Chapter 1 Sec. 3 New Empires

1. Chapter 1 Sec. 3New Empires How did Assyria’s military power and well-organized government help build a vast empire in Mesopotamia by 650 B.C. Describe the important landmarks built in Babylon by the Chaldean Empire. 3. Identify the major achievements of the Chaldeans.

2. Key Words • Province- a political district • Caravan- groups of traveling merchants • Astronomer- people who study the heavenly bodies • Core-the center or most important • Interval-the space between two objects or points • Route- a road or way to travel from one place to another

3. The Assyrians • A new empire arose in Mesopotamia about 1,000 years after Hammurabi. • The Assyrians lived in the north near the Tigris River. • Because the valley was so fertile this attracted outside invaders. The Assyrians built a large army and around 900 B.C. they began to take over the rest of Mesopotamia.

4. Why were the Assyrians so strong? • Well organized military • They had a multi-level army: core were foot soldiers wit spears and daggers; bow and arrow soldiers; chariot riders and horsemen.

5. The first to use iron weapons (learned techniques from Hittites) • Used tactics like tunneling , climbing and battering rams. They set fire to cities and towns. • Anyone who resisted was punished or driven away. • New settlers were forced to pay heavy taxes.

6. How was their government organized? • Strong king ruled a large empire. • 650 B.C.-Empire stretched from Persian Gulf to the Nile River. • Nineveh was the capital and was located on the Tigris. • Empire was divided into provinces who were governed by officials. They collected taxed and enforced the king’s laws.

7. Government continued • The kings built roads to join the empire • Soldiers were posted at stations to protect traders from bandits. • Messengers used stations to rest and change horses.

8. What was life like in Assyria? • Writing based on Babylonian writing • Worshipped many gods • Laws were similar but their punishment was more brutal and cruel • Great skilled builders • Large temples and palaces with wall carvings/statues

9. Life continued • They produced and collected literature • Had one of the world’s first libraries with 25,000 tablets of stories and songs to the gods.

10. The Chaldeans • The Assyrians were so brutal that many rebellions began amongst their people. • The fighting weakened them and a group called the Chaldeans were able to rebel. • They were from the Arabian Peninsula and came to Mesopotamia around 1000 B.C. They were conquered by the Assyrians and they hated them.

11. In 627 B.C. Nabopolasser and his people joined forces with the Medes (another group wanting to break free of the Assyrian rule) and defeated the Assyrians. • They captured Nineveh in 612 B.C. and ended the Assyrian empire. • Nabopolasser and his son, King Nebuchadnezzer went on to build their own empire.

12. By 605 B.C. they conquered nearly all the lands the Assyrians ruled and made Babylon the capital of their empire.

13. Babylon • Glorious center of the empire • World’s richest and largest city • Surrounded by a wide wall with built in intervals of towers were soldiers kept watch

14. Large palaces and temples stood in the city center. A huge ziggurat reached more than 300 feet into the sky.

15. Hanging gardens were a staircase of greenery. They were terraced gardens with large trees and massive vines. A pump brought in water from a nearby river. Nebuchadnezzer built them for his wife who missed the mountains and plants of her homeland north.

16. Many passing caravans sold their wares to Babylonians • Major trade route between the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea • Center of science • They had astronomers who study changes in the sky-believed they revealed the plans of the gods • Made one of the first sundials and developed the 7-day week

17. Why did the empire fall? • Weak leaders • Poor harvests • Decreased trade • 539 B.C.-Persians from the northeast captured Babylon and made Mesopotamia part of the Persian Empire

18. Homework • Read the description of the City of Babylon on p. 146 in your text. • Draw the city based on the description. Feature the Hanging Gardens but also include some of the other items described. (hoses, marketplace, pottery, baskets, palace, ziggurat, wall etc.) • Use a lot of COLOR!

19. QUIZ • How did Assyria’s military power and well-organized government help build a vast empire in Mesopotamia by 650 B.C. • Describe the important landmarks built in Babylon by the Chaldean Empire. 3. Identify the major achievements of the Chaldeans