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• Ancient Biblical History in the Classroom

The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Explore & Learn
There is much quality material for students, educators, and enthusiasts at the The Metropolitan Museum of Art web site. Start with the Metropolitan Museum of Art Timeline of Art History, a chronological, geographical, and thematic exploration of the history of art from around the world. Each timeline page includes representative art from the Museum's collection, a chart of time periods, a map of the region, an overview, and a list of key events. The timelines, accompanied by world, regional, and sub-regional maps, provide a linear outline of art history, and allow visitors to compare and contrast art from around the globe at any time in history. There is plenty more here apart from the Timeline: "Just for Fun" has interactive activities for kids, "A Closer Look" examines the "hows and whys" behind Met objects, "Artist" enables visitors to access biographical materials on a selection of artists as well as general information about their work, and "Themes and Cultures" presents past and present cultures with special features on the Met's collections and exhibitions. Sections of interest in Ancient History include Art of the First Cities: The Third Millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus, Egyptian Art in the Age of the Pyramids, The New Greek Galleries, The Legacy of Genghis Khan: Courtly Art and Culture in Western Asia, Genesis: Ideas of Origin in African Sculpture, In the Footsteps of Marco Polo: A Journey through the Met to the Land of the Great Khan, and The Glory of Byzantium.

The British Museum
The British Museum was founded in 1753 to promote universal understanding through the arts, natural history and science in a public museum. Its various online offerings are impressive. The World Cultures website highlights achievements of some remarkable world civilizations and explores cross-cultural themes of human development. It features interactive multimedia resources, historical reconstructions and 3D animations and atttracts millions of visitors each year.

The Sport of Life and Death: The Mesoamerican Ballgame
The Sport of Life and Death was voted Best Overall Site for 2002 by Museums and the Web and has won a slew of other web awards. The site is based on a traveling exhibition and bills itself as "an online journey into the ancient spectacle of athletes and gods." The Sport of Life and Death features dazzling special effects courtesy of Macromedia Flash technology and its overall layout and organization are superb. Not just stylish, the site's content is excellent and engaging as well. For instance, there are helpful interactive maps, timelines, and samples of artwork in the Explore the Mesoamerican World section. The focus of the site, however, is the Mesoamerican ballgame, the oldest organized sport in history. The sport is explained through a beautiful and engaging combination of images, text, expert commentary, and video. Visitors can even compete in a contest! A must see for Middle School or 9th-grade World History teachers.

Internet Ancient History Sourcebook
The Internet History Sourcebooks are wonderful collections of public domain and copy-permitted historical texts for educational use by Paul Halsall of Fordham University. The Internet Ancient History Sourcebook contains hundreds of well-organized sources; the main sections are Human Origins, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Persia, Israel, Greece, Hellenistic World, Rome, Late Antiquity, and Christian Origins. The Ancient History Sourcebook also includes links to visual and aural material, as art and archeology play a prominent role in the study of Ancient history. There are also pages designed specifically to help teacher and students: Ancient History in the Movies, Using Primary Sources, Nature of Historiography, Other Sources of Information on Ancient History, and more.

From Jesus to Christ: The First Christians
Part of PBS's Frontline series, this companion site explores archeological clues to Jesus' life, paints a portrait of his world, examines the gospels and the first Christians, and discusses why Christianity succeeded. From Jesus to Christ features the testimony of New Testament theologians, archaeologists, and historians who address issues relating to Jesus' life and the evolution of Christianity. The site also offers interactive maps, a timeline, an anthology of primary sources, a discussion forum, and a biblical quiz. A new addition is the edited transcript of a two-day symposium at Harvard University which served as a follow-up to the FRONTLINE broadcast and featured scholars' presentations, workshops and audience discussion.

Ancient Biblical History in the Classroom

Here are a some excellent and engaging sites for use in Ancient History courses:

BBC: Ancient History
BBC's History section offers an impressive array of exhibitions, activities, games, photo galleries, and other resources. The BBC Ancient History section focuses on Anglo-Saxons, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and Vikings. Among the special attractions are examples of Roman art found in Britain, planning your own Viking raid, and discovering treasures from the 'cradle of civilization.' Take some time to explore more of the BBC History offerings. There are engaging sections entitled Multimedia Room, Historic Figures, Timelines, Programmes, Reading Room, Talk History, For Kids, and History Trails. Aimed at upper elementary and lower secondary students.

Turning the Pages
Turning the Pages is an award-winning interactive display system developed by The British Library to increase public access and enjoyment of some of its most valuable treasures. Visitors are able to virtually "turn" the pages of manuscripts in a realistic way, using touch-screen technology and animation. There are currently fifteen treasures on display in Turning the Pages including: the Lindisfarne Gospels, the Diamond Sutra, the Sforza Hours, the Leonardo Notebook, the Golden Haggadah, the Luttrell Psalter, Blackwell's Herbal, the Sherborne Missal, and Sultan Baybars' Qur'an.

