Mesopotamia and Egypt are two of the oldest and most famous civilizations in the history of the world. Mesopotamia and Egypt were both River-Valley civilizations, yet, their political, social, and cultural beliefs developed differently due to their geographic location.
The rise of these early river valley civilizations occurred around the same period of time. Both Mesopotamia and Egypt grew alongside mighty rivers, however, Mesopotamia developed between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers while the Egyptian civilization emerged beside the Nile River. In Egypt, the Nile flooded regularly and at the right time of the year, thus, leaving a rich and easily worked deposit of silt. On the other hand, the Tigris and Euphrates had unpredictable floods
…show more content…
Together, a city and its agricultural hinterland formed what we call a city-state. Differently, Egypt was governed by a central administration in the capital city through a system of provincial and village bureaucracies. Egypt was a theocracy, meaning it was ruled by religion. The Pharaohs were considered the living gods and the vital link between humanity and the rest of the gods. Similarly, both civilizations were divided into a 3-class social strata system. It is believed that the development of agriculture brought about a decline in the status of women in Mesopotamian society because men did the value-producing work of plowing and irrigation. Women were able to own property, control their dowry, and engage in trade. In contrast, paintings indicate that Egyptian women were subordinate to men and engaged in domestic activities, but they did have the right to hold, inherit and will property and retained rights over their own dowry after divorce. They probably had more rights than Mesopotamian …show more content…
Earliest religious awareness was closely associated with nature and environment. Both religions were polytheistic, meaning they recognized many gods. These gods had certain similarities in both traditions. In Mesopotamia, they believed in anthropomorphism meaning that they would attribute human shape or form to nonhuman things, such as the gods. Since Egypt was “the gift of the Nile” and generally peaceful and prosperous Egyptian gods tended to reflect a positive religion with an emphasis on a positive afterlife. In Mesopotamia the forces of nature were more chaotic and as a result, the gods were seen as unpredictable beings of extraordinary power that had to be kept content by priests. People were under the control of the gods, so the job of humanity was to carry out their wills and make them
Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt, both had a similar climate. Located in river valleys or areas of flat land that has a river running through it. Yearly it would flood and once the water receded, it would leave behind fertile soil that was great for planting.The rivers provided food, soil, water, and even transportation.
Egypt developed around the Nile River, while Mesopotamia developed between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Egypt and Mesopotamia grew into complex civilizations. Politically, both Egypt and Mesopotamia had a government with one main ruler, but Egypt had a centralized government with a pharaoh, while Mesopotamia had a decentralized government with a king. Socially, both civilizations were patriarchal, but Egypt was more lenient towards women while Mesopotamia was stricter. The political and social structures of Egypt and Mesopotamia both similarities and differences.
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
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
Both Mesopotamia and Egypt between 3000 and 600 B.C.E had similarities and differences. Both regions differ in regards to social structure concerning gender roles, social classes, and slavery. However Mesopotamia and Egypt shared similar technological developments in regards to mathematics, astronomy, and writing as well as political structure as it regards to taxes, kingship, and the power of religion.
Around seven thousand years ago there existed two main civilizations: Mesopotamia, between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers, and Ancient Egypt along the Nile. Even though Ancient Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt were both advanced civilizations they had many differences such as their government, religion, as well as their trade and society. Mesopotamian culture thought negatively about its gods, and had conflict, cultural diffusion, and a decentralized government while Ancient Egypt thought highly of its gods, had a centralized and united government and civilization, and did not trade with other nations. These distinctions were due in part to Mesopotamia’s unpredictable flooding, lack of borders, and its close proximity to three
Religion between Mesopotamia and Egypt were fairly similar. They both were polytheistic, which means they worship more than one god. Mesopotamian religion saw humans as the servants of the gods, who had to be appeased for protection. Egyptians believed that the gods created all humans but were also controlled by the principle of order. Unlike followers of Mesopotamian religion, the Egyptians had a strong belief in the afterlife, which they expressed by building elaborate tombs such as the pyramids that were used to place pharaohs in after they had passed away.
We can also see the differences and similarities between Mesopotamia and Egypt through religion. Mesopotamian and Egypt both were polytheistic religions. The Sumerians believed that the weather, fertility, harvests, and the underworld where all controlled by gods. The gods were able to take away droughts, floods,
Mesopotamia and Egypt are some of the world’s earliest civilizations which had many similarities such as place, social structure, and religion. First, the rivers, or locations at which they settled were chosen mostly because of the readily available natural resources that can be derived from a river. Mesopotamia was located on the Tigris and Euphrates River and is known as "the land between two rivers," (Greenblatt and Lemmo) Similarly, Egypt, another early empire, is also situated on a river, the Nile, which is looked to for farming and protection (Greenblatt and Lemmo). The Nile’s annual flooding which makes the soil fertile does create problems, but it is also been depended upon to pave the way for crop growth, a successful harvest, and served as a border between the lower and upper kingdoms of Egypt until King Narmer united the land (Dersin).
Mesopotamia and Egypt share the characteristics of cities, government, and writing. Mesopotamia and Egypt both had cities, Mesopotamia called them city states. They had walls around them to protect from attacks. Royalty was located in the center of the city states and slowly worked down the social pyramid as you progress towards
Religion was a big part of both civilizations. The Egyptians had more than 2000 gods and goddesses, as well as the Mesopotamians they also believed in many gods. Both these civilizations had strong beliefs in the gods and goddesses above. Both civilizations believed that the oceans were the beginning of our Earth, these theories were just ancient legends told throughout history within the civilizations, there were many other theories on how the universe became. In Egypt once a person died they would cut the body open and take out all their
Humans during their history have passed through different civilizations. These civilizations are developed based on their different ideologies or religions. Two of the eldest civilizations in our human history are Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations. Despite that they have lived and developed at the same period of time as well as geographically are located very close to each other; we can still say that they were different in their ideologies about religion. Therefore, in this essay I will discuss the differences in their religion by elaborating their view about the life after death, kings (Pharaohs) as gods, as well as similarities that they have between their gods, but still with some differences about how their gods created this world.
It provided a source of water and nutrition for the crops. The Nile River flooded annually in the summer. This way, the flooding renewed the fertility of the soil
The Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations were vastly different in environment and culture, although they did share some characteristics. Both were located in river valleys, and both depended on the rivers to help their production of agriculture, especially in desert lands. The Tigris and Euphrates
There are differences and similarities between Mesopotamia and Egypt cultures and one of the differences is there geographical location and what their surroundings consisted of. Egypt location made it difficult for invaders to invade their cities, especially since one side of Egypt was the Mediterranean Sea and the other boundaries was desert. Mesopotamia was more prone to attacks even though they had the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, however, the area around them was more wide open (Matthews, Noble, Platt, 2014). Another area that the two were different was in how they treated their women, for one, Egypt would treat their woman with respect along with the ability to own a business, therefore, they would have a legal status but is was