Chapter 7: Military Empires Study Guide

Chapter 7: Military Empires ~ Study Guide

Vocabulary to Know!

 Empires – territories governed by a single ruler or nation

 Litter – a carriage without wheels, carried by servants

 Smelting – the process of heating iron ore and hammering out its impurities, developed by the Hittites

 Provinces – political districts

 Caravans – groups of traveling merchants

 Astronomers – people who collect, study, and explain facts about the heavenly bodies

People/gods to know!

 Ashurbanipal – Assyrian king; he started one of the world’s first libraries

 Nebuchadnezzar – Chaldean king, built beautiful streets and the Hanging Gardens

 King Darius – Persian King who built a grand palace-fortress in the city of Persepolis

 Zoroaster – a Persian religious leader, told the people about two gods

 Ahura Mazda – a Persian god represented all that was good

 Marduk – a Chaldean god believed to bring peace and good crops

 King Cyrus – a Persian King who helped overthrow the Medes

EMPIRE HIGHLIGHTS TO KNOW

The Assyrians:

 First of the empires to make iron/steel weapons through the process of smelting

 Ashurbanipal – Assyrian king; he started one of the world’s first libraries

The Chaldeans: they called themselves Babylonians

 Babylon was a “Center of Science” – they had a police force and a postal service!  Babylon had beautiful Hanging Gardens made for King Nebuchadnezzar’s wife

 Babylon was encircled by a huge wall and the entrance was the Ishtar Gate

 Babylonian Astronomers mapped the planets and phases of the moon; made a sundial and 7-day week

 Marduk – a Chaldean god believed to bring peace and good crops

The Persian Empire:

 The Persians were originally part of the group known as the Aryans

 Immortals – they were the best group of fighters in the Persian Army

 Persepolis: it became the most magnificent city in the empire

 “Eyes and Ears of the King” – official inspectors who checked on taxes and possible rebellions

 Persians refused to become traders but encouraged trade among the people they conquered

 The Royal Road connected the cities Sardis and Susa

 The Persians opened a trade route with China

 Spread the use of coins as money; this idea that came from the area of Lydia

 King Darius – Persian King who built a grand palace-fortress in Persepolis

 Zoroaster – a Persian religious leader, told the people about two gods: religion was called Zoroasterianism

 Ahura Mazda – a Persian god represented all that was good

 Persians were conquered by the Medes

 Of the three empires, the Persian Empire was the largest