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

 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.