McDougal Littell World History: Patterns of Interaction 

Chapter 4: First Age of Empires 1570 B.C.-200 B.C.

Chapter 4.1: Egyptian and Nubian Empires 

• After the prosperity of the Middle Kingdom, Egypt descended into war and violence. 

• This was caused by a succession of weak pharaohs and power struggles among rival nobles. 
• The country fell to invaders who swept across the Isthmus of Suez in chariots, a weapon of war unknown to the Egyptians. 

• These Asiatic invaders, called Hyksos ruled Egypt from about 1640-1570 B.C. 
• This invasion shook the Egyptians’ confidence in the desert barriers that protected their kingdom. 
• During the Hyksos rule, some historians believe that the Hebrews settled in Egypt. 
• Abraham and his family first crossed the Euphrate River and came to Canaan around 1800 B.C. 

• Historians believe that the Hylsos encouraged the Hebrew resented the presence of the Hyksos in their land but were powerless to remove them. 
• Around 1600 B.C a series of warlike rulers began to restore Egypt’s power. 

• Among those who helped drive out the Hyksos was queen Ahhotep. 
• She took over when her husband was killed in battle. 

• Kamose, the next pharaoh, won a great victory over the hated Hyksos. 

• His successors drove the Jyksos completely out of Egypt and pursued them across the Sinai Peninsula into Palestine. 

• To some Biblical scholars, the Hebrews remained in Egypt and were enslaved and forced into hard labor. 

• They would not leave Egypt until sometime between 1500-1200 B.C. the time of the Exodus. 

• After the overthrowing the Hyksos, the pharaohs of the New Kingdom sought to strengthen Egypt by building an empire. 

• An empire brings together several peoples or states under the control of one ruler. 
• Egypt entered its 3rd phase of glory during the New Kingdom era. 

• It was wealthier and more powerful than before. 
• They were equipped with bronze weapons and two-wheeled chariots and they became conquerors. 
• The pharaohs of the 18th dynasty set up an army including archers, charioteers, and infantry, or foot soldiers. 

• Among the rulers of the New Kingdom, Hatshepsut, who declared herself pharaoh around 1472 B.C. was unique. 

• She took over because her stepson, the male heir to the throne, was a young child at the time.
• She spent her reign encouraging trade rather than just waging war. 
• She sent a fleet of five ships down the Red Sea to Punt in search of myrrh, frankincense, and fragrant ointments used for religious ceremonies and in cosmetics. 

• Her fleet brought back gold, ivory and unusual plants and animals. 

• Thutmose III,  proved to be a much more warlike ruler. 

• He murdered Hatshepsut in eagerness to get to the throne. 
• He led a number of victorious invasions eastward into Palestine and Syria 
• His armies pushed farther south into Nubia. 

• Egypt had traded with Nubia and influenced the region since the time of the middle kingdom. 

• It controlled the lands around the nile and far beyond. 

• The Egyptians and the hittites clashed at Kadesh around 1285 B.C.

• The pharaoh Ramses II and a hittite king later made a treaty that promised “peace and brotherhood between us forever” 

• Rulers of the new kingdom erected grand buildings 

• They were in search of security in the afterlife 
• They hid their splendid tombs beneath desert cliffs. 

• They chose the remote valley of the kings near Thebes. 

• The empire that Thutmose III had built and Ramses II had ruled slowly came apart after 1200 B.C. 

• Both the Egyptian empire and the Hittite Kingdom were attacked by invaders called the “sea peoples” 

• They caused great destruction 

• The Egyptian empire broke apart into regional units, adn numerous small kingdoms arose. 

• Around 950 B.C.- 730 Libyan pharaohs ruled Egypt and erected cities. 

• For centuries, Egypt dominated Nubia and the Nubian kingdom of Kush, which lasted for about a thousand years between 2000-1000 B.C. 

• Egyptian armies raidd and occupied Kush for a brief period. 
• As Egypt began to decline, Kush began to emerge as a regional power. 
• Nubia now established its own Kushite dynasty on the throne of Egypt. 

• Kushite princes went to Egypt and learned the Egyptian language and worshiped Egyptian gods. 

• They adopted the customs and clothing styles of the Egyptian upper class. 
• The kushite nobles brought back, royal rituals and hieroglyphic writing 

• In 751 B.C. a kushite king named Piankhi overthrew the Libyan dynasty that had ruled Egypt for over 200 years.

• He united the entire Nile valley from the delta in the North to Napata in the south. 

• Kush used the natural resources around Meroe and thrived for several hundred years. 

• Meroe had significant rainfall. 
• It boasted abundant supplies of iron ore, and was the center for the manufacture of iron weapons and tools. 

• From about 250 B.C. to 150 A.D. Meroe began to decline. 

• Aksum contributed to the fall and they defeated Meroe around 350 A.D. 

Chapter 4.2: The Assyrian Empire 

• Around 850 B.C. Assyria acquired a large empire. 

