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comparison between egypt and mesopotamia
comparison between egypt and mesopotamia
comparison between egypt and mesopotamia
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Two of the earliest and greatest civilizations, Mesopotamia and Egypt, show the transition from a Paleolithic society into a settled civilization. Both cultures had established kings; however, the Pharaoh is the god-king of Egypt, while in Mesopotamia the monarchs are priest-kings whom serve the gods. Although Mesopotamia and Egypt have some characteristics in common, which bring them under the “First Civilizations” category, their different views and beliefs about divine authority and how it is practiced set these civilizations apart and make them unique.
Both Mesopotamia and Egypt were affiliated with divine authority. The priest-king of Mesopotamia and the pharaoh of Egypt were both closely tied to religious institutions. Even though both civilizations carried out their roles of kingship in different ways, the duties and responsibilities that they had to take were the same in many aspects. The two major roles as a priest-king or pharaoh were order and protection. They were in charge of maintaining peace and justice between not only the people of civilization, but also outsiders. He was looked upon as a religious who carried out religious, political, and social rituals and functions. Not only was he looked upon as a religious leader, but also as a military leader. They had to lead their armies into battle, and decide what was best for the people at the moment. Hammurabi, for example, was one of the greatest kings of Mesopotamia. Not only was he a successful military leader and administrator, but also believed in justice, which is why he created laws that governed Babylon called the Code of Hammurabi. An example of a great Egyptian
pharaoh was Hatshepsut, the first female to rule Ancient Egypt. During her reign, Egypt’s economy flourished and trade relations expanded.
Although the kings of both lands were closely tied to religious institutions they had very different responsibilities to their people because of the culture of their location. The major point that differentiates Mesopotamia and Egypt is their location. The fact that Egypt was located in the most productive area of ancient times caused Egyptian pharaohs to focus more on their internal concerns, rather than gain new territories. The idea of Ma’at played a big role in the way of the pharaohs ruling over Egypt. Instead of expanding, they were more worried about having harmony and peace within the people, and keeping the balance of ma’at.
The ancient cultures of Mesopotamia and Egypt developed into successful civilizations. One civilization the Egyptians developed was in the Nile River valley. Based off the "Mesopotamia and Egypt DBQ" packet, "Ancient Egypt was an advanced civilization in many areas including religion, architecture, transportation, and trade. Ancient Mesopotamia was one of the first civilizations that developed a form of government as well as organized people in political states." Based on the documents, Egypt and Mesopotamia developed into successful and advanced civilizations by effectively using the resources that surrounded them to solve problems and live happily.
Egypt and Mesopotamia were two of the world’s earliest city-based civilizations, creating the basis for Middle Eastern and Western history. Both Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations existed on the banks of major rivers. While Egyptian civilization thrived along the Nile, Mesopotamia settled between the Tigris and the Euphrates. Although they shared this characteristic, it was also the cause of many of their differences in political systems, religions, and social stability.
Before the beginning of history, people from across the land gradually developed numerous cultures, each unique in some ways while the same time having features in common. Mesopotamia and Egypt are important to the history of the world because of religious, social, political and economic development. Mesopotamia was the first civilization, which was around 3000 B.C., and all other countries evolved from it. Mesopotamia emerged from the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. The soil was rich and agriculture was plentiful. The Semitic nomads occupied the land around Akkad. The Sumerians established the city-states. Villages became urban centers. Because of the formation of the city-states everything flourished. However, Mesopotamian agriculture lacked stones; therefore mud brick became their major building block. Their diet consisted of fish from the rivers. The rivers were flooded frequently destroyed the cities. Mesopotamians made their living from crops and pottery.
In the first civilization, both Mesopotamia and Egypt relied on a hunter-gatherer economic system, during that time, every country in the world strived on it. Mesopotamia had rich soil for agriculture, but experiences floods. For the Mesopotamians, these floods would destroy major cities, but for the Egyptians it would keep the soil rich all year long without the damage that the Mesopotamians had experienced. With the rich soil foods were plentiful around the farm lands, which gave both countries the chance to establish largely dense areas, like what we now know as a city-state. The Nile River also served as a defense for the Egyptians they enjoyed centuries of tranquility and peace in which they used to develop peaceful development of their civilization. For the Mesopotamians, this wasn’t the case.
Because both the Egyptian and Sumerian cultures were maintained through agrarian means and both were physically located in close proximity to water sources crucial to sustain life; social order, organization, and cooperation were paramount to survive. Both cultures’ system of belief fostered order in all parts of life and believed disorder would bring about wrath from the gods. The kings of the city or town were chosen by the gods and were responsible to maintain order. ...
