~KEY IDEAS~

1. Assyrian armies ruled over Mesopotamia all the way to Egypt.

2. The Persian empire balanced the local self-government with a central power.

3)Mesopotamia was cultured and artistic.

AKKADIAN EMPIRE:

-King Sargon the Great (2334-2279 BC)

OLD ASSYRIAN EMPIRE (2025-1378 BC):

-King Shamshi-Adad (1808-1776 BC)

OLD BABYLONIAN EMPIRE (1894-1595 BC):

-King Hammurabi (1792-1750 BC)

NEO-ASSYRIANS (934-612 BC):

-King Ashurbanipal (669-631 BC)

→ Made Nineveh the capital

→Built a library with 20,000+ stone tablets.

NEO-BABYLONIANS (626-539 BC):

-Nebuchadnezzar II (605-562 BC)

→ Created the hanging gardens of Babylon

→Exiled many Jews to Babylon

After the death of Hammurabi, the Assyrians united the region of Mesopotamia in 1750 BC.

Assyria was to the north of Babylon, alongside the Tigris river.

They fought a lot, which led them to becoming fierce warriors.

→ World’s first cavalry

→ Used iron for weapons and tools (stronger than bronze)

→ They learnt iron working from the Hitties (a group from Asia minor that invaded Mespotatmia)

→ Built a strong military state that, 200 years later, became the Assyrian empire (Fertile crescent → Egypt)

GOVERNING

-About 70 provinces, each of these had a representative/governor that reported back to the ruler.

-Ashurbanipal made Nineveh the capital

-He also built a library that contained 20,000+ stone cuneiform tablets, mainly letters from Sumer to Babylonia on subjects like mathematics, literature, law, and science.

After Ashurbanipal died, the empire began fighting with itself, weakening it.

604 BC

Nebuchadnezzar II became King of Babylon

-Spent a lot of money on large building projects like great walls, temples and gates. Most famously, he built the Hanging gardens of Babylon.

539 BC

Babylon and Mesopotamia falls to the Persians

CYRUS THE GREAT

-Ambitious man who wanted the largest empire in the world.

-Lead them to victory of the Medes, then Asia minor, then Ionians all the way into east India.

-Very skilled army of about 10,000 people called the immortals.

-Babylon became the wealthiest province

-Kind, and let the people practice their cultures and religions.

→Died in 530 BC which made his son Cambyses take over.

Cambyses was dumb and failed to invade Kush, which lead to hundreds of Persians dying of starvation.

After Cambyses died, Darius took over by force and expanded the empire even further.

PERSIA’S GOVERNMENT

Kept everything together by balancing local and central power.

Darius divided the empire into provinces and appointed a ruler for each.

Government reformation:

1. Set up tributes to improve finance.

2. Unified Persia by allocating 1 currency.

3. He used Persia’s wealth to build roads that allowed for better communication, trade goods, tributes, armies, and government officials traveled easier because of this.

RELIGION

Zoroaster founded Zoroastrianism.

Taught that there was one supreme god and that the world was in a struggle between good and evil.

Zoroastrianism became the official religion of Persia.

MESOPTAMIAN ARTS

Different due to them being more realistic

Sculptures called reliefs were a stone that was chiseled to make it look the picture was popping out of the slab. Typically found in stele.