Mr. Deaton World Civilizations

People from northern Mesopotamia who conquered the Sumerians. Their Empire lasted 150 years. Main conflict was over food and trading rights. Most of the pressure was placed upon Babylon.

Powerful group that united Mesopotamia and established their capital in the city of Babylon (trading center). Their ruler Hammurabi, established the first code of laws, called the Code of Hammurabi. They were written down in cuneiform, and placed in clear view of the public with specific sets of consequences.

His law code was extremely harsh and all decisions were final. Decisions were made by the elders of the group in which small trials were held. Why would he choose elders for this? There were 282 laws and they were enforced by his personal guards and military troops. What advantage did this give him? He ruled his kingdom for over 40 years and died an admired and loved man.

Warlike people who invaded the Tigris-Euphrates Valley. They were able to dominate the other empires because they one of the first to smelt iron. This gave them a huge military and technological advantage. However, they adopted the law codes into their empire once they took over  easy acclamation of the people to their leadership.

Also, warlike people. Used chariots in battle which gave them the ability to attack ground forces quickly and divide them up. They captured and destroyed Babylon around 700BCE. At its height, their empire stretched from Mesopotamia to the Nile Valley.

The Chaldean leader conquered all the Assyrian empire and tried to return its focus to Babylon and its glory. However, in his attempts he only failed to pay attention to the newly expanded territory. Under Zurces, the Persians expanded the government and their footprint well into Central Asia. They built many roads to connect cities and started a cultural melting pot of ethnicities. However, they greatly contributed to the idea of harsh slavery. A new form strange to many civilizations.