Download The Hittites, Assyrians, Chaldeans, and Phoenicians

The Hittites, Assyrians,
Chaldeans, and Phoenicians
The Tribes of Mesopotamia
Remember:
The Sumerians (c. 3000 BCE):
• Polytheist
• Invented writing (cuneiform)
• Invented the wheel, plow, better bronze tools
• Society based on caste (levels – from peasant to
King)
Akkadians (2300 BCE)
• Sargon I: first permanent army; first empire
Babylon (1800 BCE)
• Hammurabi’s code (first written laws)
The Hittites
• Indo-Europeans (Greek, Hindi, Russian) - came
from north of the Black Sea when the land is
made of steppes (arid grasslands).
• May have come because of drought, war, or
lack of resources.
• Came to the Middle East about 2000 BCE.
The Chariots of Success
• The Hittites were able to conquer
others because of their advanced
chariots.
• These chariots could hold three
men:
• A driver
• A fighter
• A shielded
• In 1595 BCE, the Hittites were able
to invade and sack Babylon
• Babylon fell to the Kassites
soon after the Hittites sacked
the city.
• They also used cuneiform, which
they got from the Sumerians.
• Developed laws similar to those of
Hammurabi.
• Brought ironwork to the Middle East
• Fell in 1200 BCE to the “Sea
Peoples”
The Assyrians (c. 1200 BCE)
• From northern Mesopotamia where they were
farmers.
• Were conquered many times because of their
fertile farm land
• C. 900 BCE, they regained power and spread into
Asia Minor and Egypt.
• Because the had been conquered so many times,
the Assyrians became brutal warriors who
butchered the fallen and enslaved those left.
• Created first complex tax system, communication
routes, and libraries of cuneiform tablets.
• Were conquered by the Chaldeans in 612 BCE.
They burnt the Assyrian capital of Nineveh.
The Chaldeans 612 BCE (The New Babylon)
• Capital – the old city of Babylon.
• Nebuchadezzar II – King who fought the
Egyptians and Jews
– Captured Jerusalem
• They built many ziggurats, temples, and palaces.
• The most famous was the Hanging Gardens of
Babylon with thousands of flowers and plants.
• Borrowed the Sumerian gods.
• Developed a calendar based on the phases of the
moon – the most advanced of the time.
• Conquered by the Persians in 539 BCE.
Hanging Gardens
The Phoenicians
• Were able to come to power because of their
wide trading area.
• They brought in art, weapons, and culture and
blended with their own from the Mediterranean
area (Greece, Egypt, Italy) and as far away as
Africa (Sierra Leone).
• Their most famous city was Carthage which
continues to be an important port city in
northern Africa.
• Known to create glassblowing (the art of heating
and shaping glass).
The Phoenician Alphabet
• Perhaps the most
important contribution of
the Phoenicians was their
alphabet.
• This was the world’s first
alphabet where letters
represented sounds,
instead of symbols for
whole words.
– Contained only consonants
– Greeks added vowels later