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"As the number of Sumerian city-states grew and the states expanded, new conflicts arose as city-state fought city-state for control of land and water. The fortunes of various city-states rose and fell over the centuries. The constant wars, with their burning and sacking of cities, left many Sumerians in deep despair.
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Around 2340 B.C.E., Sargon, leader of the Akkadians, overran the Sumerian city-states and established an empire that included most of Mesopotamia as well as lands westward to the Mediterranean.
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Hammurabi employed a well-disciplined army of foot soldiers who carried axes, spears, and copper or bronze daggers. He learned to divide his opponents and subdue them one by one. Using such methods, he gained control of Sumer and Akkad, creating a new Mesopotamian kingdom.
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The Code of Hammurabi reveals a society with a
system of strict justice. Penalties for criminal offenses were severe and varied according to the social class of the victim. A crime against a member of the upper class by a member of the lower class was punished more severely than the same offense against a member of the lower class. Moreover, the principle of an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth was fundamental to this system of justice. -
During its heyday, the Hittite Empire was one of the
great powers in western Asia. Constant squabbling over succession to the throne, however, tended to weaken royal authority at times. Especially devastating, however, were attacks by the Sea Peoples from the west and aggressive neighboring tribes. By 1190 B.C.E., Hittite power had come to an end. -
Under Rameses II, the Egyptians regained control of Palestine but were unable to reestablish the borders of their earlier empire. New invasions in the thirteenth century by the ‘‘Sea Peoples,’’ as the Egyptians called them, destroyed Egyptian power in Palestine and drove the Egyptians back within their old frontiers. The days of the Egyptian empire ended, and the New Kingdom itself expired with the end of the twentieth dynasty in 1070.
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In 722 or 721 B.C.E., the Assyrians destroyed Samaria, overran the kingdom of Israel, and deported many Hebrews to other parts of the Assyrian Empire. The southern kingdom of Judah was also forced to pay tribute to Assyria but managed to retain its independence as Assyrian power declined.
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Moreover, subject peoples, such as the Babylonians,
greatly resented Assyrian rule and rebelled against it.
Soon after Ashurbanipal’s reign, the Assyrian Empire
began to disintegrate. The capital city of Nineveh fell to a coalition of Chaldeans and Medes in 612 B.C.E., and in 605 B.C.E., the rest of the empire was finally divided between the two powers. -
The empire stood supreme, and much of its power depended on the military. By the time of Darius, the Persian monarchs had created a standing army of professional soldiers. This army was truly international, composed of contingents from the various peoples who made up the empire. At its core was a cavalry force of ten thousand and an elite infantry force of ten thousand people known as the Immortals because they were never allowed to fall below ten thousand in number.