Invaders, Traders, & Empire Builders

Invasion & Conquest Invasion & conquest were part of daily life in the history of the ancient middle east, as ambitious warriors and nomads would descend upon the rich cities of the Fertile Crescent. The first empire was built around 2300 BC by Sargon, the ruler of Akkad, when he conquered and ruled the city-states of Sumer. About 1790 BC, Hammurabi, King of Babylon, brought much of Mesopotamia under his control uniting the Babylonian Empire.

Hammurabi’s Code Hammurabi wanted everyone in his empire to know the legal principles his government would follow. He had nearly 300 laws carved on a stone pillar for all to see. This is the first example of a ruler codify, or setting in writing, all of the laws that would govern a state.

Hammurabi Criminal Law This branch of law deals with offenses against others such as robbery, assault, or murder Earlier traditions often permitted victims of crimes or their families to take the law into their own hands. By setting out specific punishments for specific offenses, Hammurabi’s Code limited personal vengeance& encouraged social order.

Hammurabi Civil Law This branch of law deals with private rights and matters, such as business contracts, property inheritance, taxes, marriage, and divorce. Much of Hammurabi’s Civil Code was designed to protect the powerless, such as slaves or women. Generally, men had legal authority over his wife and the legal duty to support her. The code also gave a father nearly unlimited authority over his children.

Judging the Code By today’s standards, some of the punishments were harsh Ex. If a house collapsed because of poor construction and the homeowner was killed, the builder of the house could be put to death. The Code would punish people of different classes with differing severity, showing great favoritism to higher classes. Ex. If a noble man puts out the eye of another noble man, his eye shall be put out. If he puts out the eye of a commoner, he shall pay one silver mina.

The Hittites: Iron The Hittites pushed out of Asia Minor into Mesopotamia around 1400 BC. The Hittites had learned to extract iron from ore and make stronger, sharper iron weapons & tools Iron weapons were less expensive and far superior to other civilization’s bronze & copper weapons. After the collapse of the Hittite Empire around 1200 BC, this iron technology spread throughout Mesopotamia.

The Assyrians: Warrior People After learning to make iron weapons, the Assyrians would become some of the most feared warriors in history. By 1100 BC they began expanding across Mesopotamia Fierce Warfare was central to the Assyrian culture Ex. Upon capturing Babylon, the Assyrian ruler proclaimed “The city and its houses, from top to bottom, I destroyed and burned with fire Despite their fierce reputation, Assyrian rulers encouraged a well-ordered society.

Assyria Falls; Babylon Revived In 612 BC neighboring people joined forces to crush the once-dreaded Assyrian armies. An aggressive and ruthless king, Nebuchadnezzar revived the power of Babylon. His new Babylonian empire stretched from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea. Nebuchadnezzar rebuilt the canals, temples, walls, and palaces of Babylon. Under his rule, Babylonians pushed learning into new areas, making observations of the stars that contributed to the growing knowledge of astronomy.

Persian Empire In 539 BC Babylon fell to the Persian Armies of Cyrus the Great. The Persians went on to conquer the largest empire yet seen, which included modern day Turkey, Iran, Egypt, Afghanistan, and Pakistan Generally, Persian kings were tolerant of the customs and religious traditions of the people they conquered. This created a very diverse empire

Persian Empire: Darius From 522 BC to 486 BC King Darius used his organizational skills to bring greater unity to his empire. Like Hammurabi, Darius developed a single law code. To encourage unity, Darius had hundreds of miles of road built. Darius encouraged the use of coins. Most people continued to be part of the barter economy, exchanging one set of goods and services for another Coins, however, brought merchants traders into an early money economy. In this system, goods and services are paid for through the exchange of a coin or bill of agreed value.

Zoroastrianism Persians also united around a religion that rejected the old Persian gods and taught that a single wise god, Ahura Mazda ruled the world. (Monotheism) Ahura Mazda was said to be in a constant battle against Ahriman the prince of lies and evil. It was believed that Ahura Mazda would someday rise up, defeat Ahriman and condemn all evil doers to eternal suffering. Those who had done good would enter eternal paradise. Two later religions, Christianity & Islam, emerged out of the middle east with similar views on a final judgment & afterlife

Phoenicians: Sea Traders Phoenicians were best known for: manufacturing glass & purple die, Making papyrus to make rolls of paper for books & TRADING. They were expert sailors and traveled throughout the Mediterranean region trading and setting up colonies. Creating our alphabet

Phonetic Alphabet Past writing like cuneiform or hieroglyphics had each symbol represent a word or concept The Phoenician alphabet developed because they needed a quick, flexible form of writing to record all the business deals made while trading. This alphabet contains letters that represent spoken sounds The Greeks later adapted this to give us most of the letters we use today.