1 102 C Assyrians and Babylonians @ From the 9th century BC Assyria was expanding rapidly, conquering all Mesopotamia and the Levant, thanks to the excellence of its rulers' military organization and economic efficiency. The spoils from foreign conquests went to swell the treasuries in their successive great capital cities. In the late 7th century Assyria fell to its rival, Babylon.
# Assyrians and Babylonians, Tiglath-Pileser III
2 103 D The Persians @ The meteoric rise of the Persian Achaemenid dynasty brought a vast territory from Libya to the Indus under the control of a single empire within fifty years. Their central government built roads, received tribute, and maintained official laws, currency, weights and language, combining this with a system of provinces ruled by semi-autonomous governors.
# Persians, Persepolis relief of king
3 103 E The Hellenistic world @ In a campaign lasting only eleven years, Alexander the Great made himself ruler of the entire Persian Empire. His successors divided these lands, establishing a number of Hellenistic kingdoms. They founded cities that were characteristically Greek in style and culture along the coasts and on major roads and rivers. Elsewhere native cultural traditions continued.
# Alexander and Hellenistic world, Alexander sarcophagus
4 102 B The Israelites @ Under king David in the 11th century BC the Israelites carved out a substantial kingdom. Later power struggles caused its division into two, of which Israel fell to the Assyrians in 722 and Judah to the Babylonians in 587. In the brief centuries of their glory the Israelites built many fortified centres, with palaces and temples.
# Israelites, reconstruction of temple like Solomon's, at Tell Tayinat
5 102 A The Phoenicians @ Around 1200 BC, the Phoenicians began establishing cities on the Levant coast. Gifted with fine harbours, excellent timbers for building ships and many natural resources, they soon became major traders in the Mediterranean, venturing even beyond. Assyrian domination encouraged many by the 7th century BC to settle in their overseas trading posts, including Carthage.
