Transcript Empires of Mesopotamia

Empires of
Mesopotamia
Time period covered: 2300 BCE – 539 BCE
I. City-States to Empires
A. City-states were prone to attack by nomads.
1. Needed stronger military leaders; lugal-gal
replaced priests
B. Lugal-gal became kings, kings ruled over the
city-states
C. More powerful city-states take over other
city-states thus leading to the creation of
empires.
II. Akkadian Empire (2300- 2100 BCE):
A. The first king to unite city-states of
Sumer into an empire was Sargon of
Akkad c. 2300 BCE
B. Sargon’s unstable empire
1. Conquered city-states continued
to fight for independence
2. Akkad was frequently invaded
by rival warriors
III. “Life Cycle” of a Civilization
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.
Create Stable Government
Beautification of home (make city pretty)
Conquer others – expand empire
Internal Rebellions
People outside attack because of internal weakness
Empire shrinks and then falls
… repeat
IV. First Assyrian Empire – Unifying Civilizations
c. 1813 – 1781 BCE
A. Rose out of the town of Assur
B. At first was a small power, but under
Shamshi-Adad it grew to its height
1. Strong military protection
2. Efficient government
3. Strong treaties with neighbors
A. Shamshi-Adad’s sons took over after him, but
couldn’t hold the empire together
1. Power shifts to the south in Babylon
V. First Babylonian Empire – Writing the Laws
c. 1792– 1595 BCE
A. Center of power was in the city of Babylon
B. Most famous leader was Hammurabi
C. Hammurabi created a strong government and order
in society by writing down the laws
1. Hammurabi’s Code
D. He eventually conquered all of Mesopotamia
E. Eventually the empire became too large and it could
not protect itself from outside invaders.
1. Power shifted north back to Assur
VI. New Assyrian Empire- A Path of Conquest
A. Assyrian army:
1. Regular military campaigns to loot and
plunder surrounding areas
2. Murdered, tortured and enslaved their
enemies
A. Tiglath-Pilesar III extended empire borders to
include the entire Fertile Crescent
C. Eventually rebellion became difficult to control
1. Power shifted to Babylonia in the south (again)
VII. Neo-Babylonian Empire
A. Under Nebuchadnezzar (605 – 562 BCE), Babylonians were
known to be great traders and conquerors
B. Nebuchadnezzar gained control of trade access to
Mediterranean
1.
Drove Egyptians out of Syria
C. Nebuchadnezzar captures Jerusalem
1.
2.
Enslaved the Jewish population – “Babylonian Captivity”
Burned down the city of Jerusalem and King Solomon’s Temple
VIII. The Rise of the Persian Empire
A. In 539 BCE, Cyrus the Great
(Persian ruler) conquered the NeoBabylonians.
B. The people of Babylon welcomed
him
1. Cyrus ended Babylonian Captivity
2. He built a vast Persian Empire that
continued for the next 200 years