern tip of Spain and
north coast of Africa, regaining
some of the former Roman
Empire territories from Christian
Vandals
1,100 CE
•Peach territories lost to Islamic
expansion
•Yellow territory (southern Italy) lost to
the Normans (from the northern coast
of France)
Umayyad Caliphate Empire (circa 650 CE- 750 CE)
http://www.mideastweb.org/Middle-East-Encyclopedia/umayyad.htm
•fifth largest contiguous empire in history
•estimated to be the third largest by population, encompassing about 30% of the
world's population.
Ottoman Empire at its pinnacle
(circa 1580 CE)
Time lapse expansion of Ottoman Empire
Quick write: Based on the multiple colors representing expansion over time, what can you
infer about the Ottoman Empire in terms of:
•Government organization and power
•Army & technology
•The wealth of the government/empire
Time lapse decline of Ottoman Empire
Quick write:
Describe the geographic power shift this map depicts that took place in the 1800s and
early 1900s.
Other kickin’ empires around the world…
1200s CE
Genghis Khan,
Kublai Khan
create largest
contiguous empire (in
terms of territory) in
history of world (Great
Britain’s empire
contained more
territory, but was not all
connected)
Quick write: Describe the impacts of the Mongol Empire on the cultures of the
conquered territories.
Gupta Empire (320 CE- 550 CE)
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Holy Roman Empire (800 CE- 1806 CE)
Pope in Rome anoints kings within the territory as emperor of Holy Roman
Empire
Creates more formal division and rivalry between west and east (Rome vs.
Constantinople’s Emperor of Byzantine Empire) and the Orthodox and Catholic
churches
For 1000 years power struggles between Holy Roman and Pope
Ruled by
Russian
Czars
(Tsars) until
Bolshevik
Revolution
(civil war)
of 1917
turned
Russian
Empire into
Soviet
Union
(Colors
represent
year that
territory
was
acquired)
Qing Dynasty (China 1644 CE – 1911 CE)
Monarchy
ruled by
emperors until
revolution in
1911, led by
Sun Yat-sen,
turns China
into republic,
until
Communists
led by Mao
Zedong take
control in 1949.
Austro-Hungarian Empire (AKA Habsburg Empire) 1867-1918
•Essentially replaces
Holy Roman Empire.
•Empire dissolves
after losing WWI and
being broken apart by
the winners
“To the victors go the
spoils”
Let’s not forget the empires
created by European imperialism!
and colonialism!