Unit 3 Part 2: Mesopotamia Other Civilizations. Part of the River Valley Civilizations for 6th grade World History. Covers Babylon through Phoenicians with achievements. Images found on google image search.

2. Later Fertile
Crescent
Empires
-Draw a graphic
organizer like this
one on your notes
paper.
-As we go through
the notes, add each
new empire we learn
about
Fertile
Crescent
Empires

3. Music Video-
Intro
Mesopotamia
(3:21)

4. The Rise of
Babylon
• Euphrates River near modern-
day Baghdad, Iraq
• Former Sumerian city
• By 1800 BC- became power with
its own government
• Hammurabi (1792 BC) was
city’s greatest monarch
• Fought many battles to expand
his power
• Named Babylon Empire after
capital
• Able to govern entire empire
• Oversaw irrigation projects
• Improved tax collection system
• Increased trade= prosperity
• Ruled 42 years- Babylon

5. Hammurabi’s
Code
• 282 laws dealing with
almost every part of
daily life
• Ex: trade, loans, theft,
marriage, injury, &
murder
• Some still seen in
today’s laws
• Specific crimes=
specific punishment
• Social class did not
matter
• Important because it
was written down for all
to see
Video

6. Hittites &
Kassites
Kingdom in Asia Minor-
modern-day Turkey
Achievements:
Military advantages:
Ironworking= strong
weapons
chariot = fast
movement around
battlefield to shoot
arrows at enemies
• Hittite king assassinated
by Kassites= chaos in
city
• Kassites ruled for 400
Hittites
video

7. The Assyrians
• Northern Mesopotamia
• 900 BC began conquering
all of Fertile Crescent, parts
of Asia Minor & Egypt
• Success- strong organized
army & strong weapons &
chariots like Hittites
• Spread terror before
attacking
• Demanded heavy taxes &
punished those who
opposed
Achievements:
Roads built to connect
distant parts of the empire
Messengers rode
horseback to deliver
orders to faraway officials
Assyrian kings held power
through:
Local leaders who
Governed small areas
Collected taxes
Enforced laws
Raised troops for the
army
Video: LA
Dabke-
Traditional
stomp
dance

8. The
Chaldeans
• 612 BC: destroyed Assyrian
Empire
• King Nebuchadnezzar rebuilt
Babylon- restoring its former
beauty
• Legend of Nebuchadnezzar’s
palace Hanging Gardens
(Wonder of the World)
• Copied Sumerian culture:
studied language & built
temples for Sumerian gods
Achievements:
• Babylon became center of
astronomy- charted stars,
tracked economic, political, &
weather events
• Created a calendar
• Solved complex geometry
problems
Video: Hanging Gardens

9. The Phoenicians
Geography:
• Western end of the Fertile
Crescent: modern-day Lebanon
• Mountains border the region to
the north and east, western
border- Mediterranean Sea
• Had few resources for trade
• Cedar trees were prized for their
timber- valuable trade item
• Overland trade routes blocked
by mountains & hostile
neighbors

10. Phoenician Expansion of
Trade• Became sea traders- fast fleets sailed to
ports in Egypt, Greece, Italy, Sicily, &
Spain (Cultural Diffusion)
• They sailed through the Strait of Gibraltar
to reach the Atlantic Ocean
• Founded several new colonies along
trade routes
• Carthage (northern coast of Africa) later
became most powerful city on the
Mediterranean
• Wealth came from trade of lumber,
silverwork, ivory carvings, glass-blown
beads, and slaves

11. Phoenician
Advances
• Glass blowing
• Purple dye from shellfish-
very popular with the
wealthy
• World’s first alphabet:
• Developed to record
their activities
• Made writing much
easier
• Major IMPACT on the
world then & now
• English alphabet is
based on the
Phoenicians’
• Later civilizations
modified alphabets

12. Phoenician Alphabet
Video: Phoenician Alphabet (2:21)

14. Mesopotamian Civilizations
Timeline
3000BC
Sumerian
Civilization
World’s first
civilization
2350BC
Akkadian
Dynasty
2125BC
Third Dynasty
of Ur
1900BC
First Dynasty
of Babylon
Code of
Hammurabi
1500BC
Hittites &
Kassites
900BC
Assyrian
Empire
600BC
Chaldeans
(Neo-Babylon)
535BC
Persian
Empire
(Phoenicians)