Empire Builders

1
Empire Builders

• Hittites
• Assyrians
• Chaldeans
• Persians

2
Hittites

• Around 2000 BC Hittites conquered people of Asia
  Minor
• By 1650 had built a well-organized kingdom
• Used light, spoked-wheel chariots overwhelmed
  armies, conquered city of Babylon about 1595 BC

3
Hittite Empire

• Hittite Kingdom at its height from 1650 BC to
  1100 BC.
• Present-day Turkey, Syria, and Northern Iraq

4
Assyrians

• Lived in northern Mesopotamia, earned a
  reputation as the most lethal fighting force in
  the Middle East
• Treated conquered people cruelly, burning cities
  and killing thousands of captives
• By about 650 BC, the Assyrian kings governed an
  empire stretching from the Persian Gulf to Egypt
  and into Asia Minor
• Constant rebellions by conquered people brought
  decline which allowed Chaldeans to bring down the
  Empire

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Assyrian Empire
6
Chaldeans

• Chaldean Empire conquers Assyrians, dominating
  the entire Fertile Crescent
• Reached the height of their power during the
  reign of King Nebuchadnezzar
• Nebuchadnezzar rebuilt Babylon and built the
  Hanging Gardens of Babylon
• Chaldeans laid foundation of astrology by study
  of stars, planets, and moon
• In 539 BC, after Nebuchadnezzars death, Persians
  seized Babylon and conquered the rest of the
  Chaldean empire

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Chaldean -Babylonian Empire
8
Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel

• The Book of Daniel, written in Hebrew and
  Aramaic, is a book in both the Hebrew Bible and
  the Christian Old Testament. The book is set
  during the Babylonian Captivity, a period when
  Jews were deported and exiled to Babylon. The
  book revolves around the figure of Daniel, an
  Israelite who becomes an advisor to
  Nebuchadnezzar, the ruler of Babylon from 605 BC
  - 562 BC.

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Famous Stories from Book of Daniel during
Babylonian Captivity

• Prophetic Dreams of Daniel
• Daniel in the Lions Den
• Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego in the Fiery Furnace
• Belshazzar

10
Persians

• By 525 BC, under leadership of Cyrus and his son,
  empire encompassed all of the Middle East, -more
  than 50 million people
• The best organizer among the Persian kings,
  Darius I, divided the realm into provinces and
  assigned satraps, or provincial governors, to
  rule
• Persians were generally tolerant rulers who
  believed that loyalty could be won by respecting
  local customs
• To advance trade throughout the empire and to aid
  the movement of soldiers, Darius improved and
  expanded the empires network of roads (Pony
  Express)
• After Darius died, his son Xerxes led the forces
  of Persia in a doomed campaign to conquer Greece
  in 480 BC

11
Persian Religion

• Persian prophet named Zoroaster preached that
  humans who fought for good would be rewarded with
  eternal life, while those who fought for evil
  would be condemned to eternal darkness and misery
  (Heaven and Hell)
• Persian rulers believed that they ruled by the
  power of the god of good forces, Ahura Mazda, and
  were responsible to him alone.
• Some scholars believe that Zoroasters ideas
  about the separation of good and evil at lifes
  end influenced Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

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• Tomb of Cyrus the Great Persian Empire