MESOPOTAMIA—PART 2
Unit
Overview
Although
prosperous, the Sumerian city-states were weakened by years of fighting among
themselves. They were easily conquered
by a series of invading armies led by strong rulers. The lands within the Fertile Crescent were
pulled into large, powerful empires.
Although this often resulted in bloody conflicts, these empires carried
Sumerian accomplishments along with their own achievements to new places. This encouraged the spread of learning and
culture far beyond Mesopotamia. Let’s
see how it all happened.
Building
an Empire
The
Sumerian city-states, located in southern Mesopotamia, had grown rich and
prosperous. At the same time, they also
continued to use their resources to fight each other. These facts did not go unnoticed by their
neighbors. They watched and waited for
the opportunity to attack Sumer. Akkad, a region of Mesopotamia located
north of Sumer, did just that in 2370 B.C.E.
The Akkadians easily invaded and conquered the city-states. Their leader, Sargon, combined the territories that he defeated into the world’s
first empire. An empire is a group of states or regions
controlled by one ruler.
Governing
people of so many different nationalities and cultures was no easy task. To encourage unity, Sargon formed a standing
army of over 5,000 men from every part of the empire. He also required that the same standards for
weights and measures be used everywhere.
This made trade and record-keeping much easier. Although Sargon tried to build a strong
foundation for his empire, it collapsed shortly after his death. The Sumerian city-states regained their
independence but only for a short time.
Mesopotamia was about to experience a long line of invaders and
empire-builders. Each one would leave
its mark on the region and the world.
The
First Babylonian Empire
About
2000 B.C.E., a group of nomads called the Amorites
invaded Mesopotamia. They defeated the
Sumerians and established the city of Babylon
as their capital. In 1792 B.C.E., Hammurabi, a very successful general,
became the ruler and pulled almost all of Mesopotamia into his empire. Like Sargon, he organized a well-trained army
with men from all parts of the empire.
Hammurabi also realized that a stable food supply depended on irrigation
and made sure that the system was in good, working condition. Under his rule,
Babylon became a busy trading center.
Its population grew quickly and included people, such as traders, from
other places. In many respects, this was
a good thing, but it did create some problems.
Disagreements, disputes and crime increased.
Hammurabi
believed that a unified code of laws would benefit all of the people within his
empire. Over time, this set of laws,
known as the Code of Hammurabi,
would prove to be his most lasing achievement.
The laws themselves were not new.
Most of them had been in place since Sumerian times. What made the Code of Hammurabi unique was
that the laws were published for everyone to see. Of course, Hammurabi could not print them in
the newspaper or post them on the Internet.
He had to find another way to make them public. Hammurabi employed skilled carvers to put
nearly 300 laws on a stone pillar so that everyone could read them. He also
explained what he hoped to accomplish by doing this. The graphic lists the purpose of the Code of
Hammurabi and some of its laws. The
punishments in this set of laws seem very cruel to us today. Nevertheless, it prevented people from taking
the law into their own hands and kept order within the empire.
The
Hittites
The
first Babylonian Empire began to fall apart after Hammurabi’s death. It completely collapsed around 1400 B.C.E.
when the Hittites arrived. This fierce, nomadic tribe swept in from
their homeland in Anatolia, or what
is known today as Turkey. They
overwhelmed the city of Babylon and took control of much of Mesopotamia. In many ways, they were not as advanced as
the Mesopotamians, but they had made one very important discovery that gave
them a big advantage.
At
this time, the Mesopotamians made most of their weapons from bronze, a combination of tin and
copper. Because tin was hard to find,
the number of weapons that they could produce was limited. On the other hand, iron was readily available and much stronger, but there was a
problem. It was extremely difficult to
separate the iron from the ore, or
the material surrounding it. The
Hittites had learned the process of heating iron ore, plunging it in cold
water, and hammering out the impurities.
In comparison to everyone else, this discovery enabled them to have
stronger, sharper weapons and more of them. The Hittites were determined to
keep this new technology a closely guarded secret. However, better weapons was not enough to
save their empire. They were forced out
of Mesopotamia and took their iron-making skills with them. This migration spread the ability to use iron
throughout Asia, Africa, and Europe. For
this reason, historians often refer to this era as the Iron Age. To learn more
about the Hittites, click on the graphic below.
The
Assyrians
The Assyrians lived along the upper banks
of the Tigris River. They began to build
their empire around 1300 B.C.E. To
accomplish this goal, the Assyrians organized the most efficient and deadliest
fighting force the ancient world had ever seen.
They were among the first to learn about iron production from the Hittites. Their leaders used this technology to equip
the army. They supplied their soldiers
with carefully designed helmets, boots, spears, shields, and swords. The Assyrians were also the first to build armories, or store houses for weapons
and military gear. Construction workers
moved in advance of the army. They built
storage buildings for grain and food.
