First Age of Empires1570 B.C.–200 B.C..

Chapter 4

1544 1544 B.C.B.C. Egypt’s New Egypt’s New Kingdom establishedKingdom established..

850 850 B.C.B.C. Assyrian Assyrian Empire begins its rise Empire begins its rise to powerto power..

751 751 B.C.B.C. Nubian kingdom of Nubian kingdom of Kush conquers EgyptKush conquers Egypt..

550 550 B.C.B.C. Persian Persian Empire flourishes Empire flourishes under Cyrusunder Cyrus..

Time Line

200 B.C.

206 206 B.C.B.C. The Qin Dynasty The Qin Dynasty of China collapses. Civil of China collapses. Civil War followsWar follows..

1570 B.C.

The Empires of Egyptand Nubia Collide

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The New Kingdom of Egypt

• The Hyksos invade Egypt and rule from 1640 to 1570 B.C.

• Queen Ahhotep begins to restore Egypt’s power

• Pharaoh Kamose defeats the Hyksos

• The New Kingdom restores glory

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• Egypt’s Empire Builders in the New Kingdom– The pharaohs of the Eighteenth Dynasty

• A new army of archers, charioteers, and infantry

– A new crown• The blue crown

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– Thutmose III invades Palestine and Syria

– Thutmose III extents the empire• Egyptian armies invade Nubia and connects Egypt

and Nubia for hundreds of years

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• The Egyptians and the Hittites– Egyptians vs. the Hittites

– 1285 B.C., the Battle of Kadesh

– Ramses II and the Hittites sign a treaty that promised “peace and brotherhood between us forever”

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• An Age of Builders– The Valley of the Kings

– Ramses II builds Karnak

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– Abu Simbel

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The Empire Declines

• Invasions by Land and Sea– “The People of the Sea” attack the Egyptian

empire and the Hittite kingdom

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• Egypt’s Empire Fades– Small kingdoms replace

the empire

– Libyans establish independent dynasties

• From 950 to 730 B.C., Libyan pharaohs ruled Egypt and adopted the Egyptian way of life

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The Kushites Conquer the Nile Region

• The People of Nubia– Nubian kingdoms rule the upper Nile and

linked Egypt with the interior of Africa to the south

– Kerma, the early Nubian kingdom• Kerma pottery

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• The Interaction of Egypt and Nubia– The New Kingdom imposed Egyptian rule on

Kush

– Kushite princes adopt Egyptian language and worshiped Egyptian gods

– 1100 B.C., Kush regained its independence

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• Piankhi Captures the Egyptian Throne– 751 B.C., Piankhi overthrows the Libyan

dynasty and units the entire Nile Valley• Piankhi and his descendants became Egypt’s

Twenty-fifth Dynasty

– 671 B.C., the Assyrians conquered Egypt and overthrow the Twenty-fifth dynasty

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The Golden Age of Meroë

• The Wealth of Kush– Meroë, a trading center

• Center for the manufacturing of iron weapons and tools

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– Trade bring wealth to Meroë• Traders exchange iron, tools, and weapons for

jewelry, fine cotton cloth, silver lamps, and glass bottles

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• The Decline of Meroë– The rise of Aksum contributes to Meroë’s fall

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Assyria Dominatesthe Fertile Crescent

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A Mighty Military Machine

• The Rise of a Warrior People– The Assyrians

develop warlike behavior in response to invasions

– Assyrian kings built an empire with constant warfare

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• Military Organization and Conquest– Assyria military

• Assyrian’s used leather and metal armor, wore copper or iron helmets, padded loincloths, and leather skirts layered with metal scales

• Their weapons were iron swords and iron-pointed spears, and protected themselves with huge shields

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• New military technics– Engineers bridge rivers with pontoons

– The Assyrians dug tunnel’s beneath the city’s walls

– Assyrian’s use iron-tipped battering rams

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An Expanding Empire

• Assyrian Rule– Assyrian officials governed new lands as

provinces– Assyrian kings choose

rulers for conquered territories

– New territory brings taxes and tribute

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• Assyrian Culture– King Sennacherib established Nineveh as

Assyria’s

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– Nineveh holds one of the ancient world’s largest libraries

• A collection of more than 25,000 clay tablets from throughout the Fertile Crescent

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The Empire Crumbles

• Decline and Fall– Medes and Chaldeans defeat the Assyrians

and leveled Nineveh

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• Rebirth of Babylon Under the Chaldeans– Chaldeans made

