Comparing Mesopotamia And Ancient Egypt

The culture in both Mesopotamia and Egypt influenced both civilizations. However, Egypt’s culture had a significant and drastic impact on the governmental structure. Egypt was claimed to be a theocracy, so the behavior of residents was caused by the pharaoh who was the source of all law throughout the region and was classified to be a god. This idea ties in adequately with the idea of Egypt being a centralized type of government. Their leaders were worshipped and praised respectfully so whatever the pharaoh decided was seen to be morally correct or important and was to be followed by society. On the other hand, Mesopotamia had a decentralized government that had little to no relationship with

Egypt and Mesopotamia both had differences of their political and social structures. Egypt had more of authorial government, where one head person was in charge which in this case was the pharaoh, which was the head on Egypt social class, as well as leader of his society. The Pharaoh was basically a

The political structure of Ancient Egypt was made of a government structure that was more enforced whereas the pharaoh was the Devine ruler, who the people perceived as a god and could not address while directly looking at him in the face (Backman). Noblemen appointed into the political structure were relatives of the pharaoh and upon his death, his son was to succeed him (Connan, 33-50). It was believed that Pharaoh descended from the gods and had the ability to ensure prosperity and controlled rituals which granted continued flow of river Nile that enhanced irrigation (Connan, 33-50). There was a high rate of bureaucracy in Ancient system influenced by this political structure and most people were illiterate peasants, they were highly regulated (Backman). On the contrary, Mesopotamia consisted of states that governed themselves before the proclamation of Sargon the great as the king in 2370BCE (Backman). The king here was not considered as divine and the majority of those who served in the political structure were just noble men from noble families with no blood relations with the ruling class (Connan, 33-50).

Mesopotamia has three different classes of political structure including free landowning class that has royalty and high ranking officials, dependentfarmer’s class, and the class of slaves. Egypt

Although Mesopotamia and Egypt have some things in common, they are different in many ways. Mesopotamia did not have as many people as Egypt did. Also, Egypt had specialized workers that are called the wealthy landowners. Mesopotamia did not have any specialized workers that were wealthy. Mesopotamia and Egypt had different types of specialized workers.

The introduction of writing, the wheel, the calendar, and astronomy. Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt allowed human beings, for the first time in history, to settle down in one place and farm instead of chasing their often dangerous wild animal food sources. Both civilizations shared similarities and differences in their climate, politics, intellect, religion, arts and architecture, technology, economics, and social structures, that allowed them to flourish and become two of the most well-known ancient civilizations.

The Egyptian and Mesopotamian religion and society were similar, but their government system was different. The religions in Egypt and Mesopotamia were similar because both were polytheistic, had beliefs of an afterlife, as well as priests who were part of the upper levels of the social hierarchy. Social similarities between Egypt and Mesopotamia included: rigid social structure, dependence on slavery, and authoritative religious structure. However, the system of government was different because Egyptian society was governed by a theocratic monarchy, while Mesopotamia was ruled by a traditional monarchy.

In social terms, Egypt and Mesopotamia followed a hierarchy. A body of people with authority, categorized according to

Mesopotamia was divided into city-states. They saw each city-state as a divine copy of heaven on earth. They viewed kingship as divine in origin. One could also view Mesopotamia as a primitive democracy. They had a consul responsible for everyday affairs and a government to administer

The most apparent difference was these civilizations’ distinct type of rule. Egypt had pharaohs as their kings or rulers. Pharaohs were seen as holy figures and treated as gods, which allowed ancient Egypt to have a single, unified governing body, combining church and state. Mesopotamia was divided into city-states with a ruler governing each area independently. This led to a more fragmented political structure with recurring clashes and wars. The story of the Mesopotamian era is one of war, feud, and collapse; whereas ancient Egypt was mostly unified, sustaining a stable and well-structured

The early cities of Mesopotamia fell from one warlord to another, and were constantly changing, unlike the kingdoms of Ancient Egypt that kept its stability. The Egyptians lived along the Nile River, which probably made it easier to govern the people. The King was the owner and ruler of all Egypt and was considered a god by the people. The economy was a royal monopoly, the peoples duties was to serve the King. In the old Kingdom

In egypt the government is centered on Pharaoh. The pharaoh was in charge of everyone. The government was a monarchy because the people had no decisions to make. Egypt was called one of the most peaceful countries because the government was consistent, and it only changed when there was chaos, invasion, etc. In Mesopotamia, the government started out as a primitive democracy and then became theocratic meaning ruled by priest kings. In times of war, a tough fighter would rule instead of a priest king.

Mesopotamia and Egypt were some of the first agricultural civilizations to make a lasting impact on history, and while they were similar in many ways they were drastically different in the way women were perceived. The way Mesopotamia treated their women is a prime example of what most people think when talking about women in the B.C.E era. Women were treated very poorly in Mesopotamia. They were thought of slightly better than property, but still below men. Women were not allowed to marry for love, and before marriage, they were forced to wear veils in public to show modesty (Noonan).

Similar to a pyramid, there are five classes in each social system for Mesopotamia and Egypt (Matthews et al, 2014). The top is the ruler, which is different in both civilization. However, the other four are the same. Under the ruler, are clergy members, army, or judicial system; followed by rich landowners, military chiefs, scribes, and architects; followed by the farmers, merchants, brewers, craftspeople, and low-level businesspeople and tradesman; finally at the bottom, slaves, tenant farmers, and small landowners (Matthews et al, 2014). The ruling class, on the other hand, was different. Mesopotamian kings were appointed by someone from the gods on Earth, however, the Egyptian ruler was a god. Government (political) systems receive their economic strength for both Mesopotamia and Egypt for their kingdoms were based on power from the gods and agriculture. However, Mesopotamian rulers were based more on warriors and Egyptian rulers were Pharaohs, god-kings (Matthews et al,

The Egyptians and Mesopotamians settled where they did for very similar reasons, and it all involves vegetation and abundance of sources. The Egyptians settled where they did because the abundance of resources. They live by the Nile river which runs through Egypt. There is more than enough freshwater for them to use. There is a delta upstream from the river where a bunch of vegetation is and moist soil to farm.