Assyrian & Persia in the Middle East

Chapter 4:2-3

Notes

AssyriaMain Idea: Developed a military machine,

conquered an empire, established imperial administration

Why it matters? Some leaders still use military force to extend their rule, stamp out opposition, and gain wealth and power

Theme: Military Strategy

Assyria: Military Machine

State of the art military technology

Why did they become militaristic?Answer: Lacking of natural

barriers

Result Developed an army

King Sennacherib= burned Babylon, conquered many cities

Organization & Conquest

Well equipped

Iron-working technology

Advance planning and technical skills

Ex: Assyrians dug beneath the city’s wall to weaken them before they attacked

Assyrian RuleConquered an empire

Assyrian rulers choose who would lead other conquered areas (wouldn’t let the people govern themselves)

Assyrians received taxes and tributes of conquered areas

If they refused to pay, they destroyed their cities and sent the people into exile

Assyrian Culture

Nineveh= capital of Assyrian empire, built by King Sennacherib, along the Tigris River

One of the largest libraries in the ancient world was in Nineveh

King Ashurbanipal= collect clay tablets from Fertile Crescent, prided himself in being able to read in several languages

Archaeologists found tablets and a dictionary tablet that help scholars understand Mesopotamian writing

Empire Crumbles

Assyrians had earned many enemies

Combined army of Medes, Chaldeans and others demolished Nineveh

Fire of demolition actually caused the clay tablets to be glazed and preserved

Many other people rejoiced of Nineveh's destruction

Babylon under the Chaldeans After the Assyrians were

defeated, the Chaldeans (people who ruled after Assyrians) made Babylon their capital

King Nebuchadnezzar= Chaldean king, impressive palace, famous hanging gardens (ancient wonder of the world)

Built large ziggurat that could be seen for miles. Priests observed the stars from

the top Chaldeans’ observations formed

the basis for both astronomy and astrology

Final FallAfter Nebuchadnezzar’s death, empire fell

Persians came, adopted many Assyrian military, political, and artistic inventions

PersiansMain Idea: The Persian Empire ruled with

tolerance and wise government

Why it matters now? Tolerance and wise government are characteristics of the most successful methods of rule

Theme: How you rule (with terror or with tolerance), how to united an large empire

Setting the Stage/Background

While Mede, Chaldeans and others were conquering Nineveh, the Persians were expanding their territory

Eventually 2 forces emerged: Persia and Medes (ancient Iranian people)

Cyrus, would lead Persia to dominate the Medes and more

Persian HomelandMigrated from Central Europe and south Russia and

settled in the Fertile Crescent (modern-day Iran)

Lots of minerals: copper, lead, gold, silver, blue lapis lazuli

Trade allowed them to have contact with neighbors to the west and east

Cyrus the Great= Persian king, military

genius empire spanned 2,000

miles conquered entire Fertile

Crescent set a strict discipline

against looting and burning of cities

believed in honoring local customs and religions

conquered people enjoyed freedom, allowed Jews to return to Jerusalem

died in battle

Persian Rule & Reign

Cambyses= Cyrus’ son Conquered Egypt Neglected to follow father’s example

(ex: ordered Egyptian gods to be burned)

When he died, rebellions broke out

Darius= a noble of the ruling dynasty Member of the king’s bodyguards Ten Thousand Immortal (elite army

group) helped him gain power Empire was 2,500 mile His only failure: not being able to

conquer Greece (this would be the same failure as his son, Xerses)

Providences & Satraps

Darius’ biggest success- his organization/administration over such a large empireDivided into 20 providencesEach providence had the

freedom of religion

Satrap= governor who rules a providenceThese were the “eyes and ears”

of Darius

2 Tools that United Empire1. Royal Road

Went from Persia to Anatolia (modern day Turkey)

1,677 miles

2. Standard MoneyAll providences used the

same money, didn’t need to exchange to local currency

This promoted tradeTrade allowed them to hold

the empire together

Persian ReligionZoroaster= religious reformer

God of truth and light= Ahura Mazda

God of evil and darkness= Ahrimin

Avesta= holy writings of Zoroastrian

Idea of heaven, hell and final judgment

Parsi sect= largest group of Zoroastrians today