Social Behavior: Persians, New Kingdom, And Sumerians

In ancient Egypt people believe that the sun king represented power and strength. The sun God for the ancient Egyptians represented life. The reasons that it represented life are that the sun had power, energy, light and warmth. At that time they worship the sun God Ra. People believe that he made the crops grow every season. A lot of ancient cultures marked the date as significant, since the sun is at its highest point and the concept of sun worship is as old as mankind. The dependence on the sun for life and sustenance in societies were primarily agricultural. That is why people believed in the Sun God.

The Greek and Persian Achaemenid Empires coexisted during 553-336 B.C.E. These two empires had been rivals for centuries, which eventually led to the Persian Wars, happening from 490-480 B.C.E. The Persian Empire was made up of a variety of religions, however the one practiced by the native Persians was focused on a main god, Ahura mazda. The Persian religion was “...centered on an elaborate cult of kingship…” and these kings were believed to have a connection to Ahura mazda. In contrast, the Greek people had the same gods and religion throughout their empire, which were present not only in myth and stories, but also in daily life. Although the Persians didn’t have many personal ties to their gods, the Greeks believed their gods possessed human-like attributes, which gave the Greeks a more direct connection to their deities.

Mesopotamian and Egyptian religions shared two key similarities: polytheism and priestly authority. The religions in Mesopotamia and

The Ancient Egyptians believed that the pharaoh was a god himself, and that his power was given to him by the god Ra. Other pharaohs also believed in this as well which was the case with Zoser, and the pharaohs of the preceding dynasties.

Greece and Persia’s religion is one factor that makes both of these empires so diverse from each other. During the Achaemenid Period, the main religion of Persia at the time was Zoroastrianism, which the Iranian prophet and reformer Zoroaster founded in the 6th century B.C.E. At the time the royal family brought in Zoroastrianism to Persia, and since the royal family believed in it, most of the people of the Persian Empire choose to believe in it too. Greece on the other hand, did not have a religion until 146 B.C.E when Christianity entered the empire. Before Christianity had entered Greece, they believed in their mythological stories. Each myth or story had a lesson to be learned by the reader.

The Achaemenid Empire was one of the strongest empires in Southwest Asia during the first millennium B.C.E. Courageous and skilled Persian conquerors allowed Persian rule to spread beyond Persian territory, creating one of the largest early empires (Dunn & Mitchell, 2014). However, across the Mediterranean Sea was dwelled a more advanced empire with a stronger military, the Greeks (Dunn & Mitchell, 2014). These prominent early empires possessed many similarities and held the ultimate goal of building and maintaining an advanced empire and society. Yet, their Southwestern and Afro-Eurasian cultures consisted of several different beliefs and ways of life. The 5th and 6th century B.C.E polytheistic Greek traditions tremendously differed from the religion of the Achaemenid Empire, which believed solely in Ahu Mazda, “the supreme god” (Dunn & Mitchell, 2014). The political structures of the Achaemenid and Greek Empires were also vastly dissimilar, unlike the united Achammenid Empire; Greece consisted of several poleis’ (city states) (Dunn & Mitchell, 2014).

Although Egyptians were polytheistic, they worshiped the sun god, Atum or Re, as he was the source of life. This is important because the Egyptian king took the title of “Son of Re”. The king, hence the descendant of the god, was the mother and father of all men without equal. The king akin to the living god, and his rule was law. Despite there being no laws, the words out of the king’s mouth were the law. As a king, he handles the army to protect his possessions and people.

Also, religion provided a way that people can obtain power over its fellow people by kings or pharaohs being the closest thing to the gods or by using the church as power itself. The belief system gave a civilization an identity that allowed the people to unite and submit under rule. For instance, the Persian Empire, whom took over the land of Mesopotamia and Egypt and ruled from 1250-325 BCE, was a multicultural empire that allowed people to keep their traditions and customs in exchange for taxes. However, the Persians changed their religion to Zoroastrianism that provided a new ideology and social structure. This new ideology had people believe that the supreme god selected the ruler over all people to maintain order (Textbook 137). This had become the empire’s official religion which united the people and helped the people to be more subordinate to the king. The Aztec Empire, modern day Mexico during 1427-1520 CE, had a strong unified religion that included many sacrifices and the ruler and priests to be the head leaders of the social structure (Lecture Week 13). The Aztecs were strong in their religion that they actually believed that Cortés was a returning god which led to their downfall (The Broken Spears). Another example of how powerful religion is within these civilizations is how Cortés, a Spaniard, had convinced his king and Queen that his actions of wanting to take over the Aztec empire by connecting his reasoning with religion by stating that these settings has a faint biblical setting and ring to it that had ties with distant Christian origins (Eliott). Religion was a great tool to unify a culture and use to justify actions like war and sacrifices that helped keep the ruler’s power

Amun-Re is often referred to as the most important and powerful god of Ancient Egypt. Amun-Re was the god of the sun. “Amun-Re is the main name of the sun god, but also has three different names in which describe the phases of life that Amun-Re goes through each day.”(Budge, Pg. 92) When examining the ancient Egyptian god Amun-Re, four main points must be understood, including: the origin of Amun-Re, the characteristics of Amun-Re, how Amun-Re was worshiped, and how Amun-Re impacted Egyptian life.

In 3500BCE, the first Egyptians emerged near the Nile and after their concurrence with the Arabs, have left behind their amazing beliefs with many gods and afterlives.At different times there were varying gods and altered roles for them. There was the god Amun, who looked like a man with a ram head and an ostrich plumed hat. Amun was one of the most powerful gods in ancient Egypt At the height of Egyptian civilisation he was called the 'King of the Gods'. Amun was always seen as very powerful, “however, when Amun was combined with the sun god Ra he was even more powerful. He was then called Amun-Ra.” (British Museum, 1999) Also, there was Ra/Re, the sun god (Figure 1). He made people and so, was the

Another well-known god, is Osiris. This was a god who was also in human form sometimes. Also he was cruelly killed by his EVIL (EVIL I TELL YOU!!! >:P ) brother, Seth (the god of storms, and jealousy).

‘The Persians devised a monotheistic religion based on the teachings of the prophet Zoroaster (ca. 628-ca. 551 B.C.E.). Denying the nature gods of earlier times, Zoroaster exalted the sole god Ahura-Mazda (“Wise

Ra created everything the egyptians had and the other gods. Ra represents sunlight, warmth, growth and all other gods. He is considered to be the king of the gods. The first reference of Ra was in the second dynasty, in the fifth dynasty he was very powerful. The sun was considered “The Eye of Ra” or his body.

The earliest religious belief for the Egyptians is the sun god Amon. Amon considered greater than any other deity in the Egyptian pantheon. This god role was called the sun god and creator of heaven and earth. The Egyptians believe that Amon gave sunlight and made it possible the cultivation of crops. The Egyptians viewed the sun’s daily ascent in the east as symbolic of the god’s rebirth”.

Despite the fact that we may not know how solid the lords of Mesopotamia were, we realize that they had the greater part of the control over their subjects. There is sure to be equivocalness in the writings of these antiquated individuals because of interpretation into English and heading of content course of action by the old lords. The Mesopotamian ruler can be seen as an ancestor to figures today, for example, the Pope. Indeed, even today, the American government blends religion and legislative issues. Notice of God is implanted into American society in spite of it being done