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?

Analyze Han Dynasty innovations and the origins of the Silk Road via Zhang Qian's expeditions 138-115 BCE — paper, seismoscope, wheelbarrow, magnetic-compass precursor, silk loom — and the Silk Road's role in the FIRST documented Eurasian world-system per the Han Shu's account of Da Qin (Rome)

Analyze Zhang Qian's diplomatic expeditions to Central Asia 138-115 BCE (sent by Emperor Wu to seek alliance against the Xiongnu, returning with intelligence about Central Asian kingdoms, opening the Silk Road); the Han-Roman world-system documented in Han Shu account of Da Qin (Rome) and reciprocally in Pliny the Elder's account of the Seres (Chinese); Han technological innovations — paper c. 105 CE Cai Lun (the world-changing innovation that enabled mass literacy in later centuries), seismoscope c. 132 CE Zhang Heng (the earliest known earthquake-detection device), wheelbarrow c. 1st century CE, magnetic-compass precursor c. 4th century BCE Han, silk loom + sericulture diffused along Silk Road; Han corvée labor and slavery honestly named per Mark Edward Lewis 2007.

Exercise pool (2)