Persian Empire

Persian Empire:
King Cyrus and main characteristics

By 600 BC, the Assyrians were getting weaker. At this time the Medes and the Persians mixed into one group, under one king.

At first the Medes were in charge, but in 559 BC Cyrus, who was a Persian, made himself king, and from then on the Persians were in charge.

Cyrus the Great is remembered as a good ruler. He managed to unify a very diverse group of people, with many different languages and religions. At the same time, he allowed each group to keep their own religion. This is especially surprising because he himself had recently converted to Zoroastrianism (believing in one god) and clearly felt strongly about his new faith.

Persians are very known for being the first ones to apply bureaucracy in their government. Bureaucracy is the collective organizational structure, procedures, protocols, and ser of regulations in place to manage activity, usually in large organizations and government.

Assyria´s Contributions..

Assyrian Contributions: inventions for war

It is said that in the past, the Assyrians were people that were constantly being attacked in their own territory.

As a method of defense, they had to come up with a number of inventions that would help them overcome the attacks of nearby civilizations.

That is how they become skilled warriors. Among their inventions, we have the following:



BATTERING RAM: is a machine used to break open fortification walls or doors.

SLINGS: is a projectile weapon typically used to throw a blunt projectile such as a stone.








HELMETS AND ARMOR: protective covering used to prevent damage from being inflicted.





The above inventions suggest that the Assyrians were devoted to the art of war. Their contributions have had a great influence in our modern civilizations, due to the fact that many of the equipments used to fight in war nowadays, have their bases on the Assyrian inventions.

Hanging Gardens of Babylonia..

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon

The ancient city of Babylon, under King Nebuchadnezzar II, must have been a wonder to the traveler's eyes. "In addition to its size," wrote Herodotus, a historian in 450 BC, "Babylon surpasses in splendor any city in the known world."

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, were built by King Nebuchadnezzar II, who ruled the city for 43 years starting in 605 BC.

According to accounts, the gardens were built to cheer up Nebuchadnezzar's homesick wife, Amyitis. Amyitis, daughter of the king of the Medes, was married to Nebuchadnezzar to create an alliance between the nations. The land she came from, though, was green, rugged and mountainous, and she found the flat, sun-baked terrain of Mesopotamia depressing. The king decided to recreate her homeland by building an artificial mountain with rooftop gardens.

The Hanging Gardens probably did not really "hang" in the sense of being suspended from cables or ropes. The name comes from an inexact translation of the Greek word kremastos or the Latin word pensilis, which mean not just "hanging", but "overhanging" as in the case of a terrace or balcony.

How big were the gardens? Diodorus tells us it was about 400 feet wide by 400 feet long and more than 80 feet high. Other accounts indicate the height was equal to the outer city walls. Walls that Herodotus said were 320 feet high. In any case the gardens were an amazing sight: A green, leafy, artificial mountain rising off the plain.

Hammurabi´s Code..

Hammurabi was an ancient Babylonian king. He did something that no one had ever done before. The Sumerians had created the first written language, cuneiform. Using this written language, Hammurabi created the first written set of laws.

In Hammurabi's court, it did not matter if you were rich or poor. If you broke the law, and were found guilty, you would be punished.

Since the laws were clearly written down, everyone was expected to obey them.

What do you think about the following laws of Hammurabi´s Code?

• If any one steal the property of a temple or of the court, he shall be put to death, and also the one who receives the stolen thing from him shall be put to death.

• If any one is committing a robbery and is caught, then he shall be put to death.

• If a man's wife be surprised (in flagrante delicto) with another man, both shall be tied and thrown into the water, but the husband may pardon his wife.