Chapter 4 First age of Empires
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Section 1 The
Empires of Egypt and Nubia Collide
The
Egyptians fell into a period of weak pharaohs and power struggles among rival
nobles. Invaders using new weapons defeated the Egyptians, the Hyksos using
chariots. The pharaohs of the New Kingdom strengthened Egypt by building an
empire.
The
crown of the pharaoh had been red and white, now a third color had been added
blue. This was the war crown. Hapshepsut declared herself the pharaoh because
her son was a young man at the time. She spent her reign encouraging trade
instead of war. Thutmose III was a more war like pharaoh and may have even
murdered his step mother to gain control of the Egyptian Empire.
The empire spread into the areas of Palestine and Syria; as well as
spreading south into the Nubia region of Africa. Bringing gold, cattle, ivory
and many slaves.
The
pharaohs of the New Kingdom built their tombs in the Valley of the Kings
near Thebes. Ramses II lived to be 99 and built many new temples and
monuments to himself. The Egyptians were attacked repeatedly by the “People of
the Sea”. Weakening the
government and the Empire, the Libyans and the Nubians were able able to capture
many cities of the Egyptians. But the conquerors did not destroy the Egyptian
way of life, they instead adopted the Egyptian culture.
The
Kush dynasty fought to keep the Egyptian way of life. They saw themselves as
guardians of the Egyptian way of life. They conquered Egypt and ousted the
Libyans. The assyrians forced the Kush back into the upper regions of the Nile.
Meroe
became the center of trade between Africa, Arabia, and India. Weapons flowed out
of Meroe and gold and luxury goods flowed in to Meroe.
The assyrians came from the northern part of Mesopotamia
and developed their fierce warlike attitude due to having to defend them selves
from invaders. The iron weapons enabled the Assyrians to over power their
enemies. They used new methods of fighting protecting themselves with huge iron
shields developing methods to attack walled cities.
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Ladders |
While
Assyrian archers launched waves of arrows against their opponents
defending the city walls, Assyrian troops threw their ladders ujp against
the walls and began their climb into the enemy’s stronghold. |
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Weapons |
Troops
were armed with the best weapons of the time, iron-tipped spears, as well
as iron daggers and swords. They were also protected by armor and a large
shield |
|
Tactics |
The
Assyrians were savage in their treatment of defeated opponents. Those who
weren’t slaughtered in the initial attack were often impaled or
beheaded, while women and children were sometimes murdered or sold into
slavery. |
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Tunnels |
The
Assyrian army used sappers—solders who dug tunnel to sap, or undermine
the foundations of the enemy’s walls so that they would fall. |
To prevent uprisings those captured were taken to lands far away from their homes. The assyrians were defeated and the invaders made Babylon their capital. The Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar built the hanging gardens of Babylon. The Persians captured the same area.
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The Assyrians used force ad the threat of violence to
control their empire, but the Persians would base their empire on tolerance and
diplomacy. (they had a strong military to back up what those policies) ancient
Persia included what is today Iran.
The
Persians led by Cyrus controlled an area from the Indus River to Anatolia. This
covered over two thousand miles. Cyrus would not allow his conquering armies to
loot and plunder the captured cities. Instead
of destroying a temple, he would kneel and pray.
This
kindness toward the local religions was also shown to the Jews who he allowed
back into Jerusalem where the Jews rebuilt their cities and temples.
The
empire that Cyrus built was lost when his son started to burn religious images
of the Egyptian gods. The next leader of the Persians was Darius he began as one
of Cyrus’s bodyguards. He expanded the empire to include parts of India, Egypt
and Anatolia and all of the Fertile Crescent. But the Persians never defeated
the
Darius
divided the empire into 20 provinces and allowed the people in the provinces to
follow their cultural (religiously and their languages) two things helped him
maintain control over this vast
empire. The Royal Road revealed that the empire had a great road system and
under Darius the Persian Empire used coins of a standard value throughout the
empire, this encouraged more trade.
The
Persian religion was described by Zoroaster. The Zoroastrian religion had a book
Avesta as the holy writings. People’s own choices controlled their fate. Those
who had chosen the side of goodness would not be doomed to a dismal underworld,
instead would be welcomed in paradise.
The
teachings of the Zoroastrian religion regarding heaven, hell, and a final
judgement were similar to the concepts of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
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Confucius lived during the warring years of the Zhou Dynasty. He believed social order, harmony, and good government could be restored in China if society was organized around 5 basic relationships.
These
five things were the relationships between:
1.
Ruler and
subject
2.
Father
and son
3.
Husband
and wife
4.
Older
brother and younger brother
5.
Friend
and a friend
Three
of these relationships were based up on the family. Confucius stated that
children should practice what he called filial piety or respect for their
parents or elders.
“In
serving his parents, a filial son renders utmost respect to them at home; he
supports them with joy; he gives them tender care in sickness; he grieves at
their death; he sacrifices to them solemnity…”
Confucius,
the Analects.
Confucianism never was a religion but an ethical way of
life.
Daoism
is the philosophy of Laozi. If you seek order and harmony go to the hills and
watch the clouds or observe a soft breeze. Nothing in nature strives for fame,
power, or even wisdom. The cloud, breeze, or water move with out effort because
they follow the Dao or the way.
Legalist
believed that rewards should go to those that carried out their duties well.
Harsh punishment to those that did not or were disobedient. Anyone outside of
his own village without a travel permit should have his ears or nose chopped
off.
The
Yin an Yang of live represents the natural rhythms of life. Yang is the
masculine qualities of the universe, the Yin is the feminine.
Qin
Dynasty leader was 13 years old, after ruling for 20 years using the legalist
ideas to stop wars in the area, he named himself Shi Huangdi, (First Emperor)
after stopping the internal battles, he turned to stopping the invading people
and doing that he increased the size of the Empire. Government of the Qin
Dynasty was harsh and brutal. However, trade increased due to the road system
and the irrigation projects. Shi Huangdi closed the gaps on the great wall of
china that the Zhou Dynasty had started.
After
his death his son was defeated by a peasant from the land of Han and the Han
Dynasty began.
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