Mesopotamia arose before Egypt and influenced it in many ways, but the most influential was religion. Much like Mesopotamia, Egypt was polytheistic, however, they didn’t believe in gods. Instead, they believed in spiritual beings and that if they preserved their body (with their heart intact) that they would be all set to be sent into the afterlife. Polytheistic means they believed in more than one thing and in their cases, this meant either 3,600+ gods or 2,000 spiritual beings. Egypt and Mesopotamia both used temples, but Mesopotamia called them ziggurats. Ziggurats were large temples dedicated to the god of the city. The temple on top served as the god’s home and was beautifully decorated. Inside was a room for offerings of food and goods. They also believed kings and queens were descended from the city gods but were not actual gods. The kings and priests acted as interpreters as they told the people what the gods wanted them to do. In Egypt, the only people allowed in temples were priests and
The ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt began to develop circa 3,000 B.C. Located near rivers, the lands offered fertile soil and an excess of crops that drew in many people. As more people arrived, the small settlements flourished into large, thriving civilizations. Many aspects of Mesopotamia and Egypt, such as their cities, their strongly organized government, and their religion, greatly contributed to the success of these two civilizations.
Egypt and Mesopotamia; two different civilizations that were similar in some ways, as well as different. They had their difference of their geographical location, as well as their different aspects of life. Even though they had their different life aspects, they had also had several similarities between each other.
The Egyptian and Sumerian empires both have obvious similarities and differences concerning economic, social, and political aspects. Egypt is situated on the Nile River and had three distinct kingdoms. The weather was hot and dry, it is also located by modern day Libya and Sudan. The Sumerian empire is located in the southernmost part of mesopotamia, between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The weather, like Egypt is hot and dry.
For the ancient Egyptians, the Pharos were the ruling class and they were a representation of a god. The people that lived in Egypt believed that their pharaoh were gods and they wouldn't be able to look at their face even when ordered too. Mostly the nobleman that were assigned a power position the ancient Egypt had were related or close to the pharaoh. So, If the pharaoh was about to pass away, only the son would be able to take over his spot. Then for the ancient Mesopotamia the type of government they had were ruled by kings. Rather than the kings ruling an entire civilization, they only a ruled single city. Instead of Mesopotamia being looked at as a god, they had their own god and goddesses they believed
The Mesopotamian geography affected their society because Mesopotamia was located on an open plain without protection from foreign intrusions. Egypt, on the other hand, was centered on the Nile River ad protected by natural boundaries. This allowed Egypt?s kingdom for prosper and last for thousands of years. Mesopotamia was not considered a nation or country, it was considered a region between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers that established a number of highly organized city-states. Since each city-state was independent there was no capital of Mesopotamia.
The Egyptian and Mesopotamian religion and society were similar, but their government/leadership was different. Religion in Egypt and Mesopotamia were very similar because both faiths were polytheistic and had priestly authority. Both cultures had powerful priests, both had a belief of an afterlife, and religion was part of their daily lives. Both societies had similar rigid social classes, relied on slavery; both also had a religion which played an important role in their daily lives. Although, their societies were very common, they still had some differences in government. The Egypt, the government was a theocracy, whereas the government in Mesopotamia was run by a monarchy. Despite their similarities, the differences between these two civilizations were most likely a result of unique geographical and topographical conditions.
What similarities and differences did Egypt and Mesopotamia have and why was Egypt more politically unified than its neighbor, Mesopotamia? I think in order to answer these questions it is important to look at how both societies lived. Egypt and Mesopotamia were two civilizations existing during the time period of 2000-1200 BCE.(text, 97) These civilizations were shaped by their environment, involved with trade, and faced changes in government after the 100 year drought; however, they differed in that Egypt was shaped by the Nile, traded goods for goods and changed their outlook on the pharaoh who was ruler of all; whereas, Mesopotamia was shaped by the Tigris and Euphrates, traded money for goods, and had a ruler over rulers. The governed harmonic life style of Egypt led this society to be more politically unified; whereas, Mesopotamia’s government led to many different ways of structure, thus creating a less unified society.
When analyzing ancient civilization and how it began, there are many elements and aspects that should be considered. Questions such as how did civilization begin? What lead to its creation? Where did it begin, and why in that particular location? Many of these questions can be examined and answered by researching what many believe is the world’s earliest civilization, Mesopotamia. It is widely believed that this region was chosen and supported one of the world’s first civilizations. This area was settled over 10,000 years ago by a group of people known as the Sumerians (Cunningham & Reich, 2010).
Throughout history there have been many civilizations. These civilizations develop; political, social, agricultural, and religious systems. The ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamia civilizations are a couple of the oldest known civilizations in history. The Mesopotamia civilization is believed to have been started around 3000 BCE(Lecture, Mesopotamia, Towns and Cities). The ancient Egyptian civilization is believed to have started around 2680 BCE, a time called The Old Kingdom(Lecture, Egypt, Overview). There were many similarities and differences with these two civilizations, even though they existed during the same time frame, they had different geological locations. These different locations brought on different kinds of exposures, including different agriculture and contact with near by civilizations and their cultures. The politics were also different, the Egyptian civilization believed in a strong central authority while the Mesopotamia had a more decentralized structure, and the powers were distributed throughout the cities. Mesopotamia and Egypt were two civilizations that worshiped more then one god, polytheism, and for both of these civilizations religion was an important part of their daily life. Even though these two cultures worshiped similar gods their beliefs were still very different. Mesopotamia and Egypt are two vastly different civilizations, but they share the need to continue to problem solve and continue to live and grow.