Ancient Near East Essay

Ancient civilizations across history have shown unique and incredible feats of mankind. Arguably, two of the most prominent ancient civilizations in the Middle East and even the world are the Mesopotamians (Beginning 5,000 B.C.) and Egyptians (Beginning 3,150 B.C). Even though these two civilizations peaked about 2,000 years apart, they share numerous similarities contributing to their success, and also show even more differences that distinguish how each had a unique culture and way of life.

Mesopotamia was the foundation of western civilization. This was around 3500 BC when cities started evolving in world history. It was also known as the “land between the rivers.” The first city-states developed in southern Mesopotamia by the Sumerian citizens around 4000 BC. The history begins at Sumer; this society brings many things to the table for a starting civilization. In 3500 BC the Sumerian people learned their own writing system. They would write on cuneiforms, clay blocks which were easy to be transported but they were very fragile. The Sumerian people had an independent government which was ruled by a king, Sargon. The cities as well as

I think that without the past there is no future. The future is very important and in this essay I will explain the Egyptian civilization in mesopotamia and information about their beliefs, way of life and leadership. I will also include the role of pharaoh and priests of Mesopotamia.

The civilizations of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia and China were all different but were also developed similar ways of doing things. The political, economic and intellectual outlooks of these ancient peoples say a lot about their ways of life. The religious views of Egypt and Mesopotamia were rather different.

     The ancient Greek and Roman civilizations of Europe began to progress toward a more civilized order of society. As there were no previous establishment to base their ideals on, it was understandable that there were some difficulties in their progression as a society. Although the ancient Greek and Roman governments fell, both had similar paths of creation, conquest, and destruction.

Geography had a tremendous impact on early civilizations, the topography of the different regions played a key role in their development and formation. This statement by Fernand Braudel “ Geography is the stage in which humanity’s endless dramas are played out” (Getz et al., Exchanges, 26) is a very moving and telling description. The terrain, whether it is natural or man made is not the end all, be all. It does however affect the stage a great deal. Mountainous areas act as blockades, which keep the societies independent, plains open up the area, and rivers enable everything to move around freely. 2

There is lots of strategies that have led the ancient empires to their success and staying strong. .Geography was a huge part of history, this is because many people live upon geography. They rely on geography to live. To add on, the success and failures all come from geography, which is very important. Ancient Egypt had many ups and downs through their empire, geography helped them a lot for planting crops and getting resources. Ancient Greece was affected by the geography near their location a lot. The Aksum empire heavily relied on the geography near their empire, it helped them a lot with the way they traded with other empires. In all of the empires, geography was the breaker or the winner and determined whether the empire would fall or

The civilization that flourished in Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Palestine were located in river valleys or along the Mediterranean coast. These civilizations developed highly complex cultures that shared many common characteristics. Some of the characteristics that they shared were justice, cultural diffusion, architecture and inventions. Because of these characteristic they achieved and contributed a lot to society as well as to future civilizations.

It is undeniable that the natural environment of ancient Mesopotamia had a profound effect on the earliest civilizations known to the world. Humankind’s ability to control irrigation waters directly correlates with the rise of mass agriculture. With this mastery of their river environment, early farmers were capable of supporting large urban populations. However, in Mesopotamia the Tigris and Euphrates rivers were both a source of life as well as destruction for early societies. In many ways, the geography of ancient Mesopotamia fostered a sense of catastrophic determinism within the Sumerians, Akkadians, and Babylonians. The scarcity of resources as well as the untamable nature of their deluge environment led these early people to

In their role of empirical dominance throughout 13th century Eurasia, the Mongol’s were nomadic tribes of herders and raiders north of China, under the leadership of Genghis Khan. Born under the name Temujin, Genghis traits of charisma and reputation as a tactician won over his people’s support. Thus through the act of uniting groups of the steppe (region), he was crowned Khan of Khan in 1206. As quoted from Hugh Kennedy’s book Mongols, Huns and Viking's nomads at war” “the Mongols were triumphant in every major engagement fought up to ‘Ayan Jalut in 1260’ “. A crucial factor unique to this success was the nature of Mongol soldiers in which their life-styles demanded skills such as archery and horseback riding, which was also essential in

Mesopotamia is a rich flat plain created by deposits from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. At the southern end of this plain developed the first recognizable civilization, in the area known as Sumer. In 3000 B.C. Sumer contained a dozen or more city-states, each ruled by its own king and worshiped its own patron deity. The citizens of these city-states were classified into three classes: nobles and priests, commoners, and slaves. In the center of a

Ancient Iran, 1000-486 BCE Key Points Location Irrigation, irrigation channels Objects of trade Medes Cyrus Social Structure Cambyses Darius I Define satrap & duty The royal court Define Persepolis & use Zoroastrianism Susa Notes About Key Points Links western Asia with southern and central Asia.

Similar to the Roman Empire the Persian Empire stretched across vast lands without any serious rivalry. At the height of the empire it stretched across, not only, Asia, from the Aegean to the Indus River, but also included part of the continent of Africa. We get the word, Persia, from the Greek word Parsa meaning, “Above reproach”. The Persians unlike most other Empires would be ruled under a benevolent ruler. This would bring a large amount of cultural diffusion to the Empire. The empires history is separated into three historical periods: Old Persia (600-300 B.C.E), Middle Persia (300-800 B.C.E.) and modern Persia (800-Present). The height or the Empire was reached around 500 B.C.E. (Ancient and Medieval History

Greek Mythology played a monumental role in the structural development of ancient Greece, not only as a society, but as individuals. Surprisingly, their religion was not exactly one of originality. In fact, their religion was loosely based on earlier cultures’ religions. It bears many strikingly similar resemblances to some of the oldest recorded religions in history. Ancient Greek religion is a type of polytheism called “Monarchial Polytheism.” That is, they believe in several different gods and deities but there is a supreme ruler above all of them. In order to fully understand how similar the mythological systems of religions have been throughout the years, you must look back towards the earliest of recorded civilizations. Polytheism

Within the society of ancient Egypt, having a good Pharaoh was considered to be absolutely vital for the functioning of the country; and it was for this reason that Egypt had been ruled by these supposedly half gods half humans for over three thousand years. The position of the Pharaoh was auspiciously passed down through the royal family and traditionally to the eldest son when his father died. Hatshepsut was a significant individual who thwarted this convention by depicting herself as a male so that after her husband/brother Thutmosis II died suddenly she could become Pharaoh instead of the rightful successor, who was Thutmosis III. Because of the male-governed society of which she had lived in, Hatshepsut had to indeed subvert the