Name _______________________ Due Date ________ Teacher ______________
Ancient Civilizations PowerPoint Project
Good Afternoon! In this project you will select an Ancient Civilization on which to do
research. The course of this project will take 6 weeks to complete. Over the course of 6 weeks,
you and your group will learn about ancient civilizations, as well as Microsoft PowerPoint.
Therefore the final project will be graded on its research content, your organization, and the
slide presentation itself. The total project is worth 100 points each and applies toward your
Social Studies and Computer Lab grade.
The following charts can help you to get started on your PowerPoint presentation. Your
final presentation will be at least 20 slides in length per group member, and no more than 25 in
total.
Social Studies Criteria
Each member of your group will be responsible for researching 2 of the 6 Ancient
Civilizations. It is up to your group how the work is to be divided, however the final project will
graded as a group grade. This means that you are all equally responsible for having all the
necessary information in your PowerPoint presentation. Feel free to double-check on each
other to make sure the project is moving forward toward completion.
Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia __________________________
Ancient Greece and India ________________________________
Ancient Rome and China _________________________________
The final project is due in 6 weeks: December 15, 16, 17 2010
Ancient Egypt
1. Geography
a. What is the major river source of Egypt? When are the flood seasons?
b. What cities were built along this river source?
c. How is this river source helpful to this ancient civilization?
d. Give 5 facts about this river source
2. Agriculture
a. How did your civilization survive? Were they hunter-gatherers? Were they agricultural?
b. How did your civilization improve their farming techniques?
c. What is flood irrigation farming? How did ancient Egyptians use this technique?
d. What kinds of foods were grown during the time of your ancient civilization?
3. Government
a. What kind of government did your civilization use to rule? Were they a dictatorship?
Was it a democracy? Was it a republic?
b. What kinds of laws existed at the time of your civilization?
c. How were crimes solved? How was punishment decided?
d. How was the ruler of this land chosen? Was it voted upon? Was the ruler born into
being a leader?
4. Religion
a. What was the basis of religion during the time of your civilization?
b. Were they polytheistic? Were they monotheistic?
c. What was the social structure of the gods/goddesses? Who was the most powerful?
d. Name 7 gods and 7 goddesses. Provide pictures.
5. Trade
a. Who did the ancient Egyptians trade with?
b. What trade routes did they follow?
c. What kinds of items did the Egyptians trade away? What did they trade for?
d. How did Egyptians influence other cultures through trade and goods?
e. Provide a map that shows the trade routes used by your civilization.
6. Art and Architecture
a. Find 5 examples of paintings, sculptures, or other works of art.
b. Find 5 examples of Egyptian architecture (buildings).
c. How did Egyptian art and architecture influence modern art and buildings?
Ancient Mesopotamia
1. Geography
a. What were the major river sources of Mesopotamia?
b. What cities were built along these river sources?
c. What were the positive and negative effects of the flooding of these 2 rivers?
d. Give 5 facts about these river sources.
2. Agriculture
a. How did your civilization survive? Were they hunter-gatherers? Were they agricultural?
b. How did your civilization improve their farming techniques?
c. What is irrigation farming? How did ancient Mesopotamians use this technique?
d. What kinds of foods were grown during the time of your ancient civilization?
3. Government
a. What kind of government did your civilization use to rule? Were they a dictatorship?
Was it a democracy? Was it a republic?
b. What kinds of laws existed at the time of your civilization?
c. How were crimes solved? How was punishment decided?
d. What was Hammurabi’s Code of Laws?
e. How was the leader of your civilization chosen, elected, or determined?
4. Religion
a. What was the basis of religion during the time of your civilization?
b. Were they polytheistic? Were they monotheistic?
c. What was the social structure of the gods/goddesses? Who was the most powerful?
d. Name 7 gods and 7 goddesses. Provide pictures, if possible.
5. Trade
a. Who did the ancient Mesopotamians trade with?
b. What trade routes did they follow?
c. What kinds of items did the Mesopotamians trade away? What did they trade for?
d. How did Mesopotamians influence other cultures through trade and goods?
e. Provide a map that shows the trade routes used by your civilization.
6. Art and Architecture
a. Find 5 examples of paintings, sculptures, or other works of art.
Ancient Greece
1. Geography
a. What are the major bodies of water near or around Greece?
b. What were city-states? Where did they develop? What were the 4 major city-states?
c. How were these water sources helpful to this ancient civilization?
d. Give 5 facts about these water sources.
2. Agriculture
a. How did your civilization survive? Were they hunter-gatherers? Were they agricultural?
b. How did your civilization improve their farming techniques?
c. What is irrigation farming? How did ancient Greeks use this technique?
d. What kinds of foods were grown during the time of your ancient civilization?
3. Government
a. How did Greek government begin? What is a tyranny?
b. What is Representative democracy?
c. What is Direct (Athenian) democracy?
d. How have representative and direct democracies help to shape our government?
4. Religion
a. What was the basis of religion during the time of your civilization?
b. Were they polytheistic? Were they monotheistic?
c. What was the social structure of the gods/goddesses? Who was the most powerful?
d. Name 8 gods and 6 goddesses. Provide pictures.
