Middle School History: Ancient Civilizations—Semester A - Course Introduction

You probably already know a thing or two about Egypt: pharaohs, pyramids, that one pop song that's about as ancient as civilization itself.

We bet you know a bunch about Greece and Rome, too (togas, meddling Gods, buildings with columns, a bunch of movies your parents don't let you watch). And you probably know that China is really old.

But a lot of stuff can happen in 11,000 years, and a lot of stuff did happen in 11,000 years. We're guessing there are a few things you don't know yet about everyone's fave ancient civilizations—and don't even get us started on the less-talked about ancient civilizations, like ancient India.

It's okay, ancient India…we dig your river and we think your sanitation system's dope. So are the slow but steady progresses in politics, art, technology, and trade that occurred in Eastern and Western civilizations over these thousands and thousands (and thousands) of years. We'll study all of it—and we've even thrown a few wars in there.

Don't tell your parents.

In this course, we'll

  • get the deets on what makes a civilization, a civilization (written language = necessary; wifi = preferred, but optional).
  • make our way around maps, both old and new, and learn about the impact of geography on culture (it often boils down to "find a nice river; settle down").
  • explore the interactions between civilizations, and the impact this had on government, art, religion, and—you guessed it—war.

So hurry up and head on over to Lesson 1. History waits for no one.