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Chapter 3: The Tigris and Euphrates Valley
Lesson 2: Conquests and Empire Building
Big Idea: Many of the methods used in Mesopotamia to gain and keep an empire
would be used by other leaders throughout world history.
First Paragraph
The city-states of Sumer were nearly always at war, fighting to gain control of water
and other limited resources.
Sargon the Great
Vocabulary
1) conquer – take over
2) empire – the vast lands and varied people that come under
the control of a single government.
3) standing army – an army with paid, full-time soldiers
Sargon the Great once served in the army of the king of Kish,
which was a city-state in Sumer.
Then he killed that king in battle and gathered his own army.
His army gained strength in central Mesopotamia, and then he
conquered all of the Sumerian city-states.
The Sumerians lost control of their city-states, and their
civilization fell.
Sargon the Great
Sargon conquered the Sumerians around 2350 BCE.
He continued his conquests beyond Sumer to what is now Iran in the east and Turkey
in the west.
Sargon built the world’s first empire.
Sargon ruled his empire from the capital city
of Akkad, which is why his empire is referred
to as the Akkadian Empire.
Sargon kept a standing army.
He chose loyal officials to govern his citystates for him.
Sargon ruled for 56 years, and his empire
continued for 200 years after his death.
The Rise of Babylon
Vocabulary
1) taxation – a system where people pay for the running of
the government.
The Rise of Babylon
Akkadian rulers found it difficult to keep control over their vast empire. In 2125 BCE
the city-state of Ur rebelled against the empire.
The battles brought an end to the Akkadian Empire.
Mesopotamia did well under the rulers of Ur for a while, but were conquered around
1900 BCE by the Amorites.
The empire of the Amorites was named for its capital city, Babylon.
The Babylonians created a system of taxation to collect money for the empire.
The Code of Hammurabi
Vocabulary
1) centralized government – a form of government in which
the national government maintains power.
2) code – a set of laws that is written down in a clear,
orderly way
3) principle – important belief
How did the Babylonian rulers maintain their vast empire?
• They established laws that covered crimes against the empire and crimes against
people.
Around 1790 BCE, the first great Babylonian monarch, Hammurabi, compiled a list of
laws, known as Hammurabi’s Code.
Hammurabi based his laws on the principle that the strong shall not oppress the weak.
Some people summarize Hammurabi’s code with the phrase “an eye for an eye”.
The Code of Hammurabi
Hammurabi was the king who united most of
Mesopotamia and conquered the Sumerians. He
developed a “code” of laws. The laws were
numbered from 1 to 282. Law number 196 states:
If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye
shall be put out. Some people summarize
Hammurabi’s code by saying “an eye for an eye.”
Law number 195 states: If a son strike
his father, his hands shall be hewn off.
There are many, many more laws like
this in Hammurabi’s Code.
A statue of Hammurabi
The Hittites and the Kassites
Vocabulary
1) chariots – carts drawn by horses that were used to carry
soldiers in battle.
The Kassites were from the country that is now known as Iran.
They were not successful in their attempts to take over Babylon until the Hittites came
from the north and attacked Babylon.
The Hittites robbed Babylon of its riches. They used chariots to capture Babylon easily.
They left Babylon with stolen treasure, and Babylon was weakened.
The Kassites were finally able to conquer the weakened city, and they ruled for more
than 500 years.
They ruled from 1595 BCE to 1000 BCE.