Post on 27-Mar-2015
Chapter 1, Section 3
The First Empires
The Assyrians• 1,000 years after
Hammurabi a new empire arose in Mesopotamia.
• It was the Assyrians who lived north near the Tigris River.
• Assyria had fertile land & built an army to defend it.
The Assyrians• The Assyrians were strong because:– They were well organized– At its core were groups of foot soldiers armed with spears
& daggers– Other soldiers were experts at using bows & arrows– The army also had chariot riders & soldiers who fought on
horseback
The Assyrians• The Assyrians were the first large army to use iron
weapons.
• A group of people just north of Assyria, the Hittites, developed a way of making iron stronger.
• They heated iron ore, hammered it, & rapidly cooled it.
• The Assyrians learned this technique from the Hittites.
The Assyrians• The Assyrians were ferocious warriors.
• To attack cities, they tunneled under walls or climbed ladders over them.
• They used tree trunks as battering rams to knock down city gates.
• Once a city was captured they burned its buildings, carried away its people and goods.
The Assyrians• Assyrian kings had to be strong to rule their large empire.
• The capital was at Nineveh on the Tigris River.
• Assyrian kings divided the empire into provinces.
• They chose officials to govern each province.
• These officials collected taxes & enforced the laws.
The Assyrians• Assyrian kings built
roads to connect all parts of the empire.
• Government soldiers were posted at stations to protect traders from bandits.
Life in Assyria• They lived like other
Mesopotamians.
• Their writing was based on Babylonian writing and they worshipped many of the same gods.
• Lawbreakers did face more harsh punishment in Assyria.
Life in Assyria• One of the world’s first
libraries was in Nineveh.
• It held 25,000 tablets of stories & songs to the gods.
• Our historians have learned much about ancient civilizations from this library.
Life in Assyria• Assyria’s cruel treatment of people led to many
rebellions.
• About 650 B.C. the Assyrians began fighting each other over who would be their next king.
• A group of people called the Chaldeans seized the opportunity to rebel & captured Nineveh in 612 B.C. ending the Assyrian Empire.
The Chaldeans• The Chaldeans were led
by Nebuchadnezzar & wanted an empire.
• They controlled Mesopotamia from 605 B.C. to 562 B.C.
The City of Babylon
• Most of the Chaldeans were descendants of the Babylonians who made up Hammurabi’s empire about 1,200 years before.
• They rebuilt Babylon to be the center of their empire.
The City of Babylon• Babylon:– quickly became the world’s largest & richest city– Surrounded by a wall wide enough to hold two chariots– Towers were built into the wall– Large palaces & temples– A huge ziggarat reached more then 300 feet
The City of Babylon• Another marvel was a staircase of greenery called
the Hanging Gardens at the king’s palace.
• Nebuchadnezzar built the gardens to please his wife who missed the mountains & plants of her homeland in the northwest.
The City of Babylon• Artisans sold their wares to passing caravans.
• Babylon was located on a major trade route between the Persian Gulf & the Mediterranean Sea.
• The Chaldeans made one of the first sundials & were the first to have a seven-day week.
The Fall of Babylon• As time passed, the Chaldean began to lose their
power.
• It was hard to control the peoples they had conquered.
• In 539 B.C. Persians from the mountains captured Babylon & it became part of the new Persian Empire.