Era 7: Iron Age

• Many more tools and weapons made from iron and steel were produced around the globe. The Iron Age lasted from 1,200 BCE to c. 1,000

• Iron became much more popular after people learned how to make it more durable by making steel, by heating iron with carbon. 

• The blast furnace and cast iron were first used in China during the Iron Age. 

• The Assyrian Empire reached far and wide as it extended from Cyprus in the Mediterranean Sea to Persia, and from the Caucasus Mountains (Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan) to the Arabian Peninsula and Egypt.  

• The Persian Empire began to thrive when Babylon fell, after the reign of Nebuchadnezzar came to a close in 539 BC

• Access to iron weapons augmented Rome’s rise to wide-spread dominance at the time.