§-Ancient History syllabus

Ancient History syllabus, dot point by dot point

Every dot point in the SA Ancient History subject outline, in syllabus order, with a focused answer for each. Open any dot point for the answer, exam-style questions and links to related points.

Beliefs and Rituals

Topic overview →

What did the peoples of ancient Mesopotamia believe about their gods, and how did religion shape kingship, temples and daily life?

Examine religious belief and ritual practice in the ancient Near East, including the gods, temples, kingship and creation myths, and evaluate the cuneiform and archaeological evidence.

7 min read →

What did the ancient Egyptians of the New Kingdom believe about death and the afterlife, and how did their burial practices express those beliefs?

Analyse New Kingdom Egyptian beliefs about death, judgement and the afterlife, the practices of mummification and tomb-building, and the archaeological and textual evidence for them.

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How did religion, ritual and belief in the gods shape public and private life in ancient Greece and Rome?

Examine the nature of religious belief and ritual practice in ancient Greece and Rome, including sacrifice, oracles, festivals and state cult, and evaluate the evidence for them.

7 min read →

Power and Conflict

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How and why did political power and authority shift from the Roman Republic to the rule of Augustus, and how did he disguise that change?

Analyse the nature and transformation of political power and authority in Rome from the late Republic to the Augustan principate, and evaluate the sources for Augustus' settlement.

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How did Alexander the Great conquer the Persian Empire, and how reliable are the much later sources for his campaigns?

Analyse the causes, key campaigns and consequences of Alexander's conquest of the Persian Empire (336 to 323 BCE), and evaluate the reliability of the surviving sources written centuries later.

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What caused the Greco-Persian Wars, how did the Greeks defeat a vastly larger empire, and how reliable is Herodotus as our main source?

Analyse the causes, key events and consequences of the Greco-Persian Wars (499 to 479 BCE), and evaluate the reliability of Herodotus and other evidence.

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Why did Rome and Carthage fight three wars, how did Rome win, and how did the conflict transform the Roman world?

Analyse the causes, key events and consequences of the Punic Wars (264 to 146 BCE), including Hannibal's invasion, and evaluate the reliability of Polybius and Livy.

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How did political power and authority work in the radical democracy of fifth-century Athens, and how democratic was it really?

Analyse the institutions and operation of Athenian democracy in the fifth century BCE, including the Assembly, Council, courts and the role of leaders such as Pericles, and evaluate the evidence.

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Social Structures and Everyday Life

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How was society organised in New Kingdom Egypt, and how did the pharaoh, officials and ordinary people relate to one another?

Analyse the social hierarchy of New Kingdom Egypt, including the role of the pharaoh, the bureaucracy, priests, scribes, peasants and the enslaved, and evaluate the evidence for everyday life.

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What were the roles, legal status and everyday lives of women and families in the ancient Greek and Roman worlds?

Examine the position of women and the organisation of family life in ancient Athens and Rome, and evaluate the source problems involved in recovering women's experience.

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How was the Roman economy organised, and what was daily life like for people of different ranks in the Roman world?

Analyse the structure of the Roman economy and the patterns of daily life across the social orders, and evaluate the literary and archaeological evidence for them.

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How was society and government organised in Han dynasty China, and what role did Confucianism and the bureaucracy play?

Analyse the social structure and system of government of Han dynasty China, including the emperor, the bureaucracy, Confucianism and the peasantry, and evaluate the textual and archaeological evidence.

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How were social structures and slavery organised in Classical Athens, and what evidence reveals the lives of those at the bottom?

Analyse the structure of Athenian society in the fifth and fourth centuries BCE, including the status of citizens, metics and slaves, and evaluate the ancient evidence for slavery.

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Sources and Historiography

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What is historiography, and how and why do interpretations of the ancient past change over time?

Explain the nature of historiography in ancient history, analyse how ancient and modern historians have interpreted the past differently, and evaluate why those interpretations change.

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How do archaeology and material culture provide evidence for the ancient past, and what are the strengths and limits of physical remains?

Explain how archaeological evidence and material culture are excavated, dated and interpreted, and evaluate what physical remains can and cannot tell historians about ancient societies.

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How do historians analyse and evaluate ancient sources to reconstruct the past reliably?

Apply the skills of source analysis and evaluation to ancient primary and secondary evidence, assessing origin, purpose, perspective, reliability and usefulness.

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