The Fertile Crescent, in ancient times was practically the hub of activity. Spanning from the eastern shore of the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf and including areas such as Egypt and Mesopotamia, the Fertile Crescent was a massive beast - a force to be reckoned with. Ahead of its time, the Fertile Crescent was a mass packed with trade routes, powerful empires, and various religions. It’s likely that a person would infer the diversity of cultures would provide stark differences between each other. However that is not the case. From the early beginnings of the Fertile Crescent in 2350 BCE onward three major characteristics were constantly displayed: slavery, the search for mankind's purpose, and the conglomerate of religious authorities, Kings, and the Military.
Perhaps one of the biggest characteristics of the Fertile Crescent throughout time is its economy. It was for this exact reason that in 2350 BCE Sargon I built his empire. In the
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Religious beliefs and practices differed greatly from country to country; however each religion inquired of the purpose of life through gods or deities. The Egyptian’s religion revolved around the rite of passage. The Egyptians would receive favorable conditions after death only if they pleased the Gods, and their descendant Pharaoh. The purpose of the Egyptians life was solely to keep Pharaoh and the Gods happy something that could only be accomplished through strict worship and unrelenting obedience. In contrast, the Sumerians beliefs were an entangled webs of stories about the gods they worshipped that related back to a single principle “people...were the servants of gods in the most literal sense.” (Backman 16) Their belief provided very little rewards as it was thought that the outcome of all dead was to be “cosigned equally to spending eternity wandering naked and exposed through an endless expanse of darkness, dust, and heat.” (Backman
But the area called Fertile Crescent has a huge disadvantage. The area was too dry, and continuous farming basically destroyed the area. They basically overused the nature.
During the years of 3500 BC to 2500 BC, the geography of a land often impacted a civilizations development in great measures. Depending on the resources available or the detriments present due to certain topographical characteristics like rivers or deserts, a civilization could flourish or collapse. By studying the geographic features of growing societies like the Nile, Euphrates, and Tigris Rivers as well as the Mediterranean Sea of Egypt and Mesopotamia, the link between developing cultures and geography will be examined through sources, including Egypt: Ancient Culture, Modern Land edited by Jaromir Malek and Babylon: Mesopotamia and the Birth of Civilization by Paul Kriwaczek. To determine the extent of its influence, this investigation will attempt to compare and contrast the role of geography in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, focusing on the civilizations’ various periods of development and settlement.
Mesopotamia, the area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, was and is still an extremely important region for the water it provides. For this and its ability to support agriculture, it’s known also as the Fertile Crescent. It’s also been called the Cradle of Civilization for providing the earliest existence of a civilization.
Religion was a major part of Ancient Egyptians’ lives. Their faith was so engrained in them that it was more of a lifestyle than a set of beliefs. The Egyptians practiced polytheism, or the worship of many gods, and they believed that their pharaoh was a god on Earth (Doc 3). The people worshipped the pharaoh and gave him all respect and power. They believed that their two main goals in life were to keep the pharaoh and the other gods happy and to live a good life so that they may enjoy a happy life after death. Their shared faith strengthened their society because everyone was working toward the same goal. Groups were not divided based on what god they worshipped. Instead, the fact that every person lived to please the same gods and wished to go to the same afterlife gave them something in common and brought them together as a community. Sumerians also practiced polytheism and believed that their priests were connected to the gods. The people thought it was their responsibility to keep the gods happy, and believed that if the gods were pleased, they would allow their people to be content as well (Doc 6). Because of their desire to please the gods, Sumerians performed every task to the best of their ability. For example, they invested lots of time and money into their ziggurats, or temples, because they only wanted to give their best to the gods. The Sumerians’ devotion to every task ensured that everything was done well and helped their civilization
One reason why I think Egypt was more unified, was the gift of the Nile. In my personal opinion people are products of their environment. The Nile, was one element that made living for a large population possible. The laid back atmosphere led the people to come together to create simple, but efficient ways of fertilizing the ground; furthermore, the fertile rich area allowed prosperity in crops and gave everyone piece of mind that they were not going to starve. (text, 73) On the other hand, Mesopotamia’s two rivers the Tigris and Euphrates, required people to create ways of irrigation to make the land more fertile for crops. (text, 59) The overall view of Mesopotamia’s greed arose from the possibility of loosing crops due to the floods. (text, 59) In other words, the land did not provide a great guara...
