2. Around 2300BC, Sargon, the ruler of neighboring Akkad,
invaded and conquered the city-states of Sumer He built the first
empire known to history His achievement didnt last long; after his
death other invaders tumbled his empire into ruin 3. Around 1790BC,
Hammurabi, king of Babylon, brought much of Mesopotamia under his
control His most ambitious and lasting achievement was the
publication of a set of laws known as the Code of Hammurabi
Hammurabis Code---set of laws that were the legal principles of his
empire 4. Hammurabis code was divided into two sections---criminal
law and civil law The criminal law section dealt with offenses
against others such as robbery, assault, and murder By setting out
specific punishments for specific offenses, Hammurabis Code limited
personal vengeance and encouraged social order 5. The main
principle of Hammurabis Code was eye for an eye, life for a life
Example---if a house collapsed because of poor construction and the
homeowner was killed, the builder of the house could be put to
death Taliban-style justice 6. The civil law section dealt with
private rights and matters such as business contracts, inheritance,
taxes, marriage, and divorce Much of the civil code was designed to
protect the powerless, such as slaves and women In general,
Babylonian civil law gave a husband both legal authority over his
wife and a legal duty to support her The code also gave a father
nearly unlimited authority over his children 7. Hammurabi took
other steps to unite his empire besides his law code He also
improved irrigation, organized a well-trained army, and had temples
built 8. The Hittites pushed out of Asia Minor into Mesopotamia
about 1400BC The most important skill they had learned was to be
able to extract iron from ore and create iron weapons As their
empire collapsed, Hittite ironsmiths migrated and spread their
knowledge across Asia, Africa, and Europe, ushering in the Iron Age
9. The Assyrians, who lived on the upper Tigris, learned to forge
iron weapons By 1100BC, they began expanding across Mesopotamia For
500 years, they earned a reputation for being among the most feared
warriors in history 10. King Assurbanipal---founded the first
library at Nineveh He ordered his scribes to collect cuneiform
tablets from all over the Fertile Crescent The Babylonian empire
was revived by King Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar rebuilt canals,
temples, walls and palaces---most famous were the Hanging Gardens
of Babylon Babylonians were especially interested in astronomy 11.
The Persians eventually controlled a wide sweep of territory from
Asia Minor to India, including present-day Turkey, Iran, Egypt,
Afghanistan, and Pakistan. In general, Persian kings pursued a
policy of tolerance of the people they conquered The Persians
respected the customs and religious traditions of the diverse
groups in their empire 12. Darius---Persian emperor from 522-486BC
He divided his empire into provinces, each headed by a satrap Each
province had to pay taxes based on its resources and wealth Darius
adapted laws from the people he conquered and drew up a single code
of laws for the empire He built or repaired hundreds of miles of
roads throughout the empire to encourage unity 13. To encourage
trade, Darius did two important things: 1. he set up a common
system of weights and measures throughout the empire and 2. he
encouraged the use of coins 14. Religious beliefs put forward by
the Persian thinker Zoroaster also helped to unite the empire
Zoroaster lived about 600BC He rejected the old Persian gods and
instead taught that a single wise god, Ahura Mazda, ruled the world
Zoroaster taught that on judgement day all people would be judged
for their actions with people who had done good entering paradise
and evildoers being condemned to eternal suffering 15. The
Phoenicians gained fame as sailors and traders They occupied a
string of cities along the eastern Mediterranean coast, in the area
that is today Lebanon and Syria Phoenicians traded with people all
around the Mediterranean and to help promote trade they set up
colonies from North Africa to Sicily and Spain A few Phoenician
traders braved the stormy Atlantic and sailed as far as England 16.
Historians have called the Phoenicians carriers of civilization
because they spread Middle Eastern civilization around the
Mediterranean Phoenician traders needed a quick form of writing to
record their business deals Most important creation---22 letter
alphabet of consonant sounds
