2. Sumerians
Sumer, Kish, Eridu, Uruk, Ur (Near the Persian Gulf)
3000BC
Pictographs Cuneiform, stylus
Arches (keystone), ziggurats temples baked brick in layers
Invented plow, sailboat, circle in 360 degrees, wheel
Used levees and canals
City-State each had god(s)
Monarch king, high priests, nobles, merchants, scholars, peasants,
farmers, slaves
Upper-class boys attended school
Polytheism – gods – forces of nature
no reward or punishment after death
Gods: An – god of heaven
Enlil – god of air + storm
Enki – god of water and wisdom
Flood Story – gods are unhappy with human life, send a flood
3. Babylonians
Akkad, Babylon
1792 BCE
Active Traders, Rights for Women
Adopted culture of Sumerians when
they conquered them
Astronomy/Astrology Horoscope
Hammurabi Law Code “eye for an eye”
Hammurabi – efficient leader, cared about
people, wanted Justice
Polytheistic had Sumerian gods
would sacrifice to gods for favors
Shadowy afterlife like Sumerians
Priests could tell future wealthy
4. Hittites
Asia Minor, IndoEuropean Language
1600BCE-1200BCE
Warlike people invade from Asia Minor
Looted city of Babylon
Retreat to West Fertile Crescent
1st to smelt iron
Only major crimes received death penalty
You could pay fines for penalties
Had significant religious freedom
5. Assyrians
Ashur, Upper Tigris River, Ninevah
2000BCE, 900-650BCE, 700BCE Loot/destroy Babylon, 635BCE Civil War
Semetic Speaking from North Mesopotamia
Adopt Sumerian culture
Fierce effective warriors, 1st to use cavalry, had a standing army
Expand power into Egypt/Fertile Crescent
height of power Meso, Syria, Palestine, Nile Valley
Latitude//Longitude, Used circle, Medical Science, Mail service
Used terror to control enemies, enslaved people they conquered, killed
enemy soldiers, deport populations cultural diffusion
Governed large Empire
Respect/feared other people’s gods
Gods controlled everything
King of Assyria responsible only to God Ashur
Nineveh is Capital – double walled for protection
Ashurbanipal’s Library at Nineveh Epic of Gilgamesh
6. Chaldeans
Nineveh, Babylon
612BCE capture Nineveh
Conquer most of Fertile Crescent
Trade, canals, buildings
Hanging Gardens of Babylon
Skilled astronomers predict solar/lunar eclipse
Calculate length of the year
Gate of Ishtar - Goddess
Nebuchadnezzar – Great Leader, builds Hanging Gardens
of Babylon for his homesick wife
7. Persians
Indo-European language, Empire Indus R. to Europe
539-331BCE Finally defeated by Greeks and Alexander the Great
Empire stretched from Indus River to Europe
Road System was used to connect Empire together
Imperial Bureaucracy- gov’t organized into different levels
and tasks with a king at the top.
Cyrus, Darius, Xerxes expanded Empire
Collected taxes laws fairly executed
Conquered people let them keep their religion and
laws
Secret Agents Keep king informed, governors and military
leaders were kept in check
Zoroastrianism good vs. evil, either rewarded or
punished in the afterlife. Had influence of Judaism and
Christianity
8. Phoenicians
West Fertile Crescent, “Phoenicia”, Tyre and Sidon =
Seaports, Carthage in Africa - Traders
1000BC
Ships highly skilled sailors, greatest traders
Lumber, skilled metal workers, invented glass blowing
and purple dye
Phoenician Alphabet spread throughout
Mediterranean. Model for later Western alphabets
City-Stateeach with a different King
Copied culture and government of others (Egyptian and
Babylonians)
Afterlife sacrifice to please the gods, even children
(extreme cases)
9. Lydians
Asia Minor, West Asian Minor = Lydia
600BC no empire
1st to use coined money created a money economy
Barter = trading goods or services for other commodities
10. Hebrews/Jews
Canaan, Enslaved in Egypt
After 100BCE Hyksos kicked out Jews and are made slaves in Egypt
for 400 yrs.
Founder Abraham
Moses Leads Exodus from Egypt, 10 Commandments
Yahweh (God) monotheistic
Torah (1st 5 books of Old Testament) Law Code
Diaspora the spreading out (forced or voluntary
migration) of Jews from their homeland.
