The Phoenicians lived along the Mediterranean Sea and became skilled sea traders, establishing colonies and developing the first alphabet which spread to other cultures. The Israelites lived south of the Phoenicians and established a monotheistic religion called Judaism with Jerusalem as their capital under the leadership of King Solomon. After Solomon's death, the kingdom divided into the northern kingdom of Israel and southern kingdom of Judah, weakening them and allowing Israel to be conquered. The Assyrians built a powerful empire through conquest but later fell to the Chaldeans, who rebuilt Babylon and its famous Hanging Gardens before being overtaken by the Persians led by Cyrus the Great. The Persian Empire was large but decentralized, falling after internal revol

1. New Centers of
Civilization
Ch 2 3-4

2. Phoenicians
 Lived in Palestine along Med Sea
 Became an international sea traders
 Set up colonies in the Med Sea
 Best known for alphabet….passed on to
Greeks, to Romans and eventually to us.

3. Israelites
 Had a monotheistic religion called Judaism
 Were south of the Phoenicians
 Started as one large kingdom in Palestine
 Jerusalem was the capital
 King Solomon was the great leader

4. After Solomon Died
 Israel separates into two kingdoms
 Israel to the North
 Judah to the South
 Made them weak….divided
 Israel was overtaken and its people
scattered

5. Spiritual Israel
 Judaism—name given to religion of Jews
 Believed in one God
(monotheism)…..Yahweh
 Had a covenant with Yahweh called the 10
Commandments

6. Assyrians
First to use iron weapons
Conquered many other lands with their
mighty army
Tortured many of the lands they conquered
Fell to King Nebuchadnezzar and the
Chaldeans

7. Chaldeans
 Rebuilt Babylon
 Had Hanging Gardens
 Lasted until 539 B.C.
 Were overtaken by the Persians

8. Persians
 Cyrus created a large empire
 He was called Cyrus the Great
 Divided empire up into 20 provinces called satrapies
 Ruled by a governor called a satrap
 Had a road that made travel easy in the empire
 Called the Royal Road—from Lydia to Susa

9. Fall of the Empire
 After the last great king, Darius—other Persian kings
became isolated
 Rulers became greedy and over taxed the people. The
subjects of the kingdom started to revolt
 Eventually overtaken by Alexander the Great

10. Persian Religion
 Zoroastrianism was the religion
 Monotheistic
 Ahuramazda was the supreme god who gave all humans
the freedom to choose between right and wrong
 At the end of the world the final separation of good and
evil would occur