• It had highly advanced military organization and state-of-the-art weaponry. 

• The Assyrians came from the northern part of Mesopotamia. 

• Their flat exposed land made them easy for other people to attack. 
• They may have developed their warlike behavior in response to these invasions.

• Assyria was a society that glorified military strength. 

• The soldiers were well equipped for conquering an empire. 

• Hey covered themselves in stiff leather and metal armor, they wore copper or iron helmets, padded loin-cloths and leather skirts layered with metal scales. Their weapons were iron swords and iron pointed spears 

• Between 850-650 B.C. the kings of Assyria defeated Syria, Palestine, and Babylonia.

• At its peak the Assyrian empire included almost all of the old centers of civilization and power in southwest Asia. 

• Some of Assyria’s most fearsome warriors earned reputations as great builders.

• King Sennacherib who had burned Babylon also established Assyria’s capital at Nineveh along the Tigris River.

• It was the largest city of its day. 
• It held on the the ancient world’s largest libraries, 
• King Ashurbanipal collected more than 20,000 clay tablets from throughout the Fertile Crescent. 

• This collection included the ancient Sumerian poem the Epic of Gilgamesh and provided historians with much information about the earliest civilizations in Southwest Asia. 

• Ashurbanipal proved to be one of the last mighty assyrian kings. 
• In 612 B.C. a combined army Medes Chaldeans and others burned and leveled Nineveh 
• After defeating the Assyrians the Chaldeans made Babylon their capital. 

• Babylon became the center of a new empire more than 1000 years after Hammurabi had ruled there. 
• The most impressive part of the restoration was the famous hanging gardens.

• Greek scholars later listed them as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. 

• To ensure that the world knew who ruled Babylon, the king had the bricks inscribed with the words, “ I am Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon.” 

• Chaldeans’ observations formed the basis for both astronomy and astrology. 

Chapter 4.3: The Persian Empire 

• The Assyrians employed military force to control a vast empire. 

• In contrast, the Persians based their empire on tolerance and diplomacy. 

• They relied on a strong military to back up their policies. 
• Ancient Persia is included what today is Iran. 

• Indo-Europenas first migrated from Central Europe and southern Russia to the mountains and plateaus east of the Fertile Crescent around 1000 B.C.

• Ancient Iran boasted a wealth of minerals which included copper, lead, gold, silverm and gleaming blue lapis lazuli. 

• The trade of these minerals put them in contact with peoples in the east and the west. 

• Dozens of tiny kingdoms occupied the region at first, then two major powers emerged. 

• The Medes and the Persians . 
• A remarkable ruler would lead Persia to dominate the Medes and found a huge empire. 

• The rest of the world paid little attention to the Persians until 550 B.C. 

• Cyrus, Persia’s king, began to conquer several neighboring kingdoms. 

• He was a military genius , leading his army from victory to victory between 550 and 539 B.C. 
• Cyrus controlled an empire that spanned 2000 miles, from the Indus River in the east to Anatolia in the west. 
• Cyrus believed in honoring local customs and religions 

• Instead of destroying the local temple, he would kneel there to pray. 

• He also allowed the Jews, who had been driven from their homeland by the Babylonians, to return to Jerusalem in 538 B.C. 

• The Jews rebuilt their city and temple, and they were thankful for Cyrus , whom they considered one of God’s anointed ones. 

• Cyrus was killed as he fought nomadic invaders on the eastern border of his empire. 

• Cyrus died in 530 B.C. 

• Cyrus’ son Cambyses neglected to follow his father’s wise example. 

• He ordered the images of Egyptian gods to be burned. 
• After ruling for only 8 years, he died. 

• Immediately widespread rebellions broke out across the empire. 

• Cambyses’s successor Darius seize the throne around 522 B.C.

• He spent the first three years of his reign putting down revolts. 
• He then spent the next few years establishing a well-organized and efficient administration. 
• He led his armies eastward into the mountains of present-day Afghanistan and then down into the river valleys of India. 

• The immense Persan Empire now extended over 2500 miles, embracing Egypt and Anatolia in the west, part of India in the east, and the Fertile Crescent in the center. 
• His only failure was his inability to conquer Greece. 

• To govern his sprawling empire, Darius divided it into 20 provinces. 

• They were roughly similar to the homelands of the different groups of people who lived within the Persian Empire. 

• Under each rule, the people of each province still practiced their own religion.  
• They spoke their own language and followed many of their own laws.  
• He ruled with absolute power 

• He installed a governor called a satrap who ruled locally. 
• He also appointed a military leader and a tax collector for each province. 

• To ensure the loyalty of these officials, Darius sent out inspectors known as the “King’s Eyes and Ears”. 

• An excellent system of roads allowed Darius to communicate quickly with the most distant parts of the empire. 

• The famous Royal Road ran from Susa in Persia to Sardis in Anatolia a distance of 1,677 miles. 
• He borrowed the second tool, manufacturing metal coins, from the Lyduans of Asia Minor. 

