Compare and Contrast ancient India and Egypt combined politics and religion
Through history, religion has shaped civilizations in several aspects. In ancient Indian and Egyptian civilizations it was very strong shaping force in political structures, but both the religious beliefs and the resulting political system were different, just like pharaohs were different from rajas.
The way Egyptians and Indians blended religion with politics bears certain similarities. First of all, the central role of priests, who were the Egyptians pharaohs most important advisors during the New Kingdom and at one point gained more power than the pharaoh himself. In the other hand, in India priests or Brahmans were also important political figures since they
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Because of this, priests and nobles overthrew this religious system in Egypt and regained their power.
Even though religion was an important part of the Indian political system, neither rajas nor later emperors established a theocracy, while the Egyptian pharaohs did. In Egypt the pharaohs were religious and political figures, in fact, during the New Kingdom they had no standing army, while Rajas were warriors and the authority of Indian emperors also derived from military power. This is due because Egyptian civilization was peaceful through most of its history, so religion, rather tan an army was used to justify the pharaohs rule. In India, on the other hand, Indo-Aryan tribes spread through war, and the Indian empire was established by overthrowing the Macedonians through military conquest. So in both the positions of the Raja and the emperor were sustained by their ability to conquer and subdue others, even during the reign of Asoka diplomacy was used to expand the empires domains.
As we can see, religion in India and Egypt became a factor of importance, but in clearly different ways and yielding different structures and interactions. The religious and political structures of both ancient civilizations can be related to the Japanese mandate of heaven. This comparison can be made because in India and
country had powerful and strong Empires and Dynasties. Each had their own beliefs on religions
The rise and fall of different civilizations and empires is caused by various social, political, and cultural factors that affect its societies. One of the most important concepts seen in empires are the creation of its culture and its relation to the beliefs of its society. Religion plays an enormous role in understanding the purpose behind the actions of the people in a civilization. Religion and culture are dependent of each other as it reflects the ideas and values that society has agreed upon. As a new urban civilization during 2500 B.C, The Indus Valley Civilization created a sociopolitical system that
The ancient Egyptian and ancient Greek civilizations are two of the oldest known civilizations in our history. The Egyptian civilization, based in the eastern part of North Africa, is believed to have started around 3150 BC and continued till the end of the Pharaoh rule in 31 BC. The ancient Greek civilization is believed to have been in effect from 1100 BC till about 146 BC. Many similarities and differences existed between these two civilizations, as even though they co-existed during a certain timeframe (1150 BC to 146 BC), they were located in different geographical areas. Because of these differences in geography, both these civilizations were subjected to different kinds of exposure, which included contact with other civilization and cultural inheritance. In the political sphere, we find that the Egyptian civilization had stronger emphasis on central authority, while the Greeks had a more decentralized structure, where powers were distributed over the cities and the states as well. As far as art is concerned, we find that the Egyptians were more involved in creating great monumental and gaudy structures, while the Greeks were more involved in creating smaller, more literary pieces of art.
Mesopotamian and Egyptian religions shared two key similarities: polytheism and priestly authority. The religions in Mesopotamia and
In contrast, India created a bureaucracy allowing local rulers to maintain regional control. This concept of regionalism brought about political diversity in India. China was unified in relation to their ruler, code of law, and economical practices, but India was divided in relation to their rulers, codes of law, and economical practices. Because of this regional practice, the Indian empire continued to expand, adding more regions their area, and eventually leading to political instability. Han China used its centralized bureaucratic system to control the population by a unified code of law and a strong army. Classical India used the concept of regionalism to control a larger population by using local rulers that governed different areas by different laws and punishments.
