New Centers of Civilization

Ch 2 3-4

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.

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

After Solomon Died

Israel separates into two kingdomsIsrael to the NorthJudah to the South

Made them weak….divided

Israel was overtaken and its people scattered

Spiritual Israel

Judaism—name given to religion of Jews

Believed in one God (monotheism)…..Yahweh

Had a covenant with Yahweh called the 10 Commandments

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

Chaldeans

Rebuilt Babylon

Had Hanging Gardens

Lasted until 539 B.C.

Were overtaken by the Persians

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

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

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