1. Ch 6 Lesson 3 The First Empires

2. An empire is a nation and the city-states and nations it has conquered. At first Mesopotamia was made up of city-states. Each city-state was ruled by its own king. No one ruler controlled all of the city-states.

3. Three Empires Akkad = Ruled by Sargon (the 1 st Empire) Assyria = Ruled by Shamshi-Adad Babylonia = Ruled by Hammurabi

4. Sargon of Akkad Usurped the throne of the king of Kish (he was one of his servants) Conquered all of Sumer’s city-states and tore down the walls of the cities. He united them into the first empire. He faced repeated rebellion from those he conquered and invasions from enemies.

5. Shamshi-Adad (Assyria) Overthrew the King of Mari and made his own son king. Held his lands together by trade and using force. His empire would fall at the hands of the Babylonia ruler Hammurabi.

6. Hammurabi – (Babylon) Overthrew Samshi-Adad (Assyria) and conquered all of Mesopotamia. Sent governors, judges, tax collectors and military commanders to his lands to maintain order Created the Code of Hammurabi (the first set of 282 written laws). His empire began to fall apart after his death (1750 B.C.)

7. Hammurabi’s Code One of the first set of written laws (in stone). The 282 laws guaranteed that people couldn’t be punished at a ruler’s whim. The Code covered all matters that were important to their lives (property, trade, jobs, marriage, family, etc.)