According to history there existed two of many important ancient civilizations that left a significant mark in the history of human development that even today leaves modern society in awe of its greatness. In spite of being distant civilizations, Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece share similarities and difference in terms of how they practiced religion,political structure, everyday life style, and how they built the monumental architectures that continued to amaze the modern world of today. These comparison and contrast explain their difference in history and their dynasty's long term success. Through the early developmental age these two ancient civilizations contrasted in many ways perhaps due to
For example, Cyrus the Great paid for his own treasury, to aid Jews return back to Jerusalem, and helping them build new temples and rebuild a city from the ground (Doc. 2). Also Ashoka , “respected mothers and fathers is good, generosity to friends,” and “work for the proper treatment of prisoners.” (Doc.6). This proves that they stayed loyal to their citizens, and helped them when needed. In addition, another similarity was that they were both religiously tolerant, meaning they respected other religions that wasn’t theirs. According to the Cyrus Cylinder, Cyrus traveled around the area making sanctuaries permanent for their owners, something to have been seen done by any ruler before. (Doc.1) Also, in the Edicts of King Ashoka, it is stated “honors not ascetics and the householders of all religions.” (Doc. 7) This really helped them. Because back them religion was one of the most important things, and feeling welcomed and accepted by your ruler would be a relied for many. Another similarity was the fact that they both had spies. Cyrus had many people in the cities who would report back with updates (Doc 5.) Ashoka also did this in order to find information on its people (Doc.7). This platform of information was good because it gave the leaders and its people god communication, which was not easy to find back
p. Religion caused turmoil for India, but as long as they all wanted the same thing as Indians, then they are able to get along today in the modern age.
In the past, many great civilizations were heavily influenced by religion. Their religious beliefs inspired and shaped their art, culture, architecture, and technology, and helped drive their progress forward.
This can be seen in Egyptian artwork, which is described as cheerful, colorful, and lively. Because there was only one leader in Egypt, there were governors in many key areas of the empire. However, a consistent problem seen in Egypt is the pawning of rulers, in which the priests always played a huge role in society and controlled the pharaoh. When looking at other civilizations most notably Caliphate, the caliphs were pawned by military and religious leaders, which ultimately lead to the downfall of their empire.
Ancient Egypt (3000 BCE – 30 BCE) and Ancient Greece (1200 BCE – 146 BCE) based their entire lives around their religious beliefs. These beliefs led to their religious practices which were included in every aspect of their lives. Since ancient Greece’s and ancient Egypt’s beliefs differ greatly, endless differences can be shown between their religious practices. However, between the two cultures, many surprising similarities can be seen in these religious practices despite the tremendous differences. Through learning about where their religious beliefs and practices started, the bigger picture of history in general can be learned. As well, the similarities between ancient Greece’s and ancient Egypt’s religious practices can be seen as not
Religion plays enormous role in the past and the present. It had shaped our laws, social norms, and purpose. Religion gives its people hope and understanding of many things that are unknown and a mystery. It provides security to its people. Religion has many roles which branch off due to the many different religions observed in the world. In ancient Egyptian literature, deities were important and mention a lot. The Egyptians worshiped and followed many gods and other sacred beings, which had diverse roles in its society. The functions of Egyptian deities provided understanding of the mysteries of world, accountability of life events, and control in society.
Religion has played a very important role in society and the history of mankind for over thousands of years. Originally created by ancient peoples as a way to explain the unknown, religion has greatly evolved and spread across the globe. As new religions have formed and spread, the diversity and similarities between these new religions have also increased, especially due to their geographic locations. Two civilizations in particular with both similar and distinct religions are ancient China, and ancient Egypt. Ancient Chinese religion and ancient Egyptian religion share many things in common with each other, yet at the same time they are
Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia present a valuable area of historical research. They are of great importance mostly because of their ethnic kinship (Watson, 2017). In such case, comparison and contrast essay is very promising as causal relationships can be formed based on a mutual starting point. This comparison-contrast essay focuses on differences and similarities in these societies’ economic, political and cultural life in order to make further implications regarding the circumstances the peoples of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia faced.
Religion was practiced throughout Ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt. Both the Mesopotamians and Egyptians shared polytheistic beliefs. Each god was responsible for an action, but they did not consider the gods to be equal in Mesopotamian society, in order to please the gods, a sacrifice must be made to please them in order to avoid the god’s wrath. The separation of church and state did not exist in both ancient civilizations, pharaohs of Egyptian society was known to be a god on Earth, the incarnation of Horus, the falcon god. The Mesopotamian rulers were known as a representative to the gods. Although they worship to several different gods, they do have differences between the two. The idea of an afterlife, In Mesopotamia didn’t exist but for the Egyptians the idea of an afterlife was of significant importance to them, rituals were held to ensure that the body and soul would be ready for an eternal life after death. The writing systems of both the Mesopotamians and the Egyptians have many similarities. Pictographic writing, which was developed by the