• For the first time, coins of a standard value circulated throughout an extended empire. 
• The roads and coins promoted trade which helped hold the empire together. 

• A persian prophet named Zoroaster who lived around 600 B.C. offered an answer. 

• He taught that the earth is a battleground where a great struggle is fought between the spirit of good and the spirit of evil. 

• He said that each person is expected to take part in this struggle. 

• The Zoroastrian religion teaches a belief in one god, Ahura Mazda. 

• Ahura Mazda will judge everyone according to how well he or she fought the battle for good. 

• This concept can be found in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. 

• Through their tolerance and good government, the Persians brought political order to Southwest Asia. 

• They preserved ideas from earlier civilization and found new ways to live and rule. 
• Their respect to other cultures helped preserve those cultures for the future.

Chapter 4.4: The Unification of China  

• Toward the end of the Zhou dynasty, China moved away from its ancient values of social order, harmony, and respect for authority. 

• Chinese scholars and philosophers developed different solutions to restore these values. 

• China’s most influential scholar was Confucius. 

• He was born in 551 B.C.
• He lived in a time when the Zhou Dynasty was in decline. 
• He led a scholarly life, studying and teaching history, music, and moral character.  
• He had a deep desire to restore the order and moral living or earlier times to his society. 
• He believed that social order, harmony, and good government could be restored in china if society were organized around 5 basic relationships. 

• Ruler and subject 
• Father and son 
• Husband and wife 
• Older brother and younger brother 
• Friend and friend 

• Confucius stressed that children should practice filial piety. 

• Filial piety: respect for their parents and ancestors. 
• This meant devoting oneself to one’s parents during their lifetime.
• It also required honoring their memories after death through the performance of certain rituals. 

• He said that education could transform a humbly born person into a gentleman.

• He laid the groundwork for the creation of a bureaucracy

• Bureaucracy: a trained civil service, or those who run the government.

• Confucianism was never a religion, but it was an ethical system. 

• It was based on accepted principles of right and wrong. 
• It became the foundation for Chinese government and social order. 
• In addition to Confucius, other Chinese scholars and philosophers developed ethical systems with very different philosophies 

• Some stressed the importance of nature, others, the power of government.

• A chinese thinker named Laozi to him only the natural order was important. 

• Natural order involves relations among all living things. 
• He said that a universal force called the Dao, meaning “the way” guides all things. 
• According to him, only humans fail to follow the Dao. 

• They argue about questions of right and wrong, good manners or bad. 

• The philosophy of Laozi came to be known as Daoism. 

• Its search for knowledge and understanding of nature led its followers to pursue scientific studies.

• They made many important contributions to the sciences of alchemy, astronomy, and medicine. 

• Legalists were practical political thinkers who believed that a highly efficient and powerful government was the key to restoring order in society.  
• Hanfeizi and Li Si were among the founders of Legalism. 

• Legalists taught that a ruler should provide rich rewards for people who carried out their duties well. 
• They thought that the disobedient should be harshly punished. 
• They stressed punishment more than rewards. 

• Anyone caught outside his own village without a travel permit should have his ears or nose chopped off. 
• They believed in controlling ideas as well as actions. 

• In the third century B.C. the Qin Dynasty replaced the Zhou Dynasty. 

• It emerged from the western state of Qin. 
• The ruler who founded the Qin Dynasty employed legalist ideas to subdue the warring states and unify his country. 

• In 221 B.C. after ruling for over 20 years, the Qin ruler assumed the name Shi Huangdi which means “First emperor” 

• The new emperor had begun his reign by halting ther internal battles that had sapped China’s strength. 
• He turned his attention to defeating invaders and crushing resistance within China to his rule. 
• His armies attacked the invaders north of the Huang He and south as far as what is now Vietnam.  

• His victories doubled China’s size. 

• He was determined to unify China. 
• He commanded all the noble families to live in the capital city under his suspicious gaze. 

• This uprooted 120,000 noble families. 

• He then carved China into 36 administrative districts. 
• He sent Qin officials to control them. 
• To prevent criticism, both him and his prime minister murdered hundreds of Confucian scholars. 

• They ordered “useless” books to be burned 

• These books were the works of Confucian thinkers and poets who disagreed with the Legalists. 
• Books about medicine and farming were spared. 

• Shi Huangdi established an autocracy. 

• Autocracy: a government that has unlimited power and uses it in an arbitrary manner. 

• His sweeping program of centralization included the building of a highway network more than 4,000 miles long. 

• Under his rule irrigation projects increased farm production. 
• Trade blossoms, thanks to the road system. 

• Scholars had hated Shi Huangdi for his book burning. 

• Poor people hated him because they were forced to work on the building of a huge defensive wall. 

• The Great Wall of China arose on the backs of hundreds and thousands of peasants. 

• They did not work for wages or the love of the empire, they were forced to build it. 

• Many died from being overworked.