Content Specification - SS.6.6.a.1:
Students will examine reasons for the fall of the Roman Empire and the development of feudalism in Western Europe, including efforts to restore the empire, the decentralization of political authority, and the role of the Christian Church in providing some measure of central authority.

Content Specification - SS.6.6.b.1:
Students will examine how the Byzantine Empire preserved elements of the Roman Empire by blending Roman traditions with Greek culture and developed a Christian faith, known as Orthodox Christianity, which united Church and state authority in the person of the emperor.

Content Specification - SS.6.6.c.1:
Students will examine the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates, noting how the introduction of Islam changed the societies and cultures each conquered, blending with those societies and cultures and creating dynamic new Islamic societies and cultures.

Content Specification - SS.6.6.d.1:
Students will examine the three distinct cultural regions of the Mediterranean world in terms of their location, the extent of each region at the height of its power, and the political, economic, and social interactions between these regions.

Content Specification - SS.6.6.d.2:
Students will examine the conflict of the Crusades from three different perspectives: feudal Europe, Byzantine, and Islamic.