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Persians, Phoenicians, Israelites
Persian Empire

Persian Kings were tolerant- accepted the
people they conquered.

Unified Under Darius- Organized his empire
into Satraps, (provinces). Set up leaders to
collect taxes in each satrap.
Built roads and palaces, constantly visiting and
celebrating with his people
 Had a unified law for all his land

Economy
Darius introduced coins to use as currency.


Barter Economy- Exchanging goods or services
for another
Money Economy- Goods
are paid for with a token
of agreed value.
Religion United the Persians

Zoroaster (600b.c.)- Organized a religion
that rejected traditional Persian Gods and
replaced them with a single wise God.

Believed in a Heaven, Hell and a final Judgment
day.
Phoenician Sea Traders

Were known to be exceptional sailors.

Only lived on a narrow strip of coast land,
which they used to farm. (More known for
manufacturing and trading)

Purple dye glass
Phoenician Sea Traders

Phoenicians set up colonies(territory settled
and ruled by people from another land) to
help expand their trade.
Phoenician Alphabet

Unlike cuneiform or hieroglyphics, which
were symbols that represented a word or
concept. Phoenicians created an alphabet
which are letters that combined, make up
words.
The Roots of Judaism
Early History of the Israelites
Belief in God

Israelites, or Hebrews
believed in God and that he
had a hand in their lives.

Recorded sacred events
and records in the Torah.
Father Abraham (founder of the Israelite
nation)
 Abraham lived in Ur in
Mesopotamia. He and his
large family wondered the land
herding sheep and goats, the
settled in Cannon.
 In time the posterity
(decedents) of Abraham
traveled to Egypt to escape
famine.
Moses


In Egypt they were enslaved by a pharaoh.
A leader named Moses
lead the people from
slavery into the desert.
Eventually after Moses
died the people
re-entered Cannon.
Kings of the Hebrews
1000 B.C.E.

David- United the various tribes

Solomon (David’s Son)- Built a greart
temple and worked to build relations with
Egypt and Mesopotamia. Known as a
Shrewd leader

Building projects raised taxes
Division

Solomon's strict style spilt the Israelites.



Israel- North
Judah- South
This division weakened the Israelites,
allowing them to be invaded by the
Assyrians.
Exile

The Israelite people were forced away from
their land to live in Babylon. This time
was known as the Babylonian Captivity, it
is also when they became known as the
Jews.


Eventually they were freed by Cyrus, a
Persian leader who conquered Babylon.
Many Jews returned to their land and built a
smaller version of Solomon's Temple.