1. The Assyrian Empire

2. Geography Fertile Crescent From northern part of Mesopotamia
Lacked natural barriers
Built empire through constant warfare
East and north of the Tigris to Egypt

3. What natural resources did Assyria need to keep its empire strong?
Iron ore and copper for weapons and armor

4. Sennacherib Assyrian King in early 700s BC
Made Nineveh a glorious city and his capital
Walls stronger, huge palace, parks, brought water to city from 50 miles away by using canals
Captured about 89 cities, 820 villages and burned Babylon
Ordered most of the citizens of Babylon killed

5. Military Organization
Well-equipped soldiers
Advance planning and technical skill that allowed them to lay siege on cities
A society that glorified military strength and engineering skill
Made use of ironworking technology
Assyrian warrior against the Nubian warrior in 7th c BC

6. The well-equipped soldier
Stiff leather and metal armor
Copper or iron helmets
Padded loincloths
Leather skirts w/ metal scales
Iron swords & iron-pointed spears
Shields

7. War tactics Built pontoons as bridges to cross water
Ladders to scale walls
Dug tunnels beneath city’s walls
Marched shoulder to shoulder
Archers release shower of arrows
Massive, iron-tipped battering rams
Killed or enslaved victims
Forced captives to settle far away in distant provinces
Chariots with brutal force

10. Enslaved victims

11. Chariots used w/brute force

12. Empire Expands
B/n BC defeated Syria, Palestine, Babylonia

13. Rules of governing Governed land closest to them as provinces
Chose loyal people as governors who report back
Collect taxes and tribute from conquered land
Destroyed cities and sent them into exile if refuse to pay

14. Culture Built great cities
Sennacherib built the capital of Nineveh along the Tigris River
Largest city of its day
Sculptures of military campaigns and the lion hunt
World’s largest library built by King Ashurbanipal
20,000 clay tablets including Epic of Gilgamesh

15. Culture
Sculptures of military campaigns and the lion hunt

16. King Ashurbanipal and the library at Nineveh
World’s largest library built by King Ashurbanipal
20,000 clay tablets including Epic of Gilgamesh
Organized into rooms by subject and cataloged

17. Human-headed winged bull on wall/door of Sargon II’s palace

19. Assyrian warship BC

20. Early Warnings of Collapse of Empire
Empire spread thin
Cruelty earns them enemies
Ashurbanipal is the last of the powerful kings
With his death, we see decline

21. What policies indicate Assyria ruled through force?
It would destroy cities and exile residents if the people refused to pay taxes.

22. Decline and Fall of the Assyrian Empire
612 B.C. army of Medes and Chaldeans destroy Nineveh
Assyrian Empire is overthrown

23. How did the destruction of Nineveh help future historians?
Fires that burned the city glazed the tablets in the library.

24. How did the causes of Assyria’s success also cause its downfall?
Military expansion and harsh rule made Assyria dominant, but these also led it to spread its power thinly and to create enemies.

25. Rebirth of Babylon Under the Chaldeans
Nineveh and the Assyrian Empire has been destroyed
Chaldeans rebuild Babylon
Babylon becomes their capital

26. Nebuchadnezzar Rebuilds Babylon Built the “Hanging Gardens of Babylon”
(Ishtar Gate is 1 of the 8 gates of the inner city)
Built the “Hanging Gardens of Babylon”
Highest building of Babylon was the seven-tiered ziggurat (300 ft. high)
Destroys Jerusalem
Sends Jews into exile

27. Ancient City of Babylon

28. Reconstruction of the Ishtar Gate in Berlin (47 ft. high)

29. Alternating Dragons and Bulls decorate the gate

30. Dragons & Bulls on the gate

31. Lions & flowers decorate the processional street

32. Hanging Gardens of Babylon

33. Hanging Gardens of Babylon
Legend says that one of his wives missed the flowering shrubs of her mountain homeland
Fragrant trees and shrubs rose 75 ft. above the city
Slaves watered the plants by using hidden pumps that drew water from the Euphrates

34. Babylon’s 7 tiered ziggurat
Astronomers make discoveries about solar system
Record sun, moon, Earth & 5 planets belong to same solar system
Record how stars and planets change position in sky
Observations form basis for astronomy and astrology

35. British artist, John Martin (1789-1854) “The Fall of Babylon”
Legend
Babylon protected by 11 mile long wall w/ Euphrates River running under it
Stockpiled food for 4 yrs.
Cyrus the Great attacked city in 539 BC
He dug a canal to drain the water under the wall
Men wade under wall
Pro-Persian Babylonians opened the inner gate
Fall to Persians
Persians adopted many Assyrians military, political, and artistic inventions
British artist, John Martin ( ) “The Fall of Babylon”