Pharaoh Khufu

• Also known by his Greek name, Cheops, the Egyptian pharaoh Khufu was the second pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty, famous for building the Great Pyramid at Giza.
• Khufu’s full name was Khnum-Khufwy, which means ‘[the god] Khnum protect me’. He was the son of Sneferu and Queen Hetepheres I, and is believed to have had three wives.
• Khufu was the first pharaoh to build a pyramid at Giza. The sheer scale of this monument stands as testament to his skills in commanding the material and human resources of his country.

source: ( http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/khufu.shtml )

Narmer

• Around 3000 B.C., a king named Narmer from Upper Egypt led forces north into the Nile Delta and conquered lower Egypt.
• Narmer’s successors made their capital at Memphis, at the southern end of the delta where Lower Egypt abutted Upper Egypt.
•  The unification of Egypt by Narmer ushered in the first of more than 30 dynasties that would rule the country for the next 30,000 years.
• Also known as
  • Aha
  • Scorpion
  • Menes
  • Mena
  • Meni
  • Min

Nebuchadnezzar II

•  Nebuchadnezzar II was King of Babylon (605-562 BC)
• He was the son of Nabopololassar of Babylon.
• He built the Hanging Gardens of Babylon of his wife, Amytis of Media. He also built the Ishtar Gate, devoted to the war goddess Ishtar and the Temple of Marduk, the chief Babylonian god.
• Like Sennacherib, the Babylonian ruler Nebuchadnezzar II was merciless to subjects who refused to pay him tribute. He destroyed the rebellious city of Jerusalem in Judea.

Neo- Babylonian Empire (612 B.C)

• The new Babylonians captured Nineveh and took control of the vast empire that the Assyrians had built
• Babylon’s brief return to brillance marked the end of a long and truimphant epoch for Mesopotamia
• Had great and remarkable rulers like Nebuchadnezzar who built the hanging gardens of Babylon

Hammurabi

• Conqueror from the city of Babylon, situated in Akkad near the Euphrates River
• Hammurabi’s Babylonian Empire embraced all of Mesopotamia. His greatest legacy was to build on the legal foundations of the Sumerians and compile a list of laws known as the Code of Hammurabi
• The system of justice Hammurabi imposed helped unite Mesopotamia, but later Babylonian rulers had difficulty holding the empire together.

Sargon I

• First known emperor in the ancient world
• Emperor of the Akkadian Empire
• Sargon forged an empire that reached all the way from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea.
• The imperial dynasty of Sargon and his descendants lasted less than a century, but many ambitious Mesopotamian rulers later tried to emulate Sargon and take control of the entire region.
• Sargon of Akkad (also known as Sargon the Great, Shar-Gani-Sharri, and Sarru-Kan, meaning “True King” or “Legitimate King”) reigned in Mesopotamia from 2334 to 2279 BCE.
• His story was long known throughout Mesopotamia where, in time, he came to be considered the greatest man who had ever lived, celebrated in glorious tales down through the Persian Empire, along with his grand-son Naram-Sin. (source: http://www.ancient.eu/Sargon_of_Akkad/#)

Epic of Gilgamesh

• Sumerians were the first to record in writing both their laws and their legends. One legend told of an epic hero who survived a flood that ravaged the world.
• The Epic of Gilgamesh is an epic poem from ancient Mesopotamia. Dating from the Third Dynasty of Ur (circa 2100 BC), it is often regarded as the first great work of literature. The literary history of Gilgamesh begins with five Sumerian poems about ‘Bilgamesh’ (Sumerian for ‘Gilgamesh’), king of Uruk. (source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_of_Gilgamesh)
• For the summary read: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/gilgamesh/summary.html

Lugal or Ensi

• Lugal (big man) or Ensi (great man) were men coming from rich families that were appointed as chief in times of crisis
• Priests were not the only authority figures in these emerging cities. Leaders of wealthy families formed council of elders. In times of crisis the council appointed a lugal or ensi.
• By 3000 B.C. Sumerian cities were fast expanding into city-states that took control of surrounding villages. This expansion brought neighboring city-states into competition for land and water, resulting in warfare.
• Big men who led city-states into battle against their rivals and achieved great victories remained in power and became kings. Those kings then enchanced their authority by building places near the temples and claiming support from priests and gods they represented.