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History 7-10 / Year 7 / Knowledge and understanding / The ancient world

Curriculum content descriptions

key beliefs, values and practices of an ancient society, with a particular emphasis on one of the following areas: everyday life, warfare, or death and funerary customs (AC9HH7K11)

Elaborations
  • Topic: Greece
  • describing the role of the Delphic Oracle in informing decision-making regarding future warfare
  • investigating significant beliefs and values associated with warfare, such as the heroic ideals revealed in the Iliad, and military practices such as army organisation, the hoplite phalanx and naval warfare,456,Topic: Rome
  • investigating significant beliefs associated with daily life (for example, the evidence of household religion) and practices (for example, the use of public amenities such as baths, and the forms of entertainment in theatres and amphitheatres)
  • analysing the role of the military in the organisation of Roman society and politics, in both the Republic and the early Empire,456,Topic: Egypt
  • investigating beliefs associated with death, such as belief in an afterlife, and funerary customs and practices (for example, burial in tombs and techniques of mummification)
  • describing how the prominence of male and female gods changed based on locality and time,456,Topic: India
  • developing criteria to evaluate the significant beliefs, values and practices of Indian society associated with, for example, the role of the family and religious ceremonies, such as rites of passage for boys and men, and rites of passage for girls and women, and marriage rites
  • formulating questions to analyse how Vedism and later, Brahmanism shaped death and funerary customs,456,Topic: China
  • identifying how the Mandate of Heaven assisted people in understanding and justifying periods of warfare
  • investigating the significant beliefs, values and practices of Chinese society associated with daily life; for example, irrigation and the practice of agriculture, the teachings of Confucius, the evidence of daily life from the Han tombs
General capabilities
  • Ethical understanding Ethical understanding
  • Intercultural understanding Intercultural Understanding
ScOT terms

Classical antiquity,  Nobility,  Chinese history,  Political systems,  Egyptian history,  Slavery,  Law,  Indian history

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Syllabus bites – Ancient China

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Syllabus Bites: Ancient India

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Ancient China: crafts and artisans

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Australian Constitution online

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Australian Constitution in focus

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Australian Parliament history timeline

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Data in Gapminder world

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Pocket Compass, Ep 5: An immigration nation

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Vindolanda

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Mummification in Bronze Age Britain

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Where and why did the first cities appear?

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The first modern humans in south-east Asia

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