Mesopotamia Egypt

Mesopotamia and Egypt

Nathalie Plan

University of Phoenix

Julie Kares

Around 3000 BCE -at the dawn of history- first civilizations originate in the basins of great rivers in Mesopotamia, along the Nile in Egypt and along the Ganges in India. The Paleolithic known as the Old Stone Age is a well-defined cultural epoch, that coincides with a geological period, the Pleistocene. It covers the era of glacial periods lasting about 500000 year until 8500 BCE. It is divided into several sub periods with less well defined boundaries, called Early Paleolithic, Middle Paleolithic, Late Paleolithic, so far with human habitat in camps and caves and with an economy based on forage, wild species and tracking wild herds. The last part is called Epi-Paleolithic

The Pharaoh was a vital part of the Egyptian government and he appointed the other officials during most periods. The highest officials took their orders directly from the king. Agriculture was the foundation of Egypt's economy and government. Egypt was a united kingdom with a single ruler, which indicates that the first pharaohs must have set up a form of central government and established an economic system. Before the Persian Period, the Egyptian economy was a barter system and not monetary. People paid taxes to the government in the form of crops, livestock, jewelry or precious stones. In return, the government maintained peace in the land, saved food in case of famine and conducted public

Babylonian temples were thus massive structures of crude brick, supported by buttresses. The use of brick led to the early development of the pilaster and column, and of frescoes and enameled tiles. The paucity of stone in Babylonia made every pebble a commodity and led to a high perfection in the art of gem-cutting. Libraries existed in most towns and temples. Women as well as men learned to read and write, and had knowledge of the extinct Sumerian language along with a complicated and extensive syllabary. The origins of Babylonian philosophy can be traced back to early Mesopotamian wisdom literature, which embodied certain philosophies of life, particularly ethics, in the forms of dialectic, dialogs, epic poetry, folklore, hymns, lyrics, prose, and proverbs. Babylonian reasoning and rationality developed beyond empirical