Macedon Persian Empire Minoans Mycenaeans Ionia UNIT II: CLASSICAL CIVILIZATIONS, 600 BCE – 600 CE The geographic perspective of the classical world was bigger and more complex than the river valleys of the first civilizations. Classical civilizations spread out. Aspects of physical geography defined the borders of the civilizations. Contacts and sustained communications between the regions arose. Often contacts were across seas, along coasts and rivers, and the plains or steppes between regional centers. MAP ONE: MEDITERRANEAN WORLD I. BODIES OF WATER Caspian Sea Black Sea Mediterranean Red Sea Persian Gulf Atlantic Ocean Arabian Sea Aegean Sea II. PHYSICAL FEATURES AND ISLANDS Eurasian Steppe Sahel Cyprus Crete Anatolia Peloponnesus Strait of Gibraltar Sicily III. CITIES Alexandria Rome Athens Sparta Babylon Persepolis Carthage Constantinople Miletus IV. HISTORIC STATES AND EMPIRES MAP TWO: AFRO-EURASIA I. BODIES OF WATER South China Sea East China Sea Indian Ocean Red Sea Persian Gulf Atlantic Ocean Pacific Ocean Arabian Sea Bay of Bengal II. PHYSICAL FEATURES AND ISLANDS Gobi Desert Sahel Philippines Deccan Plateau Arabian Desert III. BIG REGIONS Southwest Asia Indian subcontinent East Asia Central Asia IV. CITIES, STATES, AND EMPIRES Xi’an (Chang’an) Maurya Empire Gupta Empire Han China Qin China