Download Soc. St. Ch2 Les3 Babylon and Assyria

Chapter 2, Lesson 3
Babylon and Assyria
Hammurabi
* King of the empire of Babylonia and controlled all of
Mesopotamia
* Built dams across the Euphrates River, which allowed him
to control the river’s flow to cause floods or droughts to citystates downstream
* City-states below Babylon had to cooperate with
Hammurabi or face disaster.
*Silver, timber, copper, wine, and other trade goods passed
through Babylon, Hammurabi’s capital city-state, making it a very
wealthy and powerful capital.
Hammurabi the Lawgiver
* He ordered the building and repair of canals.
* He acted as a judge.
* He wrote a code of laws called the Code of
Hammurabi, which consisted of 282 laws
written 4,000 years ago.
* A code of laws is a written
collection of the laws that apply to
the people ruled by one
government.
The Code of Hammurabi
~ Hammurabi expected all of
his citizens to obey his laws.
~ He wrote laws for divorce, for workers’ pay, for
doctors’ fees, and even clumsy barbers.
~ This code tells us that not everyone was
equal.
~This code followed Eye for an Eye – whoever
caused an injury should be punished by being
given that same injury, but only within each
social class.
the Babylonian Empire
• Hamurabi’s empire. It united Mesopotamia.
• The capital of this empire was Babylon. It was in the
center of the empire and Mesopotamia.
• Hamurabi’s code of laws were a system of rules that
seemed fair at the time. These helped him keep control of
his empire.
• After Hamurabi died, the empire began to weaken
• Ashur (Assyria) and Nineveh were the first two citystates to break away from the empire.
Assyria
^ Assyria began to conquer the Fertile Crescent.
^ Their empire stretched from Egypt to the Persian
Gulf and north to Turkey.
^ Assyrian armies were famous and feared because they
were the 1st to use horse-drawn chariots.
See How Empires Have
Changed Over Time
Sumerian
Empire
Babylonian
Empire
Assyrian
Empire
Assyrian City Life
• Prisoners of war were kept as slaves
• Slaves worked on farmlands or built things for
Assyrians. Eventually they became citizens.
• Assyrian men were hunters, soldiers, and
government leaders.
• Assyrian women had no legal rights. They
stayed at home and cared for families.
Why was Assyria able to
conquer all of its neighbors
so easily?
Assyria had special equipment for
making war, and its armies used
horse-drawn chariots for speed.
Aqueduct
• Water was moved from the mountains
to the city using an aqueduct, a raised,
arched structure built to carry water
over long distances.
Sennacherib The
Destroyer
• In 689 B.C., Sennacherib
was the Assyrian king who
ordered the city of Babylon to
be destroyed.
• His soldiers looted Babylon’s
temples and burned its
homes and palaces.
• Sennacherib’s army flooded
Babylon with river water.
Why and how was the
Assyrian Empire Defeated?
After being attacked by the Assyrians,
Babylon fought back and destroyed
Nineveh.
Review
Why did Hamurabi send copies of his law
code all over his empire?
How did the Assyrians bring water to their
cities?
How did Hammurabi get other city-states to
cooperate with his plans?