Ancient Civilizations
Ms. Cave
Post-Classical Civilizations Performance Task
Due Date: Thursday. April 28th
Library Days: 4/13, 14, 15, 25, 26, 27
Enduring Understanding: Conflict and cooperation among Islamic, Byzantine, and
Western European societies produced distinct civilizations.
Unit Question: In what ways did post-classical civilizations serve as a link between
eastern and western cultures, and how did they provide an intersection between the
ancient and modern worlds?
Task: Your task is to create a journal as you travel throughout the Islamic, Byzantine
and Western European post-classical civilizations. Your travel journal will record your
impressions of the civilizations and how they interact with and influence each other.
Role: You are a traveler through late antiquity in the tradition of Ibn Battuta and Marco
Polo. You will observe the civilizations you journey through (at least one Islamic,
Byzantine and Western European area) and create a journal that will ensure your status as
a great scholar and will become an important artifact that later historians can study.
Audience: The target audience is the ruler and noble families of your home country.
You hope to impress them with the breath and depth of your observations during your
travels. You will present your journal as a gift to your ruler. During the gift-giving ritual,
the court will ask you questions that require you to explain and clarify your assertions.
Audience Questions:
 In what ways do you see aspects of our civilization in other cultures?
 In what ways have other civilizations rejected parts of our culture?
 What is the role of conflict or war in the transmission of civilization?
 What types of peaceful interactions did you observe amongst the civilizations?
How might those interactions affect the development of distinct civilizations?
 Do you see any evidence of influence of ancient civilizations? If so, what are
they?
 Which civilization seemed to gain the most from the others? Which one seemed
to give the most?
 How ere you as a traveler treated in the various civilizations? What personal
characteristics mad your journey easier? What personal characteristics made your
journey harder?
 What are positive aspects of the cultural interactions? What are the negative
aspects?
Situation: You will create a journal about Post-Classical civilizations as you journey
through them. You will start in your home civilization; you will pick one country/part of
the Islamic, Byzantine or Western European civilizations to be your home. You will then
“travel” through the other two. You must pick actual and specific places to visit. For
example, you can visit Venice, but you cannot visit “Western Europe”.
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You will observe the unique qualities of the cultures you visit, but look closely for
commonalities.
You should describe the other travelers you meet (especially those from other
cultures) and how they manage in a foreign civilization, including any instances
of inter-cultural sharing and cooperation.
You should note any obstacles you encounter, like armed conflict, bandits,
discrimination and more.
Action: Purpose and Product: You will research your travels using varied resources to
prepare TEN journal entries. The journal entries may include illustrations, drawings,
maps and other original media. Those original media must reflect the cultural
interactions of the civilizations (think about technology, art, literature, weaponry,
languages, etc). The journal will address the interactions among the Islamic, Byzantine,
and Western European civilizations. You must explain and analyze how the civilizations
influenced each other and provided a link between cultures.
Resources/Props: You will use:
 Your textbook
 The Library
o Books, periodicals
o Internet (academic sites)
o Databases
o Librarian
Rubric: Standards and Criteria for Success:
 Travel journal with TEN entries detailing travel, as described in the situation.
 Response to audience questions
 Submission of a reflection.
Reflection: Complete the following on a 3.5 index card
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As a result of completing this task, I believe that all cultures have
_____________________________ in common because……