Three time periods of Early History 1. Paleolithic or “Old Stone” Tamed fire Spoken Language Art Invention of tools “Ice Ages”

2. Mesolithic or “middle Stone” Gradual progress of Gathering food Communities Weapons Art

3. Neolithic or “New Stone” Domesticated animals and plants Farming revolution Growth of villages Earliest civilizations Jericho (Israel) Catal Huyuk (Turkey) Bigger populations Trade Specialization 3. Neolithic or “New Stone”

The beginnings of world history? 5 of the major religions of the world believed that life began somewhere in the Mesopotamia region. First civilizations

Communities vs. Civilizations (Civilizations were more complex) Earliest Civilizations developed in Southern Iraq Between the Tigris and Euphrates The area was called Mesopotamia Which is the eastern part of the Fertile Crescent Fertile Crescent = Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Kuwait, Israel, Jordan, and parts of Turkey and Iran One of these regions in the Fertile Crescent was Sumer (located in Southern Iraq) Sumer + Fertile Crescent = Cradle of Civilization Communities vs. Civilizations (Civilizations were more complex)

Sumer’s Contributions to civilization ( Ziggurat pictured above) Earliest known civilization! Greatest invention was writing = cuneiform Oldest known story = Epic of Gilgamesh Wagon wheel Sail Boat Plow Geometry Calendar City-States Sumer’s Contributions to civilization ( Ziggurat pictured above)

The Worlds First Empires Akkadians – Northern Mesopotamia The king of the Akkadians was Sargon He conquered ALL of Mesopotamia and established the worlds first empire The empire would last 200 yrs The Worlds First Empires

King of Babylon - Hammurabi Next would be the Babylonian Empire with King Hammurabi Best known for his code of laws “The Ordeal” Still used by some Bedouin tribes today King of Babylon - Hammurabi

Contributions of the Bayblonians Babylon was a city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which can be found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers (55 mi) south of Baghdad. All that remains of the original ancient famed city of Babylon today is a mound, or tell, of broken mud-brick buildings and debris in the fertile Mesopotamian plain between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, in Iraq. Contributions of the Bayblonians

The heartland of Assyria lies in present day Northern Iraq. The remains of the ancient capital of Assyria, Nineveh, lie next to Mosul in Northern Iraq. The Assyrians

Assyrian army Well organized Professional Soldiers Used iron weapons (from the Hittites) Scattered their enemies Assyrian army

Capital city of the Assyrian Empire (about 1000 years after Hammurabi) Nineveh had one of the world’s first libraries (25,000 tablets) Nineveh

Chaldeans were known as the Medes Captured Nineveh and shortly after the Assyrian empire fell Most Chaldeans were descendants of the Babylonian people who made up Hammurabi’s empire about 1,200 yrs earlier King Nebuchadnezzar controlled all of Mesopotamia He rebuilt Babylon and it quick became the world’s largest and richest city Developed the first 7-Day Calendar Hanging Gardens of Babylon Chaldeans were known as the Medes

Hanging Gardens of Babylon

The Achaemenid Empire or Persian Empire Persians would conquer the Medes about 100 years later Most territory was Iran The empire took its unified form with a central administration around Pasargadae erected by Cyrus the Great. The empire ended up conquering and enlarging the Median empire to include in addition Egypt and Asia Minor. During the reigns of Darius I and his son Xerxes I it engaged in military conflict with some of the major city-states of Ancient Greece, and although it came close to defeating the Greek army this war ultimately led to the empire's overthrow. The Achaemenid Empire or Persian Empire