The Assyrian and Persian Empires

1. The Assyrian and Persian Empires Section 3 Chapter 3

2. The Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian Empires • Invaders swept into Mesopotamia after Hammurabi’s death. Hundreds of years passed before the Assyrians united the region again. • Assyria lay north of Babylon, along the Tigris river. Like much of Mesopotamia, it fell under the influence of Sumer. • Later, Assyria was part of the Akkadian and Babylonian Empires.

3. A Military State • After Babylon fell, the Assyrians fought against a steady stream of invaders. • This frequent conflict led the Assyrians to become fierce warriors. Assyria’s armies included some of the world’s first cavalry, or soldiers who fight while riding horses. • Assyrians used iron weapons and tools, which were far stronger than the bronze used by earlier people.

4. A Military State • Assyrians learned ironworking from the Hittites, a people who invaded Mesopotamia from Asia Minor. • The Assyrians built up a strong military state and within 200 years they turned that state into an empire. • By the mid 600 B.C.E., the Assyrian Empire stretched north from the Persian Gulf across the entire Fertile Crescent and southwest into Egypt.

5. Governing an Empire • Like previous empires, Assyrian rulers found that controlling a large population was difficult. • They divided the empire into about 70 smaller units of government called provinces. • They assigned a governor to each province. Each governor reported directly to the Assyrian ruler. This helped keep control of distant lands.

6. Governing the Empire • An Assyrian ruler named Ashurbanipal built a library in the capital and filled it with cuneiform tablets. • The tablets were mainly texts and letters from Sumer and Babylonia on subjects such as law, literature, mathematics, and science. • Some 20,000 of these tablets survive today. They are important source of knowledge about Mesopotamian history.

7. Babylon Restored • Civil war and enemy attacks weakened the Assyrian empire after Ashurbanipal’s death. • In 604 B.C.E., NebuchadnezzerII became king of Babylon. He expanded his power as far west as Egypt. His empire is known as the Neo-Babylonian empire. • He also captured Jerusalem, destroyed the Jewish Temple, and exiled many Jews to Babylon. • Nebuchadnezzer was known building great projects like walls, gates, and temples. His most famous project was the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

8. Rise of the Persian Empire • Babylon’s thick walls and strong gates were not able to keep out new conquerors. Babylon and the rest of Mesopotamia fell under the control of the Persian Empire. • Within a few decades, the Persian empire became the largest the world had ever seen.

9. Cyrus the Great • For years, the Persians had been ruled by their neighbors, a people called the Medes. • In 550 B.C.E., Cyrus the Great led the Persians to victory over Medes which resulted in the creation of the Persians empire. • Cyrus wanted to expand his empire. He went to war with the kingdom of Lydia, and defeated their rich king Croesus ( KREE Sus) • Then Cyrus pushed into Ionia, a region settled by the Greeks. One by one, he conquered Ionia’s city-states.

10. Cyrus the Great • Cyrus’ empires spanned through Asia Minor, Greece, and India deep into Asia. • Persia’s rapid growth was due to its large and highly skilled standing army. A standing army is a permanent army of professional soldiers. • The core of this army was a force of 10,000 elite soldiers known as the “Immortals.”

11. Conquest of Babylon • Cyrus and the Persian army captured Babylon. Babylon grew into the wealthiest province of the Persian empire. • Cyrus treated the Babylonians and other conquered people well. He allowed them to keep their own customs and religions rather than forcing them to adopt Persian ways. • When Cyrus conquered Babylon he allowed the Jewish people to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their temple.

12. Further Expansion • Cyrus died in battle and his son Cambyses (kam BY seez) continued his father’s dream of increasing the size of the Persian empire. • First, Cambyses captured Egypt, and then moved on and tried to capture Kush, but the invasion was a failure. • After Cambyses died, Darius took the throne by force. Under his rule, the Persian empire expanded into the Indus Valley. He also moved his troops into the west and defeated the Greek city-state of Thrace.

13. Persia’s Government and Religion • The vast Persian empire included people with many different cultures. • Darius, now known as Darius the Great because of his conquests, created a political structure that gave people some control over their own government. • He divided the empire into satrapies, or provinces, and chose a leader for each one. • These leaders had a great deal of independence. Darius allowed them to keep their local laws and traditions, and make their own decisions.

14. Central Control • Conquered people always sent tribute to the Persian ruler. Tribute is a payment made to show loyalty to a stronger power. • Darius created a fair system in which each province paid according to its wealth. • He also created a common currency. Currency is money used as a medium of exchange., usually bills or coins. • The currency helped unify the Persian economy by making it easier for distant provinces to trade with one another.

15. New Roads • Darius used some of Persia’s great wealth to build roads across the empire. Trade goods and tribute traveled on these roads along with armies, government officials, and royal messengers. • The Persians set up postal stations along the Great Royal Road. • Messengers on horseback brought messages from one station to the next. The Persian system was the fastest communication system in the ancient world.

16. Religion • Around 600 B.C.E., a Persian man known as Zoroaster taught that there was a supreme god, Ahura Mazda, who has an evil opponent. • Zoroastrianism developed into a religion and eventually became the official religion of the Persian empire. • The sacred text is the Avesta, which includes prayers, hymns, and other writings.

17. Religion • The Zoroastrianism’s central belief is that the universe is in a state of struggle between the forces of good and evil. • Zoroastrians believe that people have an important role to play in this conflict by working for good. • They also believe in the existence of an afterlife. • Historians believe that the teachings of Zoroastrianism later influence Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

18. Seals • The Sumerians often used carved stone seals to identify the owner of an object, especially before the development of cuneiform writing. • A seal left the owner’s personal mark, such as an animal or geometric shape, stamped in clay. • For example, a sack containing trade goods might be tied closed with string. Then the owner would cover the knot with wet clay and stamp the clay with the seal.

19. Sculptures • Mesopotamians created a form of sculpture known as a relief. In relief sculpture the scene sticks out from the surface of the base of the material. • One place a relief sculpture may be found is on a stele. A stele is a carved stone slab or pillar that stands on end. • The Assyrians created large, colorful reliefs on the sides of buildings. They also decorated walls with cone-shaped pieces of baked clay painted in white, black, and red.