The ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt are similar, but different in the way that their belief system ties in to their legal system, social order, and artistic tendencies. In Mesopotamia "individual priest-kings ruled Sumerian city-states as agents of god," (Fiero) under Hammurabi's code, but in Egypt the king, or "Pharaoh," whose word is law, was thought to be a representative or equal of the sun god Amon Ra. "While social order and division of labor that prevailed in Mesopotamia are depicted in the Standard of Ur; the ruler and his officials are in the top register, soldiers and servants below, and victims of war and slaves at the bottom." (Fiero) Mesopotamians built ziggurats as temples, or shrines linking heaven and earth
The civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt both have many things in common, including having adjacent rivers. However both Rivers are very different in regards to when the rivers flood. The Nile river of Egypt floods varies periodically and accurately making it very easy to tell when the river will flood for the crops of the Egyptian people. In Mesopotamia the Euphrates and Tigris flood unpredictably, making it almost impossible to raise a civilization there. Nevertheless the Mesopotamian people found a way around this by using technology such irrigation. This supplies water to land or crops to help growth, typically done by channels. Although both are great civilizations they have very fundamental differences from cultural to religious.
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.
Known as one of the earliest civilizations, Mesopotamia and Egypt both share set amounts of similarities along with a share of striking distinctions. Environmentally, these two civilizations were formed in similar surroundings, yet their weather patterns show distinctions. Politically, both governments derived from a monarch, yet their laws and punishments distinguished the two’s court systems. Economically, they both shared prosperous success in similar manners. Socially, although the two lands followed a hierarchy, the value of women contrasted. Culturally, they both believed in a higher order of creation; however, their views of them were polar opposites. Intellectually, these two societies developed skilled abilities and creations that
Historians are confident that Mesopotamia and Egypt are the earliest documented civilizations based on archaeological evidence. They are known for their innovations in technology, agriculture, and law, which society uses today. The evidence from various researches by credible historians and archeologist shows that indeed both civilizations had a legal system whether written or not. The Mesopotamian people were tame by rules put forth by Hammurabi – the sixth king of Ancient Babylon – referred to as Hammurabi’s Code by historians. The Mesopotamian government went to great lengths to spell out their laws, and consequences for breaking them, in depth detail; on the other hand, Egypt failed to do the same. While less visible proof of Egyptian law exists today, there is evidence that proves they had a structured and progressive legal society. Even though both societies were advanced, their legal system in many ways contrasted each other.
The first category of culture is religion. There were several similarities between the Mesopotamians and Egyptians. The Mesopotamians and Egyptians had their own religion and beliefs. Both were polytheistic, meaning they believed in numerous gods or goddesses instead of one god or goddess. There were also several differences between the Mesopotamian and Egyptians. While the Mesopotamians and Egyptians worshiped thousands of deities, there were four main essential deities for the Mesopotamians: An, Enlil, Enki, and Ninhursaga. An was the god of heaven. Enlil was the god of wind and became the power of energy, force, and authority on the earth. Enki was the god of
In order to completely understand the relationship between two events, comparing and contrasting is necessary. Through comparing similarities and differences it is easier to analyze why things developed and occurred the way they did. For example, in comparing Egypt and Mesopotamia it will be easier to achieve understanding of major aspects of their culture, the way other cultures impacted them, and their influence on the future. In addition to the similarities between the two cultures, the differences are what make them unique. Although Egypt and Mesopotamia both left stable heritage in their respective regions, due to geographic location their influences on politics,
The Mesopotamian (in current Iraq) and Egyptian (in advanced Egypt) civic establishments thrived around 3500 BCE. They were River Valley human advancements that flourished with farming. Amid their rule, they were extremely prosperous and imparted similitudes and contrasts. Contrasts between them were that Mesopotamia's surroundings upset their human progress in fighting and agribusiness while Egypt's surroundings fortified it and in their patriarchal society, ladies were dealt with more as equivalents to men in Egypt than in Mesopotamia. They were comparative in courses, for example, they both joined and impacted the way of life of neighboring people groups.