In places like Papua New Guinea, where the climate is very wet and tropical, they can get crops like Sago. Sago is found in the center of Sago trees, the pulp of the tree. When a village is hungry, they chop down the tree, dig to the pulp, harvest for 2-4 days, then eat. Sago is low in calories and protein, and doesn’t last long, maybe 3-5 days at the most. In places like the Fertile Crescent, where the climate is very dry, they are able to grow crops, like wheat. The Fertile Crescent, they basically won the “Geographically lottery” by having the perfect weather for growing wheat. Wheat was high in calories and protein, easy to harvest, and could be kept for up to a year. By having an easy food to maintain, the Fertile Crescent were able to have more time on their hands, and that helped the civilization develop into using domesticated animals. While, Papua New Guinea were still in the hunter-gather
Since people feared pharaohs, they respected them. For instance, the passage in Document 5 states that wokers built large pyramids to serve their pharaohs inside tombs. The text states, "Pharaohs were burried with their possessions." In addition, some people (Sumerians Akkadians) practiced polytheism, the worship of gods. Based on the document, "They believed that keeping the gods happy was the key to their own happiness and prosperity. On the other hand, if the gods were angry, they might bring suffering and disaster." In additon, previously stated, Egypt and Mesopotamia develoved into successful civilizations by effectively using the resources that surrounded them to solve problems and live happily. The text states, "Sumerians built huge temples called ziggurats. They believed these temples linked Earth with the heavens and linked people with the gods." This shows that they use dtheir resources to build ziggurats for their own goods so that the gods can give them happiness and prosperity instead of bringing them suffering and disaster. Therefore, Egyptians' religion and beliefs would help develop Egypt and Mesopotamia into successful
...ompletely wiped out and the droughts caused famines, which limited the population. Even though Babylonians could not predict the rivers, it was still a benefit to the area. Like the Egyptians, the people used the rivers as transportation of goods and food, perfect for selling and trading; it was also a good source of communication. Another very negative aspect of Mesopotamia’s geography was their lack of mountains. This made the country very unsecure and prone to attack. The only positive geographical aspect of the land was the hills. Northern Mesopotamia is made up of several hills and plains. The land is quite fertile due to seasonal rains, and the rivers and streams flowing from the mountains. Early settlers farmed the land and used timber, metals and stone from the mountains nearby. Other than the hills, Mesopotamia was very unfortunate in ancient civilization.
While the Indus people believed in reincarnation, the re-emergence of human life in different forms and states, the Egyptians’ main aim was to make a successful journey to the afterlife, once someone passed on, in order to join their immortal gods, especially Osiris, the god of the underworld (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, n.d). Suffice to say, the two civilization believed in immortality and knew death to be a temporary feature – a bridge connecting one’s present life and their
The people thought of all the gods to be wise and would seek their guidance in certain situations. Their religious beliefs brought this respect, and in some ways fear, to honor the gods so they would be gracious in return. “Religious beliefs instilled fear of the gods, who could alter the landscape, and desire to appease them” (Bulliet, 19). The Mesopotamians believed that the gods were human like in form, but that if they were to be unhappy by something the people did, they could alter anything in their lives, and in some cases even kill
5. Mesopotamian deities required humanity to worship and praise them. Basically, they were to be their servants.
The civilization of Ancient Egyptians was based on religion. The Egyptians believed that death was just a temporary pause in your life rather than complete cessation. Through the use of mummification and piety to the gods they believed in the afterlife. The Egyptians belief of the afterlife is accurate and can be proven with history through research, hieroglyphics, artifacts and recent discovered text.
The Egyptians believed very much in life after death. As Taylor states in Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt, “It is often observed that they appear to have devoted greater efforts and resources to preparing for the afterlife than to creating a convenient environment for living” (Taylor, 2001:12). The Egyptians viewed life on earth as one stage and death as the beginning of another. They believed that, “human existence did not end with death and that survival of the body played a part in the new life” (Taylor, 2001:12). One of the key elements in the Egyptian culture and religion was the preservation of the body. The body was the most important aspect because it was like a portal through which an individual could continue to live after death (Taylor, 2001:46). The Egyptians began building tombs for these bodies to keep them from decaying.
People of the ancient world often had questions about their existence and how life and people came to be on earth. Most ancient people answered these questions through religion. The Sumerians were the first important group of people to inhabit Mesopotamia and they were known to practice a form of worship called polytheism, which is the worship of several gods. Mesopotamians associated different gods with natural events, emotions, and other occurrences. Their main deities included An (the god of the heavens), Enlil (Lord Storm), Enki (god of wisdom), and Nihursaga (the mother of all living things)(p.22). The Mesopotamians believed that the gods controlled all of the events and occurrences in life. An ancient text called “Creation of Man by the Mother Goddess” (p.34) helps us understand how the M...
Both Mesopotamia and Egypt were spoken to by theocracies where the masters were acknowledged to oversee by magnificent right. Unlike the rich corpus of obsolete Egyptian funerary works, no "such manuals" from Mesopotamia purpose of premium the immense past and the soul 's fate passing. Maybe, out of date Mesopotamian points of view of life taking after death must be dealt with from a blend of sources across over particular characterizations. In additional for having a spot with assorted sorts, the hotspots for Mesopotamian feelings in the considerable past begin from the specific periods in Mesopotamian history like each and every social system, Mesopotamian considerations of presence in the wake of death changed through time .Beliefs and chips away at relating to the immense past moreover moved with monetary status and fluctuated within official and surely understood religious norms. The Egyptians believed all that much in life after death. As Taylor states in death and the Afterlife in Ancient in Egypt. "It is frequently watched that they appear to have devoted more huge tries sands resources for get prepared for the colossal past them to making an invaluable circumstance for living (Taylor, 2001:12) The Egyptians saw life on earth as one stage and going as the begin of society and religion was