Essay on Compare and Contrast Egypt and Mesopotamia

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

Egypt and Mesopotamia have a completely different history and culture due to where they are located. For example Egypt was in between sea and desert, this made it very hard for them to be invaded. Since they didn't have to worry about foreign invasions they were allowed to focus on their political, religious, and cultural life. Mesopotamia was in between two bodies of water. These bodies of water often overflowed and caused catastrophic devastation to villages and cities. They also suffered from severe weather changes from violent hail and rain too long periods of drought. With these conditions together they were easy targets for tribal nomads. These tribal nomads attacked them for their fertile soil, they often ended one civilization and establishing

However, Egypt had more respect to women and in some cases a voice to express themselves and a throne to govern the land while women in Mesopotamia had to follow the very strict rule of a dominating male-controlled system. In Egypt, women didn’t have all the same rights as men, but they had greater rights than may other women in different regions. Mesopotamia’s social class was based on gender and profession, while in Egypt, social mobility was possible. Under the pharaohs, slaves could have been selected into positions in the government. Even farmers and other laborers could have also been moved up in the economic ladder in ancient Egypt. Closing

Egypt and Mesopotamia, although similar, are different as a result of one major natural resource: a river. Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia were an agricultural based society that believed in the existence of many deities; however, they differed in the aspect of how they evolved as an agricultural society and whether they feared or praised their gods.

Because Mesopotamia was constantly endeavored to take control of the land, it was a land of multiple empires and kingdoms, there were many forms of political standpoints, and this diversity of political views caused the desire to control and to seek out colonies, mostly the neighboring kingdoms. Back in Egypt, they had upper Egypt and lower Egypt, but they were later on united with one another during the time of pharaoh Menes and rather stay upside down due to the Nile river’s flow. At the time, Egypt was ruled by pharaohs; powerful kings and rulers of the land that were said to only be chosen by gods then sent to Earth in human form to control and govern the people. Though Egypt and Mesopotamia had similar aspects about their social understanding, they were both constructed of different social classes for a patriarchal society; whereas the males were authoritative over the women and would have the dominant to control over their

Egypt and Mesopotamia may have had different forms of government but they did have the same ideas. Because they were both highly religious they used theocracy or the form of government that has priests rule or held in high power because they were thought to be closer to the Gods. However Egypt was a strong united front while Mesopotamia was separated into city-states that led them to have a lack of defense during invasions. Egypt had Pharaoh's that were god-like and thought to have magical powers, they also owned most of the land and made people pay taxes and he oversaw all the trade that was happening. Mesopotamia were again separated but they had King’s that owned most of the land and held the highest ranking positions in the military. Their role of women were also a little different, women were seen as less in both societies but women were often treated better in Egypt and could own land while Mesopotamia treated them very poorly and inequal. Most of this is seen in ancient paintings and

The political aspects of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia had the most influence on the development of these civilizations, their similar political structure yielded a similar economy but their differences led to unique social norms and differing amounts of religious power. Both governments relied on metal weapons to strengthen their army, trade to keep rulers wealthy, and cities for their capitals. The structure of the government led to the development of strict social classes and greatly diminished peasants’ opportunities for a better life, and the law code reinforced the fact that men were dominant over women. The differences between rulers affected which gods were worshipped in separate parts of the empire, kings claimed to be divine kings in order to keep them in power, and rulers promoted the worship of certain deities that symbolized aspects of their subjects’ life that they deemed important.

Mesopotamia had city-states ruled by a king that had divine authority. The economy was also very independent and had a business class. Egypt’s bureaucracy set regulations and rules and Mesopotamia had a set of rules, Code of Hammurabi. Egypt had more of a centralized government than Mesopotamia because of the complexity of the harvest.

