World History I · 9th Grade

Active learning ideas

The Byzantine Empire: Legacy of Rome

Active learning works well for this topic because students often default to simplistic views of ‘Rome’ and ‘Byzantium’ as separate entities. Hands-on activities force them to confront primary evidence, maps, legal texts, and debates that reveal the Byzantines as the genuine, if overlooked, heirs of Rome’s political, legal, and cultural legacy.

• Common Core State Standards
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.2
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.6

• 20–40 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 4 activities

Activity 01

• Formal Debate
• 40 min · Small Groups

Formal Debate: Were the Byzantines Really Roman?

Students receive evidence cards showing Byzantine continuities with Rome, such as Latin legal tradition, Roman titles, and self-identification as Romans, alongside discontinuities including Greek language, Orthodox Christianity, and different territorial extent. Working in small groups, they argue whether Byzantine and Roman should be considered the same civilization, then defend their position to the class.

Analyze why the Eastern Roman Empire endured for a millennium while the West collapsed.

Facilitation Tip

During the debate, assign roles explicitly—law historian, military strategist, religious scholar—so students must research their assigned perspective before speaking.

What to look for

Provide students with a map showing the Byzantine Empire and major trade routes. Ask them to identify three key cities or regions connected by trade and explain one type of good that might have been exchanged there.

• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Self-Management
• Decision-Making

Activity 02

• Document Mystery
• 35 min · Pairs

Primary Source Analysis: Justinian's Code

Students read a short excerpt from Justinian's Institutes, then compare it to the US Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection clause. They identify what principle each source establishes, what population it applies to, and what remains excluded, practicing the skill of comparing legal documents across very different historical contexts.

Evaluate how Justinian's Code influenced the development of modern legal systems.

Facilitation Tip

For Justinian’s Code, distribute excerpts in Latin with facing-page English translations so students confront the language barrier early and focus on structural changes rather than isolated words.

What to look for

Pose the question: 'To what extent were the Byzantines truly Romans?' Facilitate a class discussion where students must support their arguments with evidence regarding political structure, law, culture, and identity.

• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Self-Management
• Decision-Making

Activity 03

• Document Mystery
• 25 min · Individual

Map Activity: Constantinople as a Crossroads

Students map the major trade routes converging on Constantinople from four directions and annotate each route with the major goods or ideas it carried. The class discussion asks why physical geography was so central to Constantinople's political importance and what would happen to trade patterns if the city changed hands, a question whose answer would play out in 1453.

Explain the significance of Constantinople as a vital crossroads for trade and cultural exchange.

Facilitation Tip

In the map activity, have students trace one trade good’s journey from source to market, labeling each stop with a phrase describing the cultural interaction that occurred there.

What to look for

On an index card, have students write one sentence explaining why the Byzantine Empire's survival was significant for preserving classical knowledge and one sentence describing a lasting impact of Justinian's legal reforms.

• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Self-Management
• Decision-Making

Activity 04

• Think-Pair-Share
• 20 min · Pairs

Think-Pair-Share: The Preservation of Classical Knowledge

Students read a brief description of Byzantine scriptoria copying Greek texts that would otherwise have been lost, then connect this to the Italian Renaissance when Byzantine scholars fled to Italy after 1453 and brought manuscripts with them. Pairs discuss what this chain of transmission reveals about how knowledge survives across political upheaval and what conditions are necessary for cultural preservation.

Analyze why the Eastern Roman Empire endured for a millennium while the West collapsed.

What to look for

Provide students with a map showing the Byzantine Empire and major trade routes. Ask them to identify three key cities or regions connected by trade and explain one type of good that might have been exchanged there.

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Awareness
• Relationship Skills

A few notes on teaching this unit

Teachers should treat Byzantine history as a corrective to oversimplified narratives about ‘fall’ and ‘decline.’ Start with students’ prior knowledge of Rome, then use primary sources and debates to complicate it. Avoid framing Byzantium as a ‘survivor’ or ‘copycat’; instead, emphasize continuity and innovation in law, art, and governance. Research shows that when students analyze legal codes and architecture alongside political maps, their understanding of ‘Roman’ identity becomes more nuanced and historically grounded.

Successful learning looks like students moving from vague impressions to precise claims supported by evidence. They should be able to distinguish between political identity, legal innovation, and cultural continuity, and they should use maps, texts, and discussions to justify their conclusions rather than rely on textbook summaries.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During the Debate: Were the Byzantines Really Roman?, watch for students who assume that political decline means cultural or legal irrelevance.

  Use the debate preparation sheet: before the debate, students must locate one piece of evidence about Byzantine law, one about military structure, and one about self-identification in primary or secondary sources, forcing them to address continuity directly.

• During the Primary Source Analysis: Justinian's Code, watch for students who believe legal innovations were entirely new rather than reorganizations of existing material.

  During the analysis, have students highlight one law that existed before Justinian and one that was newly systematized, then explain in writing how the code changed the law’s application rather than its content.

• During the Map Activity: Constantinople as a Crossroads, watch for students who assume that Ottoman conquest resulted only from Byzantine weakness.

  After tracing trade routes, ask students to annotate the map with at least two external pressures (e.g., Crusader sack, Ottoman artillery) that weakened Byzantium, making the decline a shared responsibility rather than a solo failure.

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Methods used in this brief

• Formal Debate
• Document Mystery
• Think-Pair-Share