Trading Civilizations

0 The Egyptians and Mesopotamian peoples had

great influence over other civilizations of the
Middle Eastern region
0 Trading civilizations developed and traded
with the Egyptians and Mesopotamian
civilizations
0 Aramaeans
0 Phoenicians
0 Lydians
0 1.) Aramaeans
0 1200 BCsettled in central Syria
0 Created capital at Damascus
0 Spoke a language called Aramaic
0 Politically and militarily weak
0 Constant feuding between the ruling classes
0 Very active in the land trade in the Middle East
0 Controlled the land trade between Egypt and
Mesopotamia
0 Became very rich because of trade
0 2.) Phoenicians
0 3000 BCthe Phoenicians settled in Canaan
(Lebanon, Israel, Jordan)
0 Settled alongside the Philistines
0 Had to compete for resources
0 Sea Traderstraded goods to get food that
they could not grow
0 Had to tradenot enough farmland
0 Built ships out of cedar wood that grew in Canaan
0 Expert seamen and navigators
0 Phoenicians traded all over the Mediterranean
to get food
0 They traded
0 Cedar lumber
0 Dyed clothdyed purple
0 Elegant jewelry
Dyeing Cloth
0 Phoenicians built many port cities along the
coasttrading ports
0 Tyre
0 Byblos
0 Sidon
0 Berytus
0 The Phoenicians major contribution was an
alphabet
0 Developed around 1100 BC
0 Developed to keep up with trade transactions
0 Contained 22 charactersall consonants, no
vowels
0 The alphabet was easy to learn, allowing more
people to be able to read and writeno need for
scribes
0 The Phoenician alphabet became the basis for the
Greek alphabet and all western alphabets
0 The Phoenicians also built colonies
0 Good trade routes & a safe place to rest mid-voyage
0 Resources
0 Trade & profit
0 The most famous Phoenician colony was
Carthage (located in Northern Africa)
 The Phoenicians founded colonies around
1100 B.C.

