Enduring Influence: Rome, Greece, and Byzantium
Teacher’s Guide
Grade Level: 6-8
Curriculum Focus: Ancient History
Lesson Duration: One class period
Program Description
Pompeii: Preserved in Time (32 min.)—Examines the final 24 hours for the people of this ancient
Roman city before the catastrophic eruption of Vesuvius. Greece: One Out of Many (4 min.)—Traces
how an assortment of city-states in the Aegean became one of the world’s most complex and influential
cultures. The Rise of Rome’s Empire (5 min.)—Shows how Rome’s emperors swept away the old
republic, created a vast empire, and came into conflict with a new religion, Christianity. Byzantium
and Its Roman Ideals (5 min.)—Reviews the collapse of the Western Roman Empire and how its
surviving Eastern empire kept alive its achievements and heritage.
Onscreen Questions
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Why were so many Pompeians unable to escape the eruption of Vesuvius?
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What evidence of ancient Greek art and culture exists today?
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How did Augustus bring stability to Rome?
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How did power in the Roman Empire shift during its final years?
Lesson Plan
Student Objectives
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Understand how historians and scientists have pieced together the story of Pompeii.
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Examine Pliny the Younger’s first-hand account of the eruption of Vesuvius.
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Describe what the personal account reveals about the events in Pompeii.
Materials
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Enduring Influence: Rome, Greece, and Byzantium video and VCR, or DVD and DVD player
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Computer with Internet access
Enduring Influence: Rome, Greece, and Byzantium: Teacher’s Guide
2
Procedures
1. On a classroom map, locate the city of Pompeii. (It is found near Naples, along Italy’s west coast,
just east of the Bay of Naples.) Ask students to describe what happened there in A.D. 79 and why
the town is so well preserved. (The volcano Mount Vesuvius erupted. While volcanic material buried
the town it also preserved it.)
2. Next, have students share some of the many ways that archaeologists, geologists, and other
scientists have been able to piece together what happened during the eruption. (Answers will
vary, such as: Archaeologists have made plaster impressions of spaces left by human and animal bodies;
archaeologists have studied the artifacts found with bodies; radiologists have used MRI to learn more
about the skeletons that have been discovered; scientists have studied the rock layers to determine the
different stages of the eruption and how long each lasted; scientists studying the soil found a lack of
bacteria, a sign of extreme heat.)
3. What crucial pieces of information were provided by the first-hand account of Pliny of the
Younger? (His account provides a date and time of the eruption: August 24, A.D. 79, around noon.)
How was Pliny able to view the eruption without getting hurt himself? (He witnessed the eruption
from across the Bay of Naples.) How did he describe the eruption? (As a column of cloud stretching
many kilometers into the air) How did this description help scientists understand the eruption? (It
indicated the eruption must have been a massive explosion, not a slow lava flow.)
4. Tell students that Pliny the Younger’s account was taken from letters to his friend Tacitus, a
Roman historian. These letters were not discovered until the 16th century. Have students watch
the Web documentary of Pliny’s account online at:
http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/pompeii/pliny/pliny.html.
5. Have students watch and listen to the documentary once through without taking notes. Then
have them watch it a second time, noting surprising or revealing phrases from Pliny the
Younger’s account. Have them write a brief essay about what the letters reveal, answering the
following questions:
•
How does Pliny the Younger describe the actual eruption?
•
How does he describe the reaction of the people?
•
What does this letter reveal about the events that could never be discovered by experts
today?
Assessment
Use the following three-point rubric to evaluate students' work during this lesson.
• 3 points: Students were active in class discussions; provided several examples of how various
scientists and Pliny the Younger’s account have contributed to our understanding of Pompeii;
essays reflected a strong understanding of Pliny’s account and answered all three of the
questions provided.
• 2 points: Students participated in class discussions; provided a few examples of how various
scientists and Pliny the Younger’s account have contributed to our understanding of Pompeii;
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Enduring Influence: Rome, Greece, and Byzantium: Teacher’s Guide
3
essays reflected a satisfactory understanding of Pliny’s account and answered two of the
questions provided.
• 1 point: Students did not participate in class discussions; provided few or no examples of how
various scientists and Pliny the Younger’s account have contributed to our understanding of
Pompeii; essays reflected a weak understanding of Pliny’s account and answered one or none
of the questions provided.
Vocabulary
archaeologist
Definition: A scientist who studies ancient peoples by analyzing the things they left behind.
Context: Archaeologists have learned a lot about how the ancient Romans lived by studying the
remains of Pompeii.
excavation
Definition: The act of digging a large hole or cavity for the purpose of locating and removing
artifacts
Context: Excavations in Pompeii have uncovered about a thousand bodies in the streets and
houses
pumice
Definition: A lightweight, bubble-filled volcanic rock that forms from foamy magma
Context: Within a few hours a blanket of pumice nearly a meter deep had smothered Pompeii.
pyroclastic flow
Definition: High speed, high temperature avalanches of volcanic fragments, ash, and gases
caused by eruptions or the collapse of a volcanic dome.
Context: Pyroclastic flows have the power to destroy everything in their path.
pyroclastic surge
Definition: Similar to a flow but with a smaller amount of fragments and a higher concentration
of potentially deadly gases.
Context: Scientists believe a combination of pyroclastic flows and surges killed many of the
residents of Pompeii.
Academic Standards
National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences provides guidelines for teaching science in grades K–12 to promote
scientific literacy. To view the standards, visit this Web site:
http://books.nap.edu/html/nses/html/overview.html#content.
Published by Discovery Education. © 2005. All rights reserved.
Enduring Influence: Rome, Greece, and Byzantium: Teacher’s Guide
4
This lesson plan addresses the following science standards:
•
Science as Inquiry: Use appropriate tools and techniques to gather, analyze, and interpret
data; Think critically and logically to make the relationships between evidence and
explanations.
Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL)
McREL's Content Knowledge: A Compendium of Standards and Benchmarks for K-12 Education
addresses 14 content areas. To view the standards and benchmarks, visit
http://www.mcrel.org/compendium/browse.asp.
This lesson plan addresses the following national standards:
•
World History: Era 3—Understand how major religious and large-scale empires arose in the
Mediterranean Basin, China, and India from 500 BCE to 300 CE
•
Science: Nature of Science—Understands the nature of scientific inquiry
The National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS)
The National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) has developed national standards to provide
guidelines for teaching social studies. To view the standards online, go to
http://www.socialstudies.org/standards/strands/.
This lesson plan addresses the following thematic standards:
•
Time, Continuity, and Change
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People, Places, and Environments
Support Materials
Develop custom worksheets, educational puzzles, online quizzes, and more with the free teaching tools
offered on the Discoveryschool.com Web site. Create and print support materials, or save them to a
Custom Classroom account for future use. To learn more, visit
•
http://school.discovery.com/teachingtools/teachingtools.html
Published by Discovery Education. © 2005. All rights reserved.