1. 4-2 Notes: Assyria Rules the Fertile Crescent

2. A Mighty Military Machine
Assyrians were fierce warriors on foot, horseback and chariots
Main reason for success was their weapons which were made of iron (iron swords, spears, and even battering rams)
Assyrians excelled in sieging cities as they used battering rams, ladders, and even dug tunnels under cities to get inside. Once inside they would slaughter the inhabitants of the city.

3. Captured People of Assyria
The Assyrians were harsh to the peoples they defeated
If an enemy surrendered, they were allowed to choose a leader, but if they did not submit to the Assyrians, the inhabitants would be killed or sold into slavery
A common punishment for people who resisted Assyrian rule was to exile them, which means: to forcefully move a group of people from their homelands to other lands, often far away.

4. Assyria Builds a Huge Empire
Assyria reached its height from 668 to 627 B.C. under the rule of Ashurbanipal.
When peoples were conquered the Assyrians allowed them to keep their local ruler, but they provided the army that protected the lands.
Each ruler that was conquered though had to pay tribute, which meant that the ruler had to pay for the protection the Assyrian armies gave them.
Because of the harshness of the Assyrian rule, the empire was constantly putting down revolts.
The empire fell in 609 when the Medes and the Chaldeans joined forces to defeat the Assyrians and burn down their capital of Nineveh.

5. A New Babylonian Empire
The Chaldeans ruled much of the former Assyrian empire and made their new capital Babylon. Because they were not the first to have Babylon as their capital, they are known as the new Babylonians.
Reaches it height between 605 and 562 B.C. led by Nebuchadnezzar II who kicked the Egyptians out of of the trading cities on the Mediterranean coast
A group on the coast, the Hebrews, revolted and their temple was destroyed and their people held captured in Babylon for 50 years.

6. Height of Wealth and Power and then Decline
During the height of their power Babylon built a huge gate called the Ishtar Gate and an enormous ziggurat called the Tower of Babel which was 300 feet above the city.
Nebuchadnezzar built an artificial mountain covered with trees and plants and made them look as if they were floating above the ground; this would become known as the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and become one of the seven wonders of the Ancient World.
Because of the mixture of weak rulers, religious conflicts and divided loyalties to the central government, it was very easy for Cyrus the Great of Persia to overthrow the empire and create his own.