GRADE SEVEN: the required elements

Theory: An empire is an effort to extend its political boundaries to become congruent with the peripheral boundaries of the natural resources that support the central ruling society. As trade and commerce help to circulate these resources, a new commercial class interacts with the military class to stabilize these systems of distribution. To legitimize the validity of the imperial power, a new institution, the Imperial School, is founded to base physical force on an idea of a transcultural moral order. In the transformation of the charisma of an individual prophet to the routine of a school or a society, new universal religions arise in which the members are not restricted to the tribal identity of the founding prophet.

Practice: A Study of empires of around the world, and the manner in which the institution of the imperial school of philosophy and religion serves to both sanctify and sublimate military violence into a civilized moral order. An examination of the waves of conquest in Hellenistic, Indian, Chinese, Roman, Byzantine, Mesoamerican, Islamic, and Carolingian Empires and the schools of philosophy, art, mathematics, and sciences associated with them.

Integrated Studies Project: Calligraphy and Algebra.

Math Units:

• Topics:
  • Euclid, Book I, selected proofs
• History:
  • Hellenistic mathematics (Archimedes, Apollonius)
• Suggested Integrative Projects (one required):
  • The machines of Archimedes, Heron, and Ctesibius
  • The swath of trigonometry from Ptolemy to Baghdad
  • The logic of Aristotle's Isagoge
  • Astronomical allignments in Teotihuacan
  • The heliacal rising of Venus and the Mayan calendar
  • Neoplatonism and Euclid in Byzantium
  • Early translations of Euclid in Baghdad, with shades of Babylon
  • Indian numerals and zero, place value notation