Compare And Contrast Mesopotamia China And India

The ancient civilizations of the Ancient Egypt, as well as the great Mesopotamia, are the world’s greatest civilization as recorded by history. The civilization was highly facilitated by rivers which cut across their land. The Euphrates, Nile, as well as Tigris, constantly moving along the river banks which in turn resulted in the adjoining land is extremely fertile (Backman). This led to flourishment and development of Ur and Eriku cities in Mesopotamia as well as the city of Thebes in Egypt (Backman). The Nile was very significant in Ancient Egypt as it made invasion by enemies impossible due to its marshy deltas (Backman). On the other hand, Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia differed fundamentally in many aspects more specifically in how their societies were structured, cultural orientation, religion, technological experiences, literature, and art among other things (Backman). This paper will center on examining these differences as well as similarities between these two regions as well as what they communicate concerning the circumstances that people from these two regions faced.

| The development of the calendar was based on their observations and studies of the stars, moon, and sky. They also established a number system; a year was cut into 12 months, a month into 30 days, a day into 12 hours, an hour into 60 minutes, and a minute into 60 seconds. They also divided a circle into 360 degrees of the 60 arc minutes. Settlement patterns were based on the environment of the area and the need for a stable water supply.

A complex society is an organized and well developed community that is made up of a

Arguably, the ancient Chinese and Mesopotamian civilizations were some of the most powerful of their time. The isolationist attitude of China led to them developing a unique culture, one that can be easily contrasted to that of Mesopotamia, which had an outgoing nature. The main points of comparison are in their religious beliefs, their political systems, and their social ideals.

Mesopotamia and Egypt are very important to history in many ways such as religion, social, and economic development. All Countries evolved around Mesopotamia which was the first civilization in around 3000 BC. Egypt on the other hand emerged around 3100 BC. To compare both women from each civilization it is important to know the history between the two civilizations. Ancient Egypt gave power to a pharaoh which commanded wealth, and resources to all people in Egypt. Not only that the pharaoh was a lord to both the lower and upper parts of Egypt. The pharaoh was also a temporal and a spiritual ruler. Mesopotamia was somewhat alike; class structure was divided into two classes. The king was at the top with the free commoners on the bottom.

These early civilizations experienced similar environmental situations that contributed to the shaping of their societies because both societies were built around two river valleys. Mesopotamia was located between the Tigris and Euphrates river, but their river valley societies were surrounded by a desert that was easy terrain. While the first Chinese civilization developed along the Huang he (Yellow) and Yang Zi rivers, but this society was isolated from the rest of the world. Ancient China was surrounded by various environmental barriers; deserts from the north and west, the surrounding oceans from the east, and mountainous valleys from the south limited this societies interaction. Even though these civilizations had different environmental surroundings, they both had to adapt to their situations. These societies were located in fertilely rich lands that were great for agricultural lifestyles,

During 3500 BCE to 1250 BCE, Mesopotamia and Egypt were different in writing systems because of their uses of the writing systems and what they represented. Another difference is their outlook of the world because of their environment; however they are similar in beliefs because they believe aspect of the world is controlled by a force.

Though Mesopotamia and China have several common points such as patriarchal climate among society caused by agrarian revolution, powerful monarchy system depended on religious belief, and irrigation technology based on organized society, Mesopotamia had less centralized and unified political system than China. In other words, they had some similarities in social aspects and in technology, but not in politics.

The evolvement of two noteworthy key societies in the Middle East and North Africa inspires my effort at comparative analysis. Because different geography, various degrees of exposure to outside invasion and influence, and different prior beliefs, Egypt, and Mesopotamia were similar to one another in many ways. Egypt emphasized strong central authority, while Mesopotamian politics shifted more frequently over a substructure of regional city-states. Mesopotamian art focused on less impressive structures while embracing a pronounced literary element that Egyptian art lacked. Egyptian civilization, formed by 3000 B.C., advanced from trade and technological influence from Mesopotamia, but it produced an entirely different social order and culture. Since its ethics and its tightly knit political association encouraged monumental building, we know more about Egypt about Mesopotamia, even though the latter was in the most respects more important and richer in subsequent heritage.

There have been many great civilizations throughout the course of history. Egypt and Mesopotamia were two of the earliest powerful societies. Therefore, they can be defined as civilizations because they both developed writing, religious structure, and held political and military power. One of the elements of a great civilization is the development of a writing system. About 5,100 years ago the Sumerians of Mesopotamia developed a wedge- shaped form of writing.

The Egyptian culture bordered the Mediterranean and Red Sea, lasted about 1000 years and took place in present day Egypt. The Mesopotamian culture, much larger than the Egyptian, bordered Anatolia, the Zagros mountains, the Persian Gulf, the Syrian and Arabian desert, and settled in present day Iraq, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. *FIND OUT DATES OF MESOPOTAMIA* Although Egypt and Mesopotamia took place about the same time in two different areas, they both faced the same geographical problems.

1000 B.C.E. marked the decline of the river valley culture and the rise of the classical civilizations in Asia and the Mediterranean. The classical civilizations proved far more durable, developed complex political bureaucracies and facilitated the development and proliferation of many of the great belief systems in history. The two classical civilizations China and India differ from the ancient river valley civilization because of advanced technology, belief systems, and political structures.

Later they would visit the eye catching temples for worship. Another element that each civilization contained was workers with a specific set of skills. The Sumerians were the first to settle in Mesopotamia. They were great at trading at math. They “recorded their business dealings -- contracts, receipts and inventories of goods” (Gombrich 19). The workers’ skills in business benefited the nation’s economy. In Egypt there were many jobs for the people to occupy. One important role was that of a scribe’s. Since almost everything was written down in Egypt, scribes were highly honored and some even went on to take over the pharaoh's throne. Other special workers were sculptors, goldsmiths, painters, carpenters, and rock cutters who contributed to the nation's growth. Artisans and Brahmins (priests) were special workers in Ancient India. The artisans were skilled craftsman who built magnificent items from their hands and traded them. On the other hand the Brahmins were in charge of making sacrifices to the gods, looking after the temples, and sacred knowledge. The priests helped reserve the religion and the traditions while the artisans made profit by selling their artsy crafts. Like in Egypt, scribe was an

Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley civilizations have long been compared throughout history and were both some of the earliest civilizations in the world. Mesopotamia, also known as, 'the land between the rivers,' was named for the triangular area between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers. This area has been extended and now covers modern day Iraq, adding ancient Assyria and Babylonia to that land. The Indus civilization is often referred to as the Harappan civilization from the first city discovered called Harappa. The Indus civilization existed in the vast river plains of what are now Pakistan and northwestern India between the Indus and Ganges rivers from about 2800 BC to 1800 BC. Though these two territories had many things in common

Mesopotamia and Harappan societies have long been compared throughout the history of archaeology. Mesopotamia, also known as, 'the land between the rivers,' was named for the triangular area between the Tigris and the Euphrates river, (Nov. 7 lecture). In recent use, it covers a broader area referring to most of what is now Iraq. This adds ancient Assyria and Babylonia to the scope of Mesopotamia (Schultz and Lavenda 1995:310). Parts of Mesopotamia were not inhabited at all until approximately 8000 BC when plants and animals were domesticated, bringing about an agricultural revolution. This allowed nomads and cave dwellers to become farmers and herders.(Whitehouse 1977:129).)