River Civilizations: Southwest Asia Mesopotamia Indus Huang he Nile River Civilizations: Southwest Asia

The Fertile Crescent

Mesopotamia “land between the rivers” Tigris and Euphrates Rivers

Irrigation and drainage ditches leads to: growing crops on regular basis Civilization develops

First Civilization The Sumerians 3500 BC

1. Cities City-State: basic unit of the Sumerian civilization Examples: Ur, Uruk, and Kish

Sumer

Citizens of Ur pay their taxes Ur: World’s first city

Sumerian City-States

2. Government Theocracy – ruled by divine authority Kings got their power directly from the gods Priest & priestesses supervised the temples and had a great deal of power

3. Religion Temples were dedicated to the chief god or goddess of the city Built on a massive stepped tower called a ziggurat Polytheistic – belief in many gods

The Ziggurat

Ziggurat today

4. Social Structure Nobles – royal & priestly officials Commoners – farmers, merchants, craftspeople Slaves – belonged to palace officials

5. Writing Cuneiform – “wedged shaped” system of writing Scribes held the most important positions in society

6. Art & Technology Wagon wheel Potter’s wheel Sundial Astronomy Number system based on 60 Geometry Arch

First Empires Large political state or unit, usually under a single leader, that controls many people or territories Easy to create & difficult to maintain

Akkadians Sargon – leader conquered Sumerians 2340 B.C.

Second Empire Babylon 1792 BC

Babylon Established a legal code based on strict justice Hammurabi – leader Established a legal code based on strict justice

Code of Hammurabi Based on the principle of retribution – “An eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth” Patriarchal society – dominated by men Page 41 & 44 in your textbook

The Phoenicians 1100 BC

Phoenicians Best known for their alphabet Simplified writing by using 22 different signs to represent the sounds of speech Passed on to the Greeks and eventually to us

The Children of Israel (Judaism)

Moses leads Jews back to Palestine http://www.christiancinema.com/films/ten.commandments.jpg

Movement of the Jews 7000 B.C. move from Ur to Palestine Drought around 1650 B.C. moved them from Palestine to Egypt Jews were enslaved in Egypt “ten lost tribes” 722 B.C.

Monotheistic Believed in only one God All other religions at this time were polytheistic Covenant, Commandments, Prophet

Torah “Bible” or holy book of the Jews

The Temple in Jerusalem

Assyria

From Northern Mesopotamia warlike and cruel

671 BC--crushed Mesopotamia and Egypt

612 BC--destroyed by combined enemies

Persia

550 BC Cyrus the Great conquers Fertile Crescent and Asia Minor

Wise and tolerant conqueror Respected local religions Prevented destruction Sent Jews back to Palestine Died in combat

Died in Battle Tomb of Cyrus the Great

Cambyses becomes king--back to brutality

Darius the Great (probably killed Cambyses) Extended the empire continued policies of Cyrus

Created efficient government Divided into 20 Provinces

Capital: Persepolis

United his empire through standard roads, coins, weights and measures

The Great Royal Road

Empire lasted 1,000 years

Zoroastrianism Religion of the Persians Founder was Zoroaster 600 B.C. Teachings written in the Zend Avesta Monotheistic

One God: Ahuramazda

Spiritual armies of light and dark Day of judgement Free will

The Fall of Persia Weak Kings after Darius Too many sons fighting for power (one had 115) Alexander the Great

Assyrian Empire 700 B.C. – 612 B.C. Committed atrocities on their captives Fell to the Chaldeans under Nebuchadnezzar