Egypt had pharaohs that ran Egypt while on the other hand, Mesopotamia’s early government had temple priests that controlled everything. While Egypt was divided into separately functioning upper Egypt and lower Egypt that was ruled by separate kings , Mesopotamia was divided into city states that functioned as its own independent country with the help of the priests as the mesopotamian reading states. The people in ancient Egypt viewed the pharaoh as an equivalent to the god, on the other hand Mesopotamia viewed their Priests as equal to the king and someone that was admired by the Gods. The Egyptians believed the Pharaohs were the ones that caused crops to grow and the sun to rise everyday. This was different from Mesopotamia as They believed everything that was happened was influenced by God including their ruler who represented God in Mesopotamia. A similarity both countries had according to the text was their control over the people as both the Mesopotamian and Egyptian rulers had massive control over their fellow people as they were viewed in a holy

Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt had quite a few similarities, as well as many differences. In this essay I will talk about a few of each of the ways they were similar, as well as different in how they progressed toward becoming civilizations. Mesopotamia was located in between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. They relied on the rivers flooding so their soil could get nutrients to benefit them in agriculture, which would further help them grow. The nutrients made the soil very fertile for farming, which quickly led to cities that would grow into city-states. Egypt was located along the Nile River, they also depended on the river to flood to assist them in agriculture. Unlike Mesopotamians however, Egypt was formed because after the Ice Age, animals were scarce so people had to track animals

Socially they were similar because both countries had a social hierarchy. A city-state in Mesopotamia was ruled by KIng Hammurabi and he established a series of laws to maintain order in the civilization. Specifically law 15 recites if a thief takes a slave out of city borders then the thief will be killed and the slave will be spared. This reveals how Mesopotamia relied on workers, so although they were not respected they formed the base of the Mesopotamian hierarchy . This allows conveys the message that crimes are not tolerated however some rules are bias to certain groups of people such as rule 129. If a woman cheats on their husband or vise versa, the man’s life is spared while women regardless of what happened get killed. As you can see no matter where people were in the social hierarchy women are considered to be “beneath” men and are considered “less valuable”. Their hierarchy was divided into how much power and influence you have over all. Likewise, Egypt’s hierarchy followed the same idea. In Egypt their social pyramid was organized by laborers on the bottom and pharaohs on the top in terms of how much power they had. Workers had the toughest jobs doing task such as construction and other forms of work that didn’t require a high form of education. As a result of practically everyone being eligible for this job labors were the most highly population social class and was the foundation of the hierarchy. Directly under pharaoh are scribes. Scribes were highly trusted by kings and were valued because their job required a high form of education which was scarce at that time. They were provided with luxuries such as servants, and title a worthy official increasing their social status. The Egyptian hierarchy organized their citizen base off of their skill set. Even if their job was highly important such as laborer or another type of

The Mesopotamian civilization and the Egyptian civilization have a few similarities between them whether thats their locations or their religions. Each civilization survival depended on the rivers that flowed by them, and these rivers changed the civilizations completely. Mesopotamian society was dependent on the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers, while Egyptian society was dependent on the Nile. These rivers let the two civilizations create very different agricultural systems, social classes, religions, and governments.

The Mesopotamian and Egyptian empires in ancient times are about as similar as they are different in terms of geographic conditions. This means they have just as many similarities as they do differences. Let’s start with geographic conditions that were beneficial to both. Egypt and Mesopotamia both had rivers close enough to help with farming. These rivers were also useful for trade and transport. One geographic condition that made growing and maintaining ancient civilizations difficult for both the Egyptians and the Mesopotamians was flooding. Both groups solved this issue by creating dikes and irrigation systems. Between the Egyptians and the Mesopotamians, differences obviously occurred. For example, the Egyptians did not need to fear being

The ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt are seen as related in several aspects of their culture. However, there are also major differences between the ancient giants. This argument is based around the economic, social, and political aspects that these civilizations show similarity and difference in.

Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt are very alike in some ways for one thing Egyptian and Mesopotamian technology, Egypt's average life span was 36 years and the Mesopotamian lifespan was around 40 years. Also not that many people could read or write, only a few people read and wrote for a living. These people were called scribes in Mesopotamia and in Ancient egypt only the wealthy could