Welcome to the newsroom of the Ancient Times, a daily Information Age rag with an eye to the past and an answer just a mouse click away. Pick up your assignments below. Remember that your mission is to report on a major event assigned to you by your editor. You are the eyes and ears of your readers, and it’s up to you to come as close to the scene as you can and relay firsthand what you have learned.

Each assignment contains questions and suggested Internet links to use as research. Teams must work together to answer questions. When you have finished your research, choose one angle of the event for your own news article. Each team should then compile their stories into a front page of the Ancient Times.

• Assignment 1: Persians Defeated at Plataea
• Assignment 2: Rome and Carthage Fight to the Death
• Assignment 3: China Builds a Great Wall
• Assignment 4: Vikings Land in New World to the West