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

2. The Fertile Crescent

3. Mesopotamia
“land between the rivers”
Tigris and Euphrates Rivers

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

5. First Civilization
The Sumerians 3500 BC

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

7. Sumer

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

9. Sumerian City-States

10. 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

11. 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

12. The Ziggurat

13. Ziggurat today

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

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

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

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

18. Akkadians
Sargon – leader
conquered Sumerians
2340 B.C.

19. Second Empire
Babylon 1792 BC

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

21. 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

22. The Phoenicians 1100 BC

23. 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

25. The Children of Israel (Judaism)

26. Moses leads Jews back to Palestine

27. 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.

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

29. Torah
“Bible”
or holy book
of the
Jews

30. The Temple in Jerusalem

31. Assyria

32. From Northern Mesopotamia warlike and cruel

33. 671 BC--crushed Mesopotamia and Egypt

34. 612 BC--destroyed by combined enemies

35. Persia

36. 550 BC Cyrus the Great conquers Fertile Crescent and Asia Minor

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

38. Died in Battle Tomb of Cyrus the Great

39. Cambyses becomes king--back to brutality

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

41. Created efficient government
Divided into 20 Provinces

42. Capital: Persepolis

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

45. The Great Royal Road

46. Empire lasted 1,000 years

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

48. One God: Ahuramazda

49. Spiritual armies of light and dark
Day of judgement
Free will

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

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