THE ASSYRIAN (700-612 BCE) AND PERSIAN (559-360 BCE) EMPIRES

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THE ASSYRIAN (700-612 BCE) AND PERSIAN (559-360
BCE) EMPIRES
Assyrian warship
Assyrian King Ashurbanipal Hunting Lions
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ASSYRIA (700-612 BCE)

• Semitic-speaking people
• Used iron weapons to establish an empire

Modern reproduction of Assyrian sword and shield
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GOVERNMENT

• Ruled by kings with absolute power
• Well-organized
• Officials developed an efficient communication
  system
• Sargon II was the most important leader

Assyrian winged bull from Sargons palace
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ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• Created one of the worlds finest libraries at
  Nineveh Ashurbanipal
• Established Aramaic as official
  language
• Effective military
• Assyrians had the first large armies equipped
  with iron weapons
• Used guerilla warfare, various siege tactics, and
  terror

Infantry
Assyrian battering ram
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FALL OF THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

• The Chaldeans and Medes (people who lived in the
  east) joined together to conquer the Assyrians
• The fall of Nineveh preceded the fall of the
  Assyrian Empire
• They divided the empire

Tablet detailing the destruction of Nineveh
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BETWEEN THE EMPIRES

• Nebuchadnezzar
• Chaldean King
• Made Babylonia the strongest city in western Asia
• Famous hanging gardens
• Babylon fell to the Persians in 539 BC
• This marked the end of the Mesopotamian empires
• Persians adopted Assyrian military, political and
  artistic inventions

Nebuchadnezzar faces off against King Zedekiah,
the last king of Judah
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PERSIA (559 BCE- 360 BCE)

• Persians
• Indo-Europeans who lived in modern Iran
• Mostly nomadic
• Eventually united by one family (Achaemenids)
• Contemporaries of Greeks
• Persian Empire was massive and grew larger than
  the prior Mesopotamian empires
• Established durable political and cultural
  traditions
• Fertile farmland and thriving trade

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CYRUS THE GREAT 559 BC

• Created a powerful state through warfare
• Indus River to Anatolia
• Demonstrated wisdom, compassion, and mercy
• Had a genuine respect for other cultures and
  practiced tolerance of local customs
• Respected temples
• Jews returned to Jerusalem

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DARIUS 521 BCE

• Bodyguard for Cambyses (son of Cyrus) and one of
  the Ten Thousand Immortals
• Conqueror
• Added part of India to Persian Empire
• Conquered Thrace (in Europe)
• Invaded Greek mainland
• Halted at the Battle of Marathon
• Created worlds largest empire at that time

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• Government
• Strengthened
• Divided empire into 20 ethnic provinces
• Satraps Governor
• Homelands
• Created efficient communication system
• Like the Assyrians, Darius had a secret spy force
  Kings Eyes and Ears
• The King had the power of life and death

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• Military
• Empires power depended upon the military
• Included standing army of professional soldiers
• cavalry and infantry
• Effective road system

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XERXES

• Son of Darius
• Stopped rebellion in Egypt and attacked Greece
• Greece
• Battle of Thermopylae
• Battle of Salamis
• Was defeated and returned to Persia

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ZOROASTRIANISM

• Persian religion Named after its prophet --
  Zoroaster
• Tenets
• Proto-Monotheistic Ahura Mazda
• Humans play a role in the struggle between good
  and evil
• Humans are given the freedom to choose between
  right and wrong
• Modern Parsis

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FALL OF THE PERSIAN EMPIRE

• Kings became isolated and focused on obtaining
  luxuries, following Darius
• Struggles over the throne weakened the monarchy
• Family problems
• Eventually defeated by Alexander the Great

Persian archer