These supplies not only fed the soldiers but also their horses, which
were an essential part of their battle plan.
The
Assyrians had little mercy for the people that they conquered. Thousands were put to death or forced into
slavery. Although this was very cruel,
slavery resulted in an involuntary migration that spread technology, culture,
and learning across the Middle East.
From their defeated enemies, the Assyrians took everything that they
believed had value. These riches paid
for splendid palaces, such as the ones in their capital city of Nineveh. King
Assurbanipal ordered the army to bring back clay tablets from all over
Mesopotamia. This collection became one
of the world’s first libraries. It
continues to provide modern researchers with a vast amount of information about
ancient times.
By
671 B.C.E., the Assyrians ruled a vast empire that included most of the known
world. You can see just how much land
they had acquired by looking at the dark green and light green areas on the map
in the graphic below. However, bigger
proved not to be better. Their holdings
simply became too large to manage successfully.
Their treatment of conquered people also made them unpopular
rulers. Parts of the empire began to
work together to overthrow the Assyrians.
The Second
Babylonian Empire
The Chaldeans spearheaded the revolt
against the Assyrians and led the forces that destroyed Nineveh. Their king, Nebuchadnezzar, announced his plans to rebuild the city of
Babylon. He restored walls, canals,
temples, streets, and palaces throughout the city. Skilled workers learned how to glaze bricks
and tiles. This process gave these
building blocks the vibrant colors that you see pictured here. By 600 B.C.E., Babylon was the capital of the
Second Babylonian Empire, also known as the Neo-Babylonia. It stretched
across the Fertile Crescent from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean
Sea.
Ancient
stories tell us that Nebuchadnezzar’s most challenging building project was the
construction of the Hanging Gardens of
Babylon. He ordered the structure to
be built as a gift for his wife. Legend
has it that she missed the mountains, flowers, and green plants of her
homeland. Providing water to irrigate
the plants on every level would have been a remarkable feat of engineering. Although no evidence has been found that this
garden actually existed in Babylon, historians consider it one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
The picture below is an artist’s idea of what the garden may have looked
like.
Babylon’s
tallest building was a ziggurat that rose to 300 feet. Priests watched the stars and plants from its
top level. They recorded their positions
in the night sky. They also traced the
movements of the constellations and followed the four phases of the moon. From these observations, early astronomers
concluded that each month was divided into four weeks. This knowledge was later used to develop
theories about the Earth, Sun, planets, and stars.
Here
Come the Persians
According
to legend, the walls that Nebuchadnezzar built to protect Babylon were so thick
that one could drive a chariot on top of them.
Nevertheless, they could not protect the Babylonians from the next
conqueror to invade Mesopotamia. Cyrus
the Great led his Persian army from the region that is now modern Iran into the Fertile Crescent and made
it part of an empire. It was even larger
than the one built by the Assyrians. For
the most part, however, the Persians were less ruthless. They permitted those whom they conquered to
follow their own customs and traditions, as long as they did not rebel.
Other
Persian leaders built on the successes of Cyrus the Great. In 522 B.C.E., Darius became the ruler of the Persian Empire. He hoped to avoid some of the problems that
previous governments experienced when managing a large area. The new leader looked for ways to hold his
empire together. First, Darius divided
the lands into twenty provinces. A governor, a tax collector, and an army
leader were assigned to each province.
To make sure that these officials remained loyal and honest, they were
frequently visited by Darius’ inspectors.
Next, Darius built a network of roads to connect all of the parts of the
vast empire. The most famous road
constructed as part of this project was known as the Royal Road. It rolled on for
1,677 miles.
The
Persian emperor established a postal
system to improve communication among the provinces. Messengers waited at stations that were
placed one-day’s ride from one another.
When he arrived at the station, the first rider would hand the message
to the next one. This was similar to the
pony express system that was once used in the American West. To increase trade and to make it more
efficient, Darius encouraged the use of coins throughout the empire. This was not a new idea. The Lydians,
a group of people who once lived in the ancient Middle East, were actually the
first to manufacture metal coins. Persia, however, was the first large empire
to adopt them. In spite of these
accomplishments, the Persians would also eventually meet their downfall when
they encountered the Greeks.
In
this unit, you have studied several different groups of people that developed a
variety of products and practices. These
discoveries continue to influence our lives today. Which ones do you think have had the greatest
impact? Click on the graphic below. Print the worksheets and record your thoughts.
Time
for a Quick Review
Before
moving on to Unit 12, take a few minutes to review the names and terms found in
Unit 11. Be sure that you can answer the
“Can I” questions with a loud “yes”.
Additional Activities and Resources