Western Civilization I / Unit 5 WC1 0425 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
Sequencing Macedon to Rome, 359 to 30 BCE
The idea
The exam gives four Hellenistic events and asks their order. The method is three anchors: Philip's accession in three fifty-nine, Alexander's death in three twenty-three, and Cleopatra's death in thirty. Everything before three twenty-three is conquest, everything between three twenty-three and two eighty is the wars of the generals, and everything after is the kingdoms declining toward Rome.
In practice
Place six events. Chaeronea in three thirty-eight: conquest phase, before Alexander's crossing. The crossing in three thirty-four and Persepolis in three thirty: conquest, in that order. Three kingdoms settled by two eighty: the generals' phase ends. Parthia breaks away in two forty-seven: kingdoms declining, before Rome's arrival. Corinth destroyed and Macedon reduced by one forty-six: Rome arrives, so after Parthia. The Seleucid remnant ended by Pompey in sixty-three and Cleopatra dead in thirty: the end. Read: Chaeronea, crossing, Persepolis, Alexander's death, three kingdoms, Parthia, Rome in Greece, Pompey, Cleopatra.
Where people slip
Two traps. Chandragupta's treaty about three ten falls in the generals' phase, before two eighty, not after. And the Antigonids fell to Rome before the Seleucids and Ptolemies did, west to east, so a question asking which kingdom Rome took first wants Macedon.
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