Social Studies Chapter 7 Text Review
Reading Check: The Assyrians, Chaldeans and Persians used large armies to build powerful empires in
Mesopotamia.
Section 1
The Assyrians
1. The Assyrians were warriors and had a powerful army. They had no geological features to help protect
them from invaders so they learned how to fight to survive.
The Assyrian Army
1. The Assyrian army had foot soldiers with shields, helmets, spears and daggers.
2. Assyrians had weapons that were made of iron. The Assyrians learned how to smelt (heated, purified
and cooled to harden) iron from the Hittites to make the iron stronger and harder.
3. The Assyrians were cruel warriors who burned cities and carried away its citizens and goods.
Kings and Government
1. Assyrian kings spent much of their time fighting battles and punishing enemies.
2. Arshurbanipal, a great Assyrian king, started one of the world’s first libraries. It had 25,000 tablets of
hymns, stories and biographies.
3. The Assyrians divided their empire into provinces so they could collect taxes and enforce laws over a
large area.
4. In time, the empire became too large to govern. In 612 B.C., the Chaldeans captured Ninevah,
Assyrians capital. The Assyrian empire soon crumbled.
Section 1 Review:
Empire: territories governed by a single ruler or nation
Smelting: process of heating iron ore, hammering it, and rapidly cooling it
Provinces: political districts.
How was Assyria governed? Assyrians kings divided their empire into provinces and then chose officials to
govern each. The officials collected taxes and enforced laws.
Why did the Assyrians empire fall? It became too large to govern and had many enemies.
Section 2
The Chaldeans
1. The Chaldeans were also warriors. Their king was Nebuchadnezzar. They called themselves
Babylonians and made a new capital at Babylon, where nearly 1 million people lived.
2. Babylon was the world’s richest city up to that time. Huge brick walls encircled the city. In the center
of the city stood palaces and temples. A huge ziggurat reached more than 300 feet into the sky.
3. The king’s palace had “hanging gardens” that were built by the king for his wife.
4. Caravans were groups of traveling merchants. Traders came from places as far as India and Egypt to
trade; this helped make Babylon rich.
5. Chaldean astonomers (people who collect, study and explain facts about the heavenly bodies) believed
the changes in the sky told the plans of the gods.
6. Chaldeans astronomers made maps that showed the position of the planets and the phases of the
moon, made one of the first sundials, and were the first to use the seven-day week.
7. What led to the fall of the Chaldean empire? The Chaldeans found it hard to control the peoples they
had conquered; in 539 B.C., the Persians captured Babylon.
Section 3: The Persians
1. Originally, the Persians were known as the Aryans. They settled on a high plain between the Persian
Gulf and the Caspian Sea. Today, that is known as Iran, or “the land of the Aryanas”.
Army & Empire
1. 600 B.C. the Persians were conquered by the Medes. They were soon overthrown by the Persians
under King Cyrus.
2. The best fighters in the Persian army were called the Immortals. Their numbers never fell below
10,000. It was an honor to lead the Persian army into battle.
3. Persians were mild rulers – they believed loyalty could be won more easily with fairness than fear or
force.
4. One of the strongest Persian kings: King Darius. He had a huge monument built to honor their army at
the capital city, Persepolis.
Government Officials
1. There were many officials who carried out the king’s orders. They all spoke Aramaic, the language of
Middle Eastern merchants.
2. The governor, secretary and general for each of the 20 provinces collected taxes, settled quarrels and
protected the people from bandits. They all reported to the King.
3. The “Eyes and Ears of the King” traveled throughout the empire and decided if people were able to pay
taxes and also checked on rumors of rebellions.
Family Life
1. Persians had large families. The fathers were the rulers of their family, much like a King.
2. Poor children worked with their parents. Children of nobles were raised by enslaved people
after the age of 5.
3. Noble women led a sheltered life. They traveled by a litter, or a carriage without wheels and carried by
servants. Poor women had more freedom but had to work hard.
Religion
1.
In 570 B.C., a religious leader named Zoroaster told the people about two gods who were at war
with each other all of the time:
A: Ahura Mazda: was wise and truthful; he created all good things in the world
B: Ahriman: made all the evil things in the world
Trade
1.
Persians thought they should be warriors, farmers or shepherds. The thought trade made people
lie, cheat and be greedy.
2.
The Royal Road ran more than 1500 miles. It helped open a caravan route to China. Silk was first
brought west along this route.
3.
The Persians spread the idea of using coins for money. The first coin came from Lydia. It helped
increase trade by making things like chicken dried fish, furniture, clothing and pots & pans
available. People could get more goods and began to live better than they had before.
Chapter Ideas:
1. Experts believe geography influenced the Assyrians to become warriors.
2. The Assyrians were such feared fighters because they were cruel warriors who burned cities and
carried away its citizens and goods.
3. The Chaldeans called themselves Babylonians because most were descendants of the people who had
made up Hammurabi’s empire.
4. The god Marduk was important to the Babylonians because they believed Marduk would make their
crops grow and help keep peace.
5. The Persians were originally part of the Aryan people.
6. In the Persian government, the “Eyes and Ears of the King” were government officials who traveled
throughout the empire to assess taxes and check on rumors of rebellion.
7. Both rich and poor families in Persia lived in houses with pointed roofs and porches that faced the sun,
and both had large families ruled by the father.
8. Persians refused to become traders because they believed trading forced people to lie and cheat.
9. The introduction of coins increased trade and the types of goods sold. The Persians originally did not
like trade, but that belief later changed.