Chapter 4.2 Mesopotamian Empires

The First Empires1. By 2400 B.C., Sumer’s city-states were weakened by conflict.

• 2. Powerful kingdoms arose in northern Mesopotamia and in neighboring Syria. New rulers of these new kingdoms started to build empires. An empire is a group of many different lands under one ruler.

• 3. After these new rulers conquered new lands, they spread their culture to the new lands.

Who Was Sargon?

• 1. A kingdom named Akkad (AK-ad) developed in northern Mesopotamia. Sargon was a the ruler of the people known as Akkadians.

• 2. Around 2400 B.C., he moved his well trained armies south in order to capture as many Sumerian city states as possible for his control.

• 3. After capturing these city states, he became known as the king of Sumer and Akkad.

• 4. This was the first world’s empire. He extended this empire to include the people of Mesopotamia.

• 5. This empire lasted more than 200 years before invaders conquered it.

Who Was Hammurabi?

• 1. In the 1800’s B.C., a people named the Amorites lived in the region west of Mesopotamia. These people conquered Mesopotamia and built their own cities.

• 2. Babylon was one of these grand city’s.• 3. It was located on the eastern bank of the

Euphrates River in what is now Iraq. • In 1792 B.C., The Babylonian king, Hammurabi began

conquering cities controlled by the Amorites to the north and south.

Hammurabi’s Code

• 1. Hammurabi posted a set of laws for his empire. This code dealt with crimes, farming, business, marriage, and the family. This code listed a punishment for each crime.

• 2. This code demanded what became known as “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth”.

• 3. This code also protected the less powerful. For example, it protected wives for abuse by their husbands.

• 4. This army robbed people, set crops on fire, and destroyed towns and dams. They took tribute, or forced payments, from people.

• 5. The army drove people from their homes and eventually people just did not fight rather they would surrender without a fight.

Life in Assyria

• 1. The Assyrians had law codes, but their punishments were harsher.

• 2. An ancient Assyrian king named Ashurbanipal (ah-shur-BAH-nuh-puhl) built one of the first libraries in Nineveh. This library held over 25,000 tablets of stories and songs to the gods.

• 3. Farming and trade were both important to the Assyrians. They bought in wood and metal from far away to supply their empire with material for building and for making tools and weapons.

The Assyrian Empire

• 1. This empire rose about 1,000 years after the empire of Hammurabi Assyria (uh-SIHR-ee-uh) was a large empire, extending into four present day countries: Turkey, Syria, Iran, and Iraq.

• 2. The Assyrians built a large and powerful military to defend their hills and valleys. Around 900 B.C. they began to take over the rest of Mesopotamia.

• 3. This army fought with slingshots, bows and arrows, swords, and spears.

• 4. For 300 years, Assyrian ruled. • 5. Because the rulers were so harsh, people often

rebelled. • 6. In about 650 B.C., fighting broke out over who

would be the next Assyrian ruler. With such trouble in this nation, a group of people called the Chaldeans (kal-DEE-uhns) took power

• 7. In 627 B.C., the Chaldean king Nabopolassar (NAH-bug puh-LAH suhr) defeated the Assyrian rule.

• 8. His son, Nebuchadnezzar (NEH-byuh-kuhd-NEH-zuhr) create a new empire. The Chaldean Empire is sometimes called the New Babylonian Empire.

• 9. King Nebuchadnezzar rebuilt Babylon, making it the largest and richest city in the world.

• 10. The king created the “Hanging Gardens” for his wife as a gift to please her.

• 11. Each spring, thousands of people crowded into Babylon to watch a gold statue of the god Marduk (MAHR-dook) as it was wheeled along the street. This god was supposed to bring peace and bigger crops to their empire.

• 12. After Nebuchadnezzaar died, a few weak kings ruled the empire for a while. However, with poor harvests and slow trade further weakened the empire. In 539 B.C. the Persians took advantage of this and took over the empire.