Assyrian Empire

• semitic-speaking
• iron weapons
• 612 B.C. the empire fell to a coalition of Chaldeans abd Medes
• it was divided into two powers
• terror as an instrument of warfare

ASSYRIAN EMPIRE CONT.

• they'd lay waste on the land; smash dams; destroyed towns; etc
• committed atrocities on their captives
• Nebuchadnezzar the second made Babylonia the leading state in Western Asia
• Babylon fell into the Persians in 539 B.C.

King Ashurbanipal said,
"3,000 of their combat troops I felled... Many I took alive; from some of these I cut off their hands to their noses, ears, and fingers; I put out the eyes of many of the soldiers... I burned their young men and women to death."

PERSIAN EMPIRE

• primarily nomadic
• Cyrus ruled 559 B.C. to 530 B.C.
• 539 he captured Babylon
• his treatment of Babylonia showed remarkable restaint and wisdom
• he allowed the Jewish return to Israel

PERSIAN EMPIRE CONT.

• his people called him the "Great"
• demonstrated wisdom and compassion
• had a reputation for mercy
• a genuine respect for other civilizations
• his successors sought to extend the territory

PERSIAN EMPIRE CONT.

• his son Cambyes successfully invaded Egypt
• Darius ruled from 521 B.C. to 486 B.C.
• he added a new Persian province
• he conquered Thrace in Europe.
• he created tge world's largest empire.

PERSIAN EMPIRE CONT.

• he divided the empire into 20 provinces, called satrap
• created the Royal Road
• it stretched from Lydia to Susa, tge empire's chief capital
• as the Persian kings increased taxes, loyalty to empire declined.
• struggles over the throne weakened the monarchy

Over a period of time, this bloody struggle for the throne weakened the Greek ruler Alexander the Great during the 300s B.C.