In regards to ruling, the initial two civic establishments of Egypt and Mesopotamia were indistinguishable. Leaders of Egypt were called pharaohs, and Mesopotamia had a class framework wherein the wealthiest class were the rulers much like Egyptians. The majority of the civic establishments each addressed their own gods. Some were fundamentally the same as one another, despite the fact that for Egypt, they trusted that their pharaoh was their God on earth. In Mesopotamia,
As you will journey through a time which two of the greatest civilizations that thrived in both similar and different ways. Although the ancient civilizations of Egypt and Mesopotamia had many similar and handful of differences characteristics due to their individual geographies, both have there own cteristics towards their way of religion and economy, The civilization of Mesopotamia created by people called Sumerians have chosen the land “Between Rivers” Tigris and Euphrates (pg.9) to flourish a civilization. In the blazing hot desert of Egypt you would not think civilization would flourish like the “Fertile Crescent” (pg.10) of Mesopotamia, but the “Gift of the Nile”(pg.14) begins in the heart of Africa and crossing northward flourishing civilization by its sides. Both Mesopotamia and Egypt have agricultural And trades oversea or land. One thing that these two civilizations had in common was the leaders calling themselves being a divine being and that they were the chosen one, as for the Egyptian pharaoh was the almighty “Son of Re” and Mesopotamian kings where the “Son of Anu” god of the sky. Both civilizations were polytheistic, belief in many gods.
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.
These are two cultures that were greatly influenced in an artistic manner by their natural surroundings but were expressed differently from each other. Starting with the Egyptians, they never had a true religion to begin with since they mainly focused on myths and doctrines. It is a truism that activities from everywhere were influenced by the natural conditions in which they lived. An example of this is the Nile river, which plays an important part of their mythology. Since it is a river that flows north, it creates a slim area of fertile land in the midst of a great desert. So when the Egyptians realized such a sharp contrast between the wasteland of the desert and a fertile area, it became a basic theme in Egyptian mythology. Other natural
Throughout the semester we have taken time in class to understand the differences between the many complex societies we have learned about. The differences can range from technology, agriculture, communication, labor, and much more. The two main complex societies that I will focus on is Egypt and Mesopotamia specifically on how farming played out differently due to natural disadvantages.
Egypt and Mesopotamia had their own particular convictions and their own particular religion, however one consider that was comparative their religious outlook was that they were both polytheistic,meaning they had more than one god or goddess. The Egyptians divine beings and goddesses were perceived to be supplementary towards being moral, mental, physical, and otherworldly figures. Then again, Mesopotamia's significant religion had divine beings and goddesses that managed more with normal wonder and the human body; that were said thanks to and reprimanded for common events and debacles that happened in Mesopotamia: however when you take a gander at the implications of the Egyptian and Mesopotamian divine beings and goddesses, they had the same intending to them as the other society. Government and society is diverse for each nation, this likewise applies to Mesopotamia and Egypt. In Mesopotamia, in light of the fact that it was a place that is known for various kingdomsand domains, there were numerous styles of political perspectives, and these distinctive politicalviews brought on the need of control and to overcome their neighboring
On the one hand, Mesopotamian realized that drawing pictures was the simpler to record or spread information. Then the cuneiform was used in writing to convey abstract ideas as a Sumerian form of writing. The Egyptian also created their own writing form hieroglyphs. They were symbols and the origins of the Alphabet. Secondly, Mesopotamian also built the first school for male students came from wealthy families to study the Sumerian literature and write compositions of their own. So that we could have the view of their life, mathematical, religious texts today. The rich families in Egypt also had the right of getting education and enjoyed better life conditions than poor or common people. Thirdly, Egypt and Mesopotamia had different religion and beliefs. However, they were both practiced polytheism. It means they believed that more than one god ran the rule of the world. Mesopotamians thought that their gods were like humans and lived in human beings body. Egyptians gods were considered as represents of mental, physical, nature and life. Especially, they thought that “pharaoh as the leader if religious and political life in the old-kingdom. He commanded the wealth, resources and people of Egypt.(19) Pharaoh was thus a guarantee to his people, a pledge that the gods of Egypt (strikingly unlike those of Mesopotamia) cared for their
Grain surplus was important because it excused workers from working harder to provide families with their own food. The excess grain also funded public works. As well as a logical medium of exchange.