11–12Ancient History 11–12 Syllabus
The new Ancient History 11–12 Syllabus (2024) is to be implemented from 2027.
2025 and 2026
- Plan and prepare to teach the new syllabus
2027, Term 1
- Start teaching new syllabuses for Year 11
- Start implementing new Year 11 school-based assessment requirements
- Continue to teach the Ancient History Stage 6 Syllabus (2017) for Year 12
2027, Term 4
- Start teaching new syllabuses for Year 12
- Start implementing new Year 12 school-based assessment requirements
2028
- First HSC examination for new syllabus
Content
Year 12
Students investigate key features of ONE ancient society through a range of archaeological and written sources and relevant historiographical issues.
The historical concepts and skills content is to be integrated as appropriate.
Students study key features and issues of the history of ONE of the following:
- New Kingdom Egypt to the death of Amenhotep III
- New Kingdom Egypt during the Ramesside period
- Israel from Solomon to the fall of Samaria
- Persia in the time of Darius and Xerxes
- China during the Han dynasty
- Minoan Crete in the Bronze Age
- Sparta to the Battle of Leuctra 371 BCE
- Athens in the time of Pericles.
Significance of the geographical setting, natural features and resources of ancient China
The nature and range of sources for this period
Issues of ancient sources in understanding this society
Differing modern interpretations of a feature of this society
The roles and images of the emperor and the Mandate of Heaven
The roles and hierarchy of the imperial bureaucracy, including scholars, court officials and eunuchs
The role of provincial administrators, including the royal family and the local elite
The roles and status of royal and non-royal women
Imperial Confucianism and its role in politics and social structure
The nature and significance of the army
The importance of agriculture
Economic exchange throughout the empire, including taxation, trade, government monopolies and coinage
The role of occupations, crafts and industry
Technology, including metallurgy, weapons, road and canal systems
Religious beliefs, including Daoism, chief deities and the Cult of Heaven
Imperial Confucianism, including cosmological beliefs
Rituals and practice, including sacrifices, rites and divination
Funerary beliefs and customs, the afterlife, spirits and ancestor worship, and the Cult of the Dead
Tombs and their architecture, decoration and function
Writing and literature, including Sima Qian’s Shiji and the poetry of Sima Xiangru