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I. Fertile Crescent Empires
A. Akkadians
these people lived in Mesopotamia and
conquered the Sumerians
these spoke like today’s Arabic and Hebrew
Sagon- king of the Akkadians and ruled 2334 to
2279 BC
Akkadians lasted about 150 years
B. Babylonians
the leader of the Babylonians is Hammurabi
he conquered most of the Tigris-Euphrates Valley
and he was a great military leader
Hammurabi is also a outstanding political leader and
law maker
the 282 laws were called Code of Hammurabi
these codes dealt with all aspects of Babylonian life
some of the laws dealt with commerce and industry,
while others relegated wages, hours , working
conditions, and property rights
punishment was harsh, based on eye for a eye
C. Babylonian Culture
in some ways Babylonian culture is like that of the
Sumerians
most of the Babylon's were farmers
they grew a number of crops and grew cotton
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D. Religion
the Babylonians had some of the same beliefs as the
Sumerians
Babylon's made scarifies to their gods for good
harvests or success
II. Other Conquers
A. Hittites
these people invaded the Tigris-Euphrates Valley
from Asia Minor in the 1600’s BC
these people are the first to smelt iron
their most important achievement is their laws
and government
Hittite law only minor crimes received the death
penalty
The Hittites were to far from home to control
Babylon and they withdrew western part of the
Fertile Crescent
B. Assyrians
these people are the same as the Sumerian culture
and they settled in Northern Mesopotamia
these are fierce warriors
the Assyrians have a absolute king and the king
has all the power
C. Persians
the Persians conquered Babylon in 539 BC
the first leader of the Persians was Cyrus
Cyrus and leaders after him expanded Persian
Government
the Persian leaders were good and they were also
good generals
the gov’t collected taxes and administered law
fairly
D. Persian Religion
at first they had many gods and then the prophet
teachings of Zoroaster
Zoroaster taught that people on earth receive
training for the future life and there is forces of
good and evil and they battle each other
people must choose between them
III. Phoenicians and Lydian's
A. Phoenicians
these people in western part of the Fertile Crescent
did not have large empires, but they had great
influence on the modern world
this area is today’s modern nation is Israel, Lebanon
and Syria
these people were called Phoenicians
Phoenicia had city-states ruled by a king
B. Trade
the Phoenicians sailed to trade
lumber was one of the main trades for the
Phoenicians
C. Culture
the Phoenicians took things from the Egyptians
and Babylonians
the religion had them sacrifice their own children
and they worshipped many gods
the Phoenicans started the Phoenican Alphabet
this was a model for Western alphabets
D. Lydians
the Lydians lived in what is now Turkey
these people did not create a empire
these people are the first people to use coin money
Barter- exchange goods and services
Commodities- goods that have value
Money Economy- economic system is based on the
use of money as a measure of value and unit of
account
these people spread their idea of money economy
through out the world
IV. Judaism
A. Hebrews
to the south of Phoenicia there was a small strip
of land called Canaan, the people that lived there
was know as Hebrews
from the bible Abraham is the founder of the
Hebrews
Modern Jews heritage comes from the grandson of
Abraham and his name Jacob
Twelve Tribes of Israel- group of people
established by Jacob
Exodus
the Hebrews moved to Egypt and lived there
peacefully eventually fell out of favor of the
Egyptians when some Hebrews moved in when
Hyksos moved in
the Hebrews became in slaved and Moses helped
them out of slavery
Moses had the Ten Commandants
B. Founding of Israel
the Hebrews have been divided by 12 tribes
some of the leaders were Saul and David
Solomon was leader after David, this was David’s
son
under Solomon the Kingdom of Israel was at its
height during Solomon wealth and power
after Solomon’s death there was two kingdoms
C. Development of Judaism
The Hebrew bible talks about how the world
started
the first five books of the Old testament are
called Torah this included Hebrew code of laws
Mosaic Law is named after Moses this includes Ten
Commandants and Code of Hammurabi but has
regard higher for human life
The Hebrew religion was monotheistic based on
belief in a single god. Because it emphasized
ethics, or proper conduct, it is often called ethical
monotheism. The Jewish system of ethics carried
over into the founding of Christianity. Thus
today many people refer to the values first
established by the Hebrews as Judeo-Christian
ethics. This ideas rank among the Hebrews most
important contributions to western civilization.