Download Fertile Crescent

4 early River Valley Civilizations
• Fertile Crescent- Tigris & Euphrates Rivers (Mesopotamia)
• Egyptian Civilization - Nile River
• Indian Civilization - Indus River
• Ancient China - Huang He (Yellow) River
PP Design of T. Loessin; Akins H.S.
The Ancient Fertile Crescent
The Middle East: “The Cradle of Civilization”
Background Info.
• Fertile Crescent- narrow strip of land
between Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
• Mesopotamia- “between the rivers”
• 5,000 B.C.E. – 4,000 B.C.E.- Neolithic
farmers built civilization
Civilizations of the Fertile Crescent
Sumerians
Akkadians
Babylonians
Hittites, Assyrians, Chaldeans
Persians
Phoenicians & Lydians
Sumerians
• Settled in Sumer
• Agriculture: grew crops, domesticated
animals, used irrigation
• Developed system of writing– cuneiform
Sumerian Achievements
• Architecture:
– Arches
– Ziggurats- temples
• Other Achievements:
– The wheel
– Number System
– Lunar Calendar
Sumerian Society
• Government:
– City-States: town or city and the surrounding
land controlled by it
• Education and Religion:
– Only upper-class boys – and no girls –
attended school
– Polytheistic: Sumerian gods were identified
with forces of nature
The Akkadians
• Conquered Sumerians in about 2330
B.C.E.
• Sargon (2334 B.C.E. to 2279 B.C.E.)
– Most powerful Akkadian King
– Established great empire
• Lasted about 150 years but conquered by
invaders
The Babylonians
• 1792 B.C.E. conquered the
Akkadians
• Hammurabi: strong ruler that
came to power in Babylon
– Outstanding political leader and
lawmaker
• Code of Hammurabi
– 282 laws compiled under his
direction
– Punishment was harsh…based on the
idea of “an eye for an eye”
Hittites
• Invaded from Asia Minor in 1600s B.C.E.
• Conquered Babylon
• Achievements:
– Iron
– Legal System
• Only major crimes received death penalty
• Pay fine rather than experience retaliation
• Why unsuccessful?
– Too far from their homeland to control
Babylon permanently
Assyrians
• Dominated area of southwest Asia between 900
B.C.E. and about 650 B.C.E.
● Built large
empire:
expanded power
across the
Fertile Crescent,
Mesopotamia,
Syria, Palestine,
and the Nile
Valley (Egypt)
Assyrians
• Fierce, effective
warriors
– Chariots in battle
– Cavalry- soldiers on
horseback
– Often enslaved
people they
conquered and
killed captured
enemy soldiers
Assyrians Contd.
• Assyrian King had absolute, or
total, power
• Library in Nineveh
– Capital city
– Epic of Gilgamesh- the
story of a Sumerian king
and one of the oldest works
of literature known
• Civil War: weakened Assyria
so that it could not resist
outside invaders
Chaldeans
• Nebuchadnezzar: under his leadership, conquered
Assyrians and most of Fertile Crescent
– Governed from the rebuilt city of Babylon from
605 B.C.E. until his death in 562 B.C.E.
• Babylon and the Hanging Gardens
– Once again became large and wealthy city
– Trade flourished; within city impressive canals
and magnificent buildings
– To please one of his wives, the king planted
thousands of brightly colored tropical trees and
flowers on the palace grounds…became known
as the Hanging Gardens, one of the Seven
Wonders of the World
• End of an empire
– After Nebuchadnezzar’s death, Chaldeans
faced many difficulties, leading to their fall
Persians
• Conquered Babylon in 539 B.C.E.
• Persia and Media: Persians and another group, the Medes,
migrated into what is now Iran
– Cyrus: Persian ruler who rebelled against the Medes,
ultimately capturing Babylon and the rest of the Fertile
Crescent and Asia Minor
• Persian Empire: stretched between the Indus River and
parts of southeastern Europe
• Government:
– Great concern for justice, applying the law fairly, and
treating the people they conquered better than earlier
empires had
• Persians built road system to link sprawling empire together
Persians Contd.
• Religion:
– Zoroaster: Persian prophet that developed an
influential religious philosophy during the 600s
B.C.E.
– Taught that on Earth people receive training for a
future life; rewards vs. punishment
– Central Beliefs of Zoroastrianism:
• 1) the universal struggle between good and evil
• 2) the idea of final judgment
• Decline of the Persians:
– Weak rulers: ultimately defeated by Greek forces of
Alexander the Great
Phoenicians
• Region of Phoenicia: present day Israel, Lebanon, and
Syria
• Major trading region
– Seaports: Tyre and Sidon
– Carthage: Phoenician city in North Africa that
became a major regional and trading power
• Valuable Exports: lumber, gold and silver objects, glass,
purple dye
• Major Contribution: the Phoenician alphabet
– Spread of alphabet is good example of how commerce
can speed cultural diffusion
Lydians
• Western portion of Asia Minor (presentday Turkey)
• Major Contribution: coined money
– Before coins, traders relied on bartering- the
exchange of one good or service for an equal
good or service
– Issue with barter? Limited trade
– Developed a money economy