Empires of the Fertile Crescent
Fertile Crescent
Strip of fertile land
begins at the Sinai
Peninsula and arcs
through Southwest
Asia to the Persian
Gulf.
One of the most
fertile places on
Earth.
Birthplace of
Agriculture
Tigris and Euphrates River
• Begin in the hills of what is now turkey and
flow southeast.
• At one point nearly 30 miles apart.
• At widest, Tigris-Euphrates River Valley =
250 miles apart.
• Mesopotamia “land between the rivers”
• Babylonia (southeastern part)
Cont….
• Overflow often
• Canals and levees necessary
• Flooding unpredictable in timing and
severity.
• People of the valley viewed the gods as
harsh and unpredictable.
Fertile Crescent history
• Tribes of nomadic herders lived off the grasses
and other plant life.
• They often invaded, conquered, and established
new empires.
• Over time they grew weak and new invaders
took over.
• History = story of repeated migration and
conquest.
Sumer
• Where the T and E flow into the Persian
Gulf the soil is very fertile.
• This area was called Sumer.
• Origin of Sumerian culture.
• 3000 BCE, used metals and developed
writing called pictographs, or picture
writing. (earliest known)
Sumerian Writing
Wrote by
pressing marks
into clay tablets.
Wedge shaped
tool called a
stylus.
Cuneiform
600 cuneiform
signs
Architecture and Science
• Invented the arch. (curved structure over an
opening. Very strong form of building)
• Ziggurats = Sumerian temples.(made of baked
brick placed in layers.150 ft high. Top served as
shrine to a Sumerian god.)
• May have been the first to use the wheel.
• Mathematics = system of numbers based on 60.
• 60 min/ 60 sec.
• Lunar calendar/ add a month every few years.
Government and Society
• City-state = a town or city and the surrounding
land controlled by it. (Ur, Erech, and Kish)
• Rarely united under a single gov’t.
• Priest very important.
• City-states competed for land and water.
• Rise of war leaders who became kings.
• Kings, high priest, nobles  lower priests,
merchants, and scholars  peasant farmers
slaves.
Economy
• Most farmed
• Domesticated animals.
• Division of Labor (artisans, traders, merchants)
Education
• Only upper class boys attended school.
• Learned to write and spell by copying
religious books and songs.
• Religion =
• Polytheistic
• Identified gods with the forces of nature,
planets, and stars.
Afterlife
• Buried food and tools w/ the dead.
• Did not imagine the afterlife in detail.
• Believed in a kind of shadowy lower world
all after death.
• Didn’t believe in rewards and punishments
after death.
The Akkadians
• Attacked and conquered Sumerians about
2330BCE (Semitic lang.)
• Sargon (2334BCE – 2279BCE) most powerful
Akkadian king.
• Akkadians ruled for 150 years
• Then, Sumerian city-states prospered again, but
new invaders swept thru eastern Fertile
Crescent, and centered around large new city
called Babylon. (Semitic lang.)
The Babylonians
The Babylonians
• 1793B.C. strong ruler in Babylon =
Hammurabi (conquered most of TandE
Valley)
• Military leader
• Political leader
• Lawmaker
• Code of Hammurabi (282 Laws)
Code of Hammurabi
• 282 laws
• Commerce, industry, wages, hours,
working conditions, property rights, etc.
• “Eye for an Eye”
• Punishment varied by status.
Babylonian Culture
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Similar to Sumerians
Most farmed
Domesticated animals
Artisans, merchants, and traders
Women had legal and economic rights,
incl. property ownership. Could be
traders, merchants, or even scribes.
• Polytheistic
The Hittites
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Invaded TandE valley in the 1600s BCE
Kept their own cultural values
Among first to smelt iron.
Most imp. Achievement were laws and
government.
• Only severe crimes received death
penalty. Small crimes paid fine.
• Kings = chief priest, but allowed some
religious freedom
• Looted Babylon but couldn’t control it.
The Assyrians
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Semitic speaking from northern Mesopotamia
Drove out Hittites
Adopted many elements of Sumerian Culture.
dominated by others until 1300s BCE
However, soon overrun by nomadic migrations.
Recovered and b/w 900 BCE and 650 BCE,
expanded powers across the Fertile Crescent
and into Egypt.
Assyrian Empire
The Assyrians
• Fierce warriors.
• Chariots, and first to use cavalry (soldiers
on horseback).
• Enslaved captured people and killed
enemy warriors.
• Deported whole populations to other
regions.
• 700 BCE, captured, looted, and
completely destroyed Babylon.
The Assyrians
• One of first to effectively govern a large
empire.
• King = absolute power.
• Only answered to the god Ashur.
• Governors ruled conquered lands and
issued reports to the king.
• Capital city = Nineveh
Nineveh
Fortified by double
wall. (70 ft. high and
7.5 mi long)(148 feet
wide w/ 15 gates)
Great library.
Epic of Gilgamesh =
story of a Sumerian
King and one of the
oldest works of lit.
known.
Fall of the Assyrian Empire
• 635 BCE civil war broke out.
• Became too weak to resist invaders.
• 612 BCE group of enemies led by the
Chaldeans and the Medes captured and
destroyed Nineveh.
The
Chaldeans
Took over much of
Assyria’s empire
Nebuchadnezzar = led
Chaldeans to conquer most
of the Fertile Crescent.
governed from the rebuilt
city of Babylon from 605
BCE until his death in 562
BCE
Babylon became powerful
& wealthy again.
Trade flourished, canals
and buildings built.
Hanging Gardens = kings
beautiful terraced gardens.
Hanging Gardens
The Chaldeans
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Skilled astronomers
Predict solar and lunar eclipses
Advanced mathematics
Calculated length of year
After Nebuchadnezzar’s death, the
weakened empire fell within 30 years.
The Persian Empire
The Persians
• Conquered Babylon in 539 BCE
• Spoke Indo-European language
• Along w/ the Medes they moved into present-day Iran by
850 BCE,
• At first Medes ruled over Persians until Cyrus the Great
(Persian ruler) rebelled against the Medes.
• Cyrus captured Babylon, then the rest of the Fertile
Crescent and Asia Minor.
• Cyrus and later rulers, incl. Darius I and his son Xerxes I
expanded the Persian Empire even more.
• Darius and Xerxes invaded Greece but failed.
• Persian Empire = mightiest empire to date.
Persian Gov’t
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Persian kings were effective rulers.
Great concern for justice.
Collected taxes and administered the law fairly.
Treated conquered people better than other
invading nations.
• Conquered people could keep their own religion
and laws.
• Secret agents (“the king’s eyes and ears”) kept
the king informed.
Persian Gov’t
• Built roads to connect the cities w/in the
empire.
• Ex. Royal Road = more than 1,250 mi
long.
• Led to an increase in ________________.
Persian Religion
• Major contribution
• At first polytheistic
• 600 BCE = great prophet Zoroaster
changed their religious outlook.
Zoroastrianism
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Monotheistic
Good v. Evil
Earth = training for the afterlife.
Reward v. punishment. Heaven and Hell
In distant future, forces of good would triumph
then the Earth will disappear.
• “the universal struggle b/w good and evil and the
idea of final judgment”
• Thought to have influenced Judaism and later
Christianity.
Persian Decline
• Weak leaders after Darius and Xerxes
• Empire weakened.
• 331 B.C. defeated by Greek forces of
Alexander the Great.
• 200 years after Cyrus’ revolt.