Tharros
Cadiz
Lixis Motya
Carthage Kition
Utica
Ruins of Carthage
0 3.) Lydians
0 Settle on the peninsula of Asia Minor
modern day Turkey
0 They were rich because of the rich gold
deposits around their homes
0 Lydians introduced the money system to the
worldthey were the 1st to produce coins
Lydians in Asia Minor
Hebrews (Jews/Israelites)
0 The Hebrews introduced monotheismthe
belief in one Godto the world
0 Yahweh=Hebrew word for God
0 Hebrew teachings have become the basis for:
0 Judaism
0 Christianity
0 Islam
0 The Bible is the main source for information
on the Hebrews
0 Abrahamfather of the Hebrews
0 A herder and trader from Ur
0 1900 BCAbraham led his family from Sumer into
Canaan, along side the Phoenicians and Philistines
0 Covenant with God for Promised Land
Now the Lord had said to Abram:
Get out of your country, from your family and from your fathers
house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great
nation. I will bless you and make your name great, and you shall be
a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him
who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be
blessed. - Genesis 12: 1-3
0 The Hebrews had to deal with harsh conditions in
Canaana desert region
0 Most Hebrews herded animalssheep and goats
0 Abrahams grandsonJacobhad 12 sons
0 Each of Jacobs sons headed a different Hebrew tribe
0 These tribes became known as the 12 Tribes of Israel
0 A drought in Canaan caused the different
Hebrew tribes to look in different areas for
suitable places to farm
0 The Hebrews were invited into Egypt to share
Egypts surplus of food
0 The Hebrews and Egyptians lived peacefully at first
0 Egyptians, eventually turned the Hebrews into
slaves
0 Hebrew slaves had a difficult life
0 They prayed for a deliverer
0 1200s BCMoses was able to lead the
Hebrews out of EgyptThe Exodus
0 Moses led the Hebrews into the Sinai Desert
0 The 10 Commandments were created
0 JoshuaMoses successorled the Hebrews back
into Canaan
0 Life back in Canaan was very difficult
0 The 12 Tribes had to fight with the Philistines and
Canaanites (Phoenicians) for land
0 The Hebrews fought for 200 years with little
successthe tribes could not unite against their
enemies
0 The Hebrews will unite
under King Saul
(1020-1012 BC)
0 Saul was unable to
defeat the Philistines
0 He lost popularity with
the people
0 Committed suicide
0 The Hebrews turned
their hopes on a hero of
the warsDavid
(1012-973 BC)
0 David had shown his
bravery by slaying
Goliath
0 David created his
capital at Jerusalem
0 He built a large temple in
his capital
0 Davids sonSolomon (973-922 BC)
ascended the Hebrew throne in 973
0 He built lots of cities
0 He heavily taxed the people
0 He was hated by the people
0 After his death in 922 BC, the Hebrews split
into 2 separate kingdoms
0 IsraelNorth
0 JudahSouth
Judah and Israel
0 Each kingdom was politically independent
but independence was short lived
0 722 BCa group called the Assyrians took
Israel
0 586 BCthe Chaldeans captured Judah
0 The Hebrews were forced out of their homeland
0 The Hebrew temple at Jerusalem was destroyed
0 During this time of foreign occupation, the Hebrews
became known as the Jews
0 539 BCthe Hebrews were allowed
back into their homeland by the
Persians
0 400s BCEzra gathered Jewish holy
writings into a holy book called the
Torah
0 The Torah was composed of 5 books
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0The Hebrews blazed the path for
future monotheistic religions
0Christianity, Judaism, and Islam all
are based on the Hebrew ideas of
monotheism
 Powerful Kingdoms
Empire Builders
0 4 very powerful kingdoms will emerge
in Asia and conquer most of the Fertile
Crescent Region
0 Hittites
0 Assyrians
0 Chaldeans
0 Persians
 #1.) Hittites
0 2000 BC: Hittites conquered Asia Minor
0 Created city-states on the Anatolia Plateau
0 Capital: Hattusas
0 Strong Armies
0 Used iron weapons
0 2 person chariots
0 Able to conquer Babylon (1595 BC)
0 Empire lasted until 1200 BC
The Hittites
 #2.) Assyrians
0 Assyrians lived in the hills of Mesopotamia
0 At first, they were weak and constantly attacked by
their neighbors
0 By 900 BCthe Assyrians had defend themselves
and attack others
0 They developed a very powerful and organized
military system
0 Foot soldiers
0 Charioteers
0 cavalry
0 Used iron weapons
0 The Assyrians were very cruel to those
they conquered
0 Burned entire cities to the ground
0 Tortured prisoners
0 Relocated entire cities and kingdoms
0 Heavily taxed the people
0 650 BCthe Assyrians had a very large
empire
0 Stretched from the Persian Gulf to Egypt and
parts of Turkey
0 Built roads to increase communication
0 612 BCthe people of the empire
rebelled against their Assyrian captors
0 The civil war allowed an outside
groupChaldeansto conquer the
Assyrians
 #3.) Chaldeans
0 Chaldeans had very powerful kings
0 King Nebuchadnezzar (605-562 BC)
0 He expanded the empire into Canaanforced
Israelites out of Juda
0 He made Babylon into the largest city of the ancient
world
0 Babylon housed 2 of the worlds great
wonders
0 Hanging Gardens of Babylon
0 Wall of Babylon
Gate for the Wall at Babylon
0 Chaldeans have been credited with the
creation of Astronomy
0 They meticulously watched the sky
0 Created star and planet charts
0 No king after Nebuchadnezzar would
have his power
0 The empire slowly fell apart because of
weak kings
0 539 BCPersians conquered Babylon
and the Chaldean Empire
 #4.) Persians
0 Persians settled in modern day Iran
0 Persian had many powerful kings
0 Cyrus
0 540s BCCyrus conquered much of the known world
0 Mesopotamia
0 Syria
0 Canaan
0 Phoenicia
0 Lydia
0 Greek city-states in Turkey
0 Cambyses
0 Cyrus son
0 He increased the Persians holdings by
capturing Egypt
0 The empire stretch for over 3000 milesfrom
the Nile River to the Indus River
0 50 million people in the empire
0 Darius I (522-486)
0 Divided the large empire into provinces with
individual governors for each province
0 Very tolerant
0 Had the Royal Road constructed
0 1500 miles long
0 A rest stop was placed on the road every 14 miles
Darius I
Persian Empire
0 Xerxes
0 Darius son
0 480 BChe attempted to take over the
Greeks
0 His failure caused the empire to lose
power and begin to crumble
XerxesKing of
Persia
0 Persian Culture
0 Polytheistsworshipped many gods
0 Zoroaster tried to change Persian
religion
0 Said the world was controlled by 2 gods
(like a Heaven and Hell)
0 1.) Ahura Mazdathe good
0 2.) Ahrimanthe evil