5. Trade
a. Who did the ancient Greeks trade with?
b. What trade routes did they follow?
c. What kinds of items did the Greeks trade away? What did they trade for?
d. How did ancient Greeks influence other cultures through trade and goods?
e. Provide a map that shows the trade routes used by your civilization.
6. Art and Architecture
a. Who was Alexander the Great?
b. How did he help spread Greek culture to the Mediterranean Sea areas?
c. Find 5 examples of paintings, sculptures, or other works of art.
d. Find 5 examples of Greek architecture (buildings).
Ancient India
1. Geography
a. What is the major river source of India?
b. What cities were built along this river source?
c. How is this river source helpful to this ancient civilization?
d. Give 5 facts about this river source.
2. Agriculture
a. How did your civilization survive? Were they hunter-gatherers? Were they agricultural?
b. How did your civilization improve their farming techniques?
c. What is irrigation farming? How did ancient Indians use this technique?
d. What kinds of foods were grown during the time of your ancient civilization?
3. Government
a. What kind of government did your civilization use to rule? What is Brahmanism?
b. How did Brahmanism change, or evolve, in Hinduism?
c. How were crimes and punishments decided?
d. How was the ruler of this land chosen? Was it voted upon? Was the ruler born into
being a leader?
4. Religion
a. What was the religion during the time of your civilization? Were they polytheistic or
monotheistic?
b. What is Hinduism? What are some (5) of their beliefs?
c. How did Hinduism spread into other countries?
d. What is the caste system? Name the parts of the caste system.
5. Trade
a. Who did the ancient Indians trade with?
b. What trade routes did they follow?
c. What kinds of items did the Indians trade away? What did they trade for?
d. How did the ancient Indians influence other cultures through trade and goods?
e. Provide a map that shows the trade routes used by your civilization.
6. Art and Architecture
a. Find 5 examples of paintings, sculptures, or other works of art.
b. Find 5 examples of Indians architecture (buildings).
c. How did Indians art and architecture influence modern art and buildings?
Ancient Rome
1. Geography
a. What is the major river source of Rome?
b. What cities were built along this river source?
c. Who were Remus and Romulus? Explain their story in your own words.
d. What mountain range runs through Italy?
2. Agriculture
a. How did your civilization survive? Were they hunter-gatherers? Were they agricultural?
b. How did your civilization improve their farming techniques?
c. What is irrigation farming? How did ancient Romans use this technique?
d. What kinds of foods were grown during the time of your ancient civilization?
3. Government
a. What kind of government did your civilization use to rule? Were they a dictatorship?
Was it a democracy? Was it a republic?
b. What parts of their government do we still use even today?
c. Who was Julius Caesar? Explain his story in your own words.
d. How was the ruler of this land chosen? Was it voted upon? Was the ruler born into
being a leader?
4. Religion
a. What was the basis of religion during the time of your civilization?
b. Were they polytheistic? Were they monotheistic?
c. What was the social structure of the gods/goddesses? Who was the most powerful?
d. Name 7 gods and 7 goddesses. Provide pictures.
5. Trade
a. Who did the ancient Romans trade with? What routes did they follow?
b. What kinds of items did the Romans trade away? What did they trade for?
c. What kind of currency did they use? How was this helpful?
d. How did ancient Romans influence other cultures through trade and goods?
e. Provide a map that shows the trade routes used by your civilization.
6. Art and Architecture
a. Find 5 examples of paintings, sculptures, or other works of art.
b. Find 5 examples of Romans architecture (buildings).
c. How did Romans art and architecture influence modern art and buildings?
Ancient China
1. Geography
a. How did the Huang-He valley help the growth of cities during the Shang Dynasty?
b. What cities were built along this river source?
c. How is this river source helpful to this ancient civilization?
d. Give 5 facts about this river source
2. Agriculture
a. How did your civilization survive? Were they hunter-gatherers? Were they agricultural?
b. How did your civilization improve their farming techniques?
c. What is irrigation farming? How did ancient Chinese use this technique?
d. What kinds of foods were grown during the time of your ancient civilization?
3. Government
a. Who were the Shang? Why did they manage to rule for so long?
b. Who was Confucius? What were his teachings? Why were they important?
c. How were crimes and punishments decided?
d. What were some of the achievements of the Shi Huangdi when they unified China?
4. Religion
a. What is Taoism? What are some of their beliefs?
b. Were the ancient Chinese polytheistic or monotheistic?
c. Name some of their gods and goddesses. Provide pictures, if possible.
5. Trade
a. What were the “silk routes?”
b. Who did the ancient Chinese trade with?
c. What kinds of items did the Chinese trade away? What did they trade for?
d. How did the ancient Chinese influence other cultures through trade and goods?
e. Provide a map that shows the silk trade routes used by your civilization.
6. Art and Architecture
a. Find 5 examples of paintings, sculptures, or other works of art.
b. Find 5 examples of Chinese architecture (buildings).
c. How did Chinese art and architecture influence modern art and buildings?