1. All successful empires share certain characteristics. What are these characteristics and how do they relate to the rise of the Muslim empires? Put Islam in its historical context and explain how the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates integrated the empires that came before them?
2. What was the Hellenistic age and how did it come to be? What are some special characteristics of Hellenistic cities, art, culture, thought, and achievements? What were some of the major contributions of the Hellenistic age that outlasted the Hellenistic period? How did the Hellenistic age bring large parts of Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean into closer interaction?