Chapter 2: Small Kingdoms and Mighty Empires in the Near East

Roman Empire

Mithra, the sun- god whose cult would later spread throughout the ________, saw to justice and redemption.

Zoroasters writings

________ were spread by teachers, and King Darius began to use Zoroastrian language and images.

Assyrias success

________ was actually due primarily to the size of its army and the armys sophisti­cated and effective military organization.

Sennacheribs campaign

________ is also recorded several times in the Hebrew Bible, but there the point is very different.

Persian art

________ serves as an excellent source for learning about the weapons, tools, clothing, and even hairstyles of many peoples of the area.

Zoroaster

________ preached a last judgment that led to a heaven or a hell.

Kush­ ites

The ________ conquered southern Egypt, and in 727 b.c.e.

Canaan

In ________, the nomadic Hebrews encountered a variety of other peoples, whom they both learned from and fought.

Fertile Cres­cent

For a period of several centuries, a people known as the Hebrews controlled first one and then two small states on the western end of the ________, Israel and Judah.

Mediterranean

According to scripture, the Hebrews settled in the area between the ________ and the Jordan River known as Canaan.

Babylon

The decline of Assyria allowed another group of people, the Chaldeans, to create a new dynasty of kings and a somewhat smaller empire centered at ________.

northern Mesopotamia

The Assyrians had inhabited ________ since the third millennium b.c.e.

Spain

The Phoenicians planted trading posts and small farming communities along the coast, founding colonies in ________ and Sicily along with Carthage.

Cyrus the Great

________ (r. 559- 530 b.c.e.

dairy products

Meat and ________ were not to be eaten at the same meal or cooked in the same utensils.

Communication

________ and trade were eased by a sophisticated system of roads linking the empire from the coast of Asia Minor to the valley of the Indus River.

Moses

Worship was embodied in a series of rules of behavior, the Ten Commandments, which Yahweh gave to ________.

biblical rules

According to ________, sexual relations were a source of impurity that needed to be cleansed with specific rituals.

Iron weapons

________ became important items of trade around the Medi­terranean and throughout the Tigris and Euphrates Valleys, and the technology for making them traveled as well.

Iranian religion

________ was originally tied to nature.

Hebrews

________ created a new form of religious belief, a monotheism based on the worship of an all- powerful god they called Yahweh.

satrap

The ________ controlled local government, collected taxes, heard legal cases, and maintained order.

Egypt

________ entered into a long period of political fragmentation and conquest by outsiders that scholars of Egypt refer to as the Third Intermediate Period (ca.

Religious leaders

________ were important in Judaism, but personally following the instructions of Yahweh was the central task for observant Jews in the ancient world.

Jerusalem

He captured the city of ________, which he enlarged, fortified, and made the religious and political center of his realm.

Communal use of land

________ gave way to family or private ownership, and devotion to the traditions of Judaism came to replace tribal identity.

Neo­ Babylonians

The ________ preserved many basic aspects of older Babylonian law, literature, and government, yet they failed to bring peace and prosperity to Mesopo­tamia.

Neo­ Babylonian kingdom

The ________ was weakened and ultimately conquered in 539 b.c.e.

Zoroaster

________ is regarded as the author of key religious texts, later gathered together in a collection of sacred texts called the Avesta.