WH 1
The Fertile Crescent Revisited – Guided Notes - Part 2
Same Place – New Empires
The Chaldeans –
The Chaldeans joined with the Medes to defeat the Assyrians. The Chaldeans formed a new Empire in
the Fertile Crescent. __________________ was their capital. __________________________ was their
most famous king. He was famous both as a ______________ and a ___________________. He
defeated the Assyrians and fought the _______________ and the __________________ . Most of all he
was famous for the rebuilding of Babylon. For his favorite wife he built ___________________________,
considered to be one of the Wonders of the Ancient World. They, like the Assyrians and the Hittites
before them ________________ much of the Sumer culture including language and religion. Their other
major achievement included a ______________ based on the phases of the moon, beginning the
science of astronomy. The Chaldean Empire was short, they were defeated in 539 BCE by the Persians.
The Phoenicians –
Phoenicia was located in what is now __________________. The narrow coastal rugged hills and
mountains of the area made _______________ difficult, and resources were scarce. The Phoenicians
turned to the sea and became _____________ and _______________. The came to dominate trade in
the _________________. As they traded, the established __________________ around the
Mediterranean. A ___________ is a foothold of a culture/nation in a different place. The most famous
of the Phoenician colonies was ___________, which is now Tunis, the capital of Tunisia. Phoenicia was
not a united kingdom, but a series of ____________________ such as Sidon, and Tyre. Despite not being
an empire – they became very _____________.
Phoenician Achievements –
As the Phoenicians traded they carried their culture and civilization – this process is known as
_______________________. The most famous part of this diffusion was the use of the Phoenician
alphabet. The alphabet was borrowed and modified by both the _________ and the __________. This
made writing easier. The Phoenicians were accomplished ___________. They had no maps or modern
technology. They sailed out of the Mediterranean, beyond ____________ and may have
circumnavigated _________. They used knowledge of the North Star and other astronomy to guide
navigation at night so they would know their direction.
Trade – Items that the Phoenicians traded included ___________, _________, a _________ dye prized
by royalty made from the Murex shellfish, _______ and _________. They traded for _____ from
Britannia, _______, ______, _______ and ______ from Africa and _______, _______________ and
___________ from India.