Babylon their capital

– Nebuchadnezzar restores Babylon

• The hanging gardens

– The seven-tiered ziggurat

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Persia Unites Many Lands

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The Rise of Persia

• The Persian Homeland– Ancient Iran

• Prosperous farmland

• Mineral wealth, including copper, lead, gold, silver, and gleaming blue lapis lazuli

– Two major powers emerged

• The Medes and the Persians

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• Cyrus the Great Founds an Empire– 550 B.C., Cyrus conquers neighboring

kingdoms in Iran

– From 550 and 539 B.C. Cyrus conquered the

entire Fertile Crescent and most of Anatolia

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– Cyrus allows the Jews to return to their homeland

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Persian Rule and Religion

• Cambyses and Darius– Cambyses extended the Persian Empire into

Egypt– Cambyses

publicly scorned the Egyptian religion and ordered the images of Egyptian gods to be burned

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• Darius seize the throne with help of the Ten Thousand Immortals

• Darius establishes an efficient and well-organized administration for his empire

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• Persia extended into present-day Afghanistan and down into the river valleys of India

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• Provinces and SatrapsProvinces and Satraps– Darius divided Persia into Darius divided Persia into

20 provinces20 provinces• Provinces were similar to the Provinces were similar to the

homelands of the many homelands of the many groups of people within the groups of people within the Persian EmpirePersian Empire

• The people of each province The people of each province still practiced their own still practiced their own religion, spoke their own religion, spoke their own language and followed many language and followed many of their own lawsof their own laws

– Satrap rule the provincesSatrap rule the provinces

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• The Persian road system– The Royal Road ran from Susa in Persia to Sardis in

Anatolia, a distance of 1,677 miles

• Standardized coins

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• Persian Religion– Zoroaster’s teachings

• The god of truth and light - Ahura Mazda

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– The god of evil and darkness - Ahriman

– The Avesta - the holy writings of the Zoroastrian religion

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• The Persian Legacy– Persians rule through tolerance and good

government– Persia respects other cultures

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An Empire Unifies China

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Philosophy and the Social Order

• Confucius Urges Harmony– China’s most influential scholar

- Confucius • Confucius believed in social order

• 1) ruler and subject

• 2) father and son• 3) husband and wife• 4) older brother and younger

brother• 5) friend and friend

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• Confucius wants to reform society and stresses good government

• The Analects

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– Mencius – the disciple• Mencius continued to

teach that leaders should be virtuous

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• Confucian Ideas About Government– Confucius believed that education could

transform a humbly born person into a gentleman or civil servant

– Confucianism became the foundation for Chinese government and social order

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• Daoists Seek Harmony– Laozi – the natural order is important

– Dao De Ching (The Way of Virtue) • Laozi believed that a universal force called the

Dao, meaning “the Way,” guides all things

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– The philosophy of Laozi came to be known as Daoism

• The search for knowledge and understanding of nature

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• Legalists Urge Harsh Rule– Hanfeizi and Li Si

found Legalism• They believed in a

highly efficient and powerful government to restore order

• Government should use the law to end civil disorder and restore harmony

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• I Ching– I Ching, the book of

oracles• Used by people, not

interested in the three philosophies

• The book was used to answer ethical or practical problems

• Readers used the book by throwing a set of coins, interpreting the results, and then reading the appropriate oracle

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• Yin and Yang

– The concept of two powers that together represented the natural rhythms of life

• Yang, the white part, represents the masculine qualities in the universe

• Yin, the black part, represents the feminine qualities of the universe

– Both forces complement each other

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The Qin Dynasty

• A New Emperor Takes Control– 221 B.C., the Qin ruler

assumed the name Shi Huangdi or “First Emperor”

– Shi Huangdi defeats foreign enemy and doubles China’s territory

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• Shi Huangdi unites China– The policy of “strengthening

the trunk and weakening the branches”

– Noble families had to live at the capital city

– China is divided into 36 administrative districts

• The silencing of the Confucian scholars

• The book burning

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• A Program of Centralization– Shi Huangdi

centralizes the state

• A highway network of 4,000 miles

• Uniform standards for Chinese writing, law, currency, and weights and measures

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• Great Wall of China– Shi Huangdi is

determined to connect different part of the wall 1,400 miles to the west

– The Great Wall of China built on the backs of hundreds of thousands of peasants

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• The Death of The Emperor– The Emperor’s Mausoleum

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• The Terracotta Army

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• The Fall of the Qin– Peasant Rebellions destroy the Qin Dynasty

– 202 B.C. marks the beginning of the Han Dynasty

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