Mr. Dowling's Electronic Passport
Mr. Dowling's Electronic Passport helps kids browse the world in his virtual classroom. He introduces you to many civilizations with clear explanations, engaging graphics for kids, and "cool links". His study guides, homework assignments and exams are free and available for you to print or to edit. Aimed at upper elementary and lower secondary level students.

Diotima
Diotima is an interdisciplinary scholarly resource on gender in the ancient Mediterranean world and as a forum for collaboration among instructors who teach courses about women and gender in the ancient world. Offers course materials, essays, bibliography, images and good links to related sites. Also has a search feature and a section of biblical studies.

Oriental Institute Virtual Museum
The Oriental Institute Museum is a showcase of the history, art and archaeology of the ancient Near East. The Museum exhibits major collections of antiquities from Egypt, Mesopotamia, Iran, Syria, Palestine, and Anatolia. The Oriental Institute Virtual Museum makes use of a series of Apple QuickTime VR panoramic movies to take you on a tour of each of the Museum's galleries, accompanied by descriptions of each alcove and their artifacts. Where appropriate, links to related materials, such as the Museum's Highlights From The Collections, the Photographic Archives, and relevant Oriental Institute Archaeology and Philology projects elaborate on the most significant objects in greater detail.

Muslims
This PBS site examines Islam through stories of diverse Muslims. The "Frequently Asked Questions" is like "Islam 101" as it concisely explains the basic principles of Islam, including the most widely accepted definition of jihad. This site provides an abundance of fascinating facts about Islamic history, basic beliefs, and various other topics through its portrayal and interviews of various Muslims.

BBC: The Story of Africa
This BBC site features Africa's top historians and analyzes the events and characters that have shaped the continent from the origins of humankind to the end of South African apartheid. Among the topics covered are the rise and fall of empires and kingdoms, the power of religion, the injustices of slavery, and the expansion of trade between Africa and other continents. Features audio segments.

Wonders of the African World
In this PBS production Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. challenges the widespread Western view of Africa as the primitive "dark continent" civilized by white colonists. The series covers Black Pharaohs, Meroe, Gedi, the Swahili People, Zanzibar, the Ashanti and Dahomey (Benin) Kingdoms, Aksum, Gondar, the Churches of Lalibela, the Dogon, Grand Mosque of Djenne, Empires of Mali & Ghana, the Tuareg, Great Zimbabwe, a 1,000 year old South African city - Mapangubwe, the Shona People, etc. Includes a kids' activity page, teachers' lesson plans, and audio clips.

BBC: Civilisations
This Flash-generated BBC site allows users to examine key events in the development of any given ideology or religion and its diffusion across the world. It uses web technology to reveal the sweep of historical forces and the rise and fall of great empires and ideas over 5000 years and is customizable. You will need the Flash 6 player to use Civilisations.

BuddhaNet
An interesting and broad site that includes Qs and As, historical background, vivid images, and more. Some of the major categories include Buddhist Studies, eBook Library, Buddhanet Audio, Archived File Library, World Buddhist Directory, BuddhaZine (a kind of buddha devoted magazine), and Meditation. It integrates the complexities of the religion with the basics very well and has so many subtopics; it is difficult not to find what one is looking for. Some of the special features include audio files of chanting, a photo documentary of Buddhism, teacher's guides, and crossword puzzles and games.

Secrets of Lost Empires
This PBS site revolves around the question of how man built inspiring historical structures, such as those at Stonehenge, ancient Rome, and Inca Mexico. There are not many pictures, but the Q&A discussions with experts are quite interesting

Illustrated History of the Roman Empire
This website offers a comprehensive history of the Roman Empire and contains interactive maps of Roman Italy, the Roman Empire and the City of Rome. Categories include: The Founding, The Kings, The Republic, Early Emperors, The Decline, The Collapse, Constantinople, Religion, Society, and The Army. Impressive in scope, but thesite is no longer actively maintained.

Money - Past, Present & Future: Information on Monetary History, Contemporary Developments, and Electronic Money
Based on Glyn Davies’ book, “A History of Money from Ancient Times to the Present Day”, this web site is an excellent resource that covers an array of topics: monetary history, forms of money, politics of money, financial scandals, money and banking in fiction, alternative forms of exchange and economics of the internet. Some topics are covered entirely by Davies, while others use collections of external links. The monetary history section includes “A Comparative Chronology of Money”, a comprehensive timeline from 9,000 BC to the present.

Exploring Ancient World Cultures
An on-line course supplement at Evansville University for students and teachers of the ancient and medieval worlds. Chapters are built around eight "cultures": Near East, India, Egypt, China, Greece, Rome, Early Islam, and Medieval European. Contains a chronology, essays, images, and links to related sites.

Mr. Donn's Ancient History Page
A rich and popular resource for teaching ancient history from a sixth-grade teacher. Has lessons, maps, links, tests, and games

Perseus Project
A worthwhile digital library for Classical resources that offers a search function. Has FAQs, essays, a historical overview and an extensive library of art objects and the like. Perseus is a non-profit enterprise, created by the Department of the Classics, Tufts University, and is partly funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

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