Grade 6 Spring — The Classical World and Late Antiquity to ~500 CE: Late Rome and Byzantium, Han China, Mauryan and Gupta India, Sasanian Persia, Aksum and Early Ghana, Classical Maya and Teotihuacan — Whose 'Fall'? Whose Golden Age? Whose Living Descendants?

Comparative governance — empire (Rome, Han, Sasanian, Mauryan, Gupta) vs. city-state (Classical Maya divine kingships at Tikal, Palenque, Calakmul) vs. kingdom (Aksum, early Ghana / Wagadou) — what governs which form emerges? — per Charles Tilly and Walter Scheidel scholarship

Analyze comparative governance across the 8 civilizations: (1) EMPIRES (centralized political unit governing multiple peoples / large territory via bureaucracy + standing army + tax system + ideology) — Rome, Han, Sasanian, Mauryan, Gupta — comparing 4-5 structural features each; (2) CITY-STATES (politically sovereign single-city polity, may form networks but maintain political autonomy) — Classical Maya divine kingships at Tikal vs Calakmul vs Palenque exemplify, comparing with G6-Fall Athens-Sparta-Greek-poleis; (3) KINGDOMS (centralized rule of a relatively-ethnically-homogeneous territory under a king with elite class) — Aksum (per Munro-Hay 1991), early Ghana / Wagadou (per Connah 2015); analyze what geographic + economic + technological + cultural factors govern which form emerges in which region per Tilly's coercion-capital framework.

Exercise pool (2)