Reading Check
1.
What does Mesopotamia literally mean?
2.
Where is it located geographically?
3.
4.
5.
What Mesopotamian civilization did you read
about last week? (Hint—S.)
Tell me one thing you learned about that
civilization.
Name two of the other three empires you read
about. (Hint—A, B, P)
Babylon, Assyria,
& Persia
Fertile Crescent Empires
Babylonian Empire
Started as city by the Euphrates River in 1900 BCE
Babylon--capital of Babylonian Empire
Under King Hammurabi conquered all of the
surrounding cities (including Sumer) to make it the
Fertile Crescent’s 1st united empire in 1787 BCE.
Empire-- an area of many territories and peoples
that is controlled by one government
Babylonian Culture
Very similar to Sumerian culture
Adopted their religion, literature, inventions, &
practices
Became wealthy via trade & agriculture
Trade required them to build roads & bazaars
bazaar--outdoor market place for trading goods
caravan--a group of travelers (Why travel together?)
Babylonian
Accomplishments
Hammurabi’s Code--first known, written set of laws,
created by King of Babylon during his reign (1792-1750)
Created a useful system of mathematics & astronomy
Math based on numbers from 1-60
Does this sound familiar?
Allowed them to calculate areas of geometric shapes
Why would this be important for building an empire?
The End of Babylon
•All their wealth couldn’t save them from
conquest…
•They fell to another, growing empire in 1500
BCE.
The Assyrian Empire
•Civilization on upper Tigris River
in an open plain
•Capital—Nineveh
•Frequently attacked by invaders
•Developed standing army
(soldiers who serve in military as
their primary job)
•By 1365 BCE decided that best
defense was a good offense!
•They started creating their own
empire!
The Assyrian Army
•Fierce & cruel warriors
•Weapons made of iron
(rather than copper or bronze)
•Created forts & government
to administer conquered cities
•First mail service to
communicate between cities
in empire
•Other Advancements:
•Trained Horses & Chariots
•Archers & Stone Slings
•Battering Rams
The Softer Side of the
Assyrians
They created a great library with clay tablets from
Sumer & Babylon.
Biggest=Best?
By 650 BCE, Empire stretched from The Nile River
to the Persian Gulf! (See map on p. 39 in textbook.)
Captured enemies (murdering or enslaving them),
plundered & looted cities, & demanded taxes
(tributes) from the vanquished.
The Assyrians were widely hated.
Several revolt attempts
Medes & Chaldeans overthrew them in 612 BCE.
Babylon’s Back, Baby!
What city rose out of the ashes of Nineveh?
The Chaldeans made the city of Babylon their
new capital.
This time around their most important king was
Nebuchadnezzar II
Ruled from 605-562 BCE
Babylon grew strong under him
More Babylonian
Accomplishments
Center of Math & Science
Astronomy so accurate could calculate length of
year to within minutes of modern methods!
Started domesticating honey bees (Why?)
Reasons to Remember
Babylon:
Huge wall surrounding the
city
Beautifully decorated
Towers for guards
4-Horse Chariot-wide
Famous Gate of Ishtar
Reasons to Remember
Babylon:
Hanging Gardens of Babylon
Built by Nebuchadnezzar
Beautifully decorated
Roof-top tropical gardens
In the middle of the desert
1 of 7 Wonders of the
Ancient World
Why? Let’s find out...
This Time Babylon Falls &
Stays Down
•Nebuchadnezzar is
succeeded by his son in
562 BCE, but he’s
assassinated just three
years later.
•Within a few years, new
empire invades
The Persian Empire
(539-330 BCE)
The Persian Empire
Located east of Fertile Crescent (modern-day Iran &
Afghanistan)
People were Indo-Europeans called Aryans (source
of Iran’s name)
Started in 550 BCE by Persian province ruler named
Cyrus the Great (550-330 BCE)
United Medes & Persians into a strong army and
later a kingdom
The Persian Empire
Army of archers & cavalrymen conquered most of
ancient world (See map on p. 39)
Turkey
India
Egypt
Unlike Assyrians, they were benevolent:
Freed Jews
Treated conquered fairly & kindly (did force tributes)
Allowed them to maintain culture
Ruling the Biggest Empire
Emperor Darius I (522-486
BCE) set up system to organize
the empire:
Divided into 20 provinces
Each managed by governors
Judges & Tax Collectors
appointed
Surprise inspectors
Well paved roads which led to
international trade
Bureaucracy
complex structure of government offices needed to
govern a vast empire or nation (negative
connotation)
Zoroastrianism
the official religion of the Persian Empire
had one supreme god who made world, sun, moon &
stars
What is this kind of religion called?
The Persian Empire Lasted
until Alexander the Great conquered it in 330 BCE