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Ch. 2 Sec. 4

Empires of the Fertile Crescent

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The Akkadians• 2330 B.C. the Akkadians attacked

& conquered the Sumerians

• Sargon, ruled from 2334 B.C. to 2279 B.C. was the Akkadian king

• The empire lasted 150 years until the Sumerian city-states took over

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The Babylonians• 1792 B.C., Hammurabi conquered

most of the Tigris-Euphrates Valley

• Best known for the Code of Hammurabi – a collection of 282 laws = some laws dealt w/ commerce & industry, others regulated wages, hours, working conditions , & property rights

• Punishments were harsh

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• Most Babylonians farmed (domesticated animals & food crops)

• Also very active traders

• Babylonian women had legal, economic,& property rights

• Babylonians adopted many Sumerian religious beliefs

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The Hittites• Hittites were a warlike people from

Asia Minor – invaded the Valley in the 1600s B.C.

• Hittites were the first to smelt iron

• Most important achievement were their laws & gov’t – only major crimes received the death penalty; Hittite law called for a person to pay a fine rather than experience retaliation

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The Assyrians• Assyrians were from N. Mesopotamia

– between 900 B.C. & 650 B.C. they expanded their power across the Fertile Crescent & into Egypt

• Fierce, effective warriors – used chariots in battle & first to use a cavalry (soldiers on horseback)

• They enslaved the people they conquered & killed captured enemy soldiers

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• The Assyrian king had absolute power; he was responsible only to the god Ashur

• They made their capital at the city of Nineveh & fortified it w/ 70 ft. walls

• Nineveh had a great library• 635 B.C. civil war broke out, weakening

Assyria & in 612 B.C. the Chaldeans & the Medes destroyed Nineveh

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The Chaldeans

• Nebuchadnezzar conquered most of the Fertile Crescent & rebuilt the city of Babylon from 605 B.C. to 562 B.C.

• Babylon once again became a large & wealthy city – trade flourished; canals & magnificent buildings were built; the king’s palace had huge beautiful gardens called Hanging Gardens

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• Skilled astronomers – able to predict solar & lunar eclipses

• Math – calculated the length of a year w/ a very high degree of accuracy

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The Persians• Persians conquered Babylon in 539

B.C.

• They & another group, the Medes, migrated into the area & at 1st the Medes ruled over the Persians

• 550 B.C. the Persian ruler, Cyrus the Great rebelled against the Medes

• He then captured Babylon, the Fertile Crescent, & Asia Minor

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• Cyrus, Darius I, & his son Xerxes I expanded the empire between the Indus R. & parts of S.E. Europe = the mightiest empire in history up to that time

• Gov’t = they collected taxes & administered law fairly; allowed conquered peoples to keep their own religions & laws

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• Persians built roads to connect the cities w/in their empire (Royal Road = 1,250 miles

• Religion = started out polytheistic, but 600 B.C. a prophet named Zoroaster taught that on Earth people receive training for a future life

• Zoroastrianism taught there was a universal struggle between good & evil & the idea of final judgment - influenced Judaism & Christianity

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• 331 B.C. the Persian Army suffered a final defeat at the hands of the Greek forces of Alexander the Great