preview

Sumer And Egypt Similarities

Decent Essays
Open Document

Egypt and Sumer are both ancient civilizations that have flourished in the beginning of time, they have similarities but also many differences. Egypt, settled right on the Nile River, began as two separate regions: Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt. Oddly enough, Upper Egypt is, in fact, below Lower Egypt; but when a king named Narmer took over, he united them together into a single kingdom, which lasted over a period of 3,000 years. On the other hand, the ancient civilization Sumer was settled on two rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Sumer, a little like the way Egypt was, is made up of city-states; these cities developed governments of their own, each with its own rulers. What makes these two civilizations similar and different is their …show more content…

Egypt and Sumer were both polytheisic, which means there civilizations believed in more than one god. The way they worshiped their gods in Sumer is they build ziggurats. This ziggurats were temple in the center of the cities and had multiple purposes: they stored things there, was a conducter of trade, sacrifices and a center for worship. Pyramids were similar to these ziggurats as they were both monuents of religious belief. Egyptian pyramids were tombs for pharaohs and the royal family; they were filled with gifts so that pharaohs could get to the afterlife. Another similarity is that their religions are used to keep order in there huge civilizations. Both Sumer and Egypt wanted to please their gods; Sumerians thought the gods hated them and they were just the gods servants so that wanted to make them happy by doing good deeds. Egyptians wanted to get to the afterlife, if they did not want to have their heart eaten they had to live a sinless life. Both believed that if they did anything bad, the gods will punish them and refuse them from the afterlife. They also used the gods as a way to understant nature and how the world works; they need answers to life and believing in gods was their own way to do this. The last similarity is that religion was their government. The priests in Sumer first ruled and the Egyptians saw their rulers, the pharaohs as gods. Egypt …show more content…

They are both polytheistic, had monuments for their religions, used religion to keep order in their civilizations, and also their religion was part of their governement. Yet, they were quite different with their views on the afterlife; Sumer believed in no afterlife, where there is no joy and everything is dim, dismal, and gloomy. Egypt believes in a beautiful and happy afterlife, but your heart has to weigh less than a feather to get there. All of their differences goes back to geography: Sumer’s rivers flood unexpectantly, their gods hate them so they have no afterlife and Egypt’s river is predictable, with death being something to celebrate to go to the wonderful afterlife. Ancient Egypt and Sumer, while having similarities and differences, were both able to thrive and progress impressively in the time before

Get Access