To What Extent Did Mesopotamia Build Ziggurats

Each Mesopotamian city states worshiped local gods and spirits. If they were part of a large kingdom or Empire, then they might be forced to worship the religion of the state but usually kept local beliefs intact. This is primarily because of how fragmented ancient Mesopotamia used to be. Egyptian Polytheism differs a lot from Mesopotamian Animism and Polytheism in several ways. The Egyptian’s worshiped the state religion alone and did not have separate local religions as often. The rough geography most likely helped with this along with the unity of Egypt. The ziggurats of Mesopotamia and the various monuments of Egypt have similarities and seemingly different functions. The Mesopotamians built ziggurats as temples, but the monuments of Egypt have various roles including for burial which reflects another major religious difference, the Egyptians believed in an afterlife which resulted in many artifacts preserved helping historians know more about their culture, not what was intended, but useful later

To begin with the Mesopotamians believed in the gods and goddesses. They would praise them for a significant reason either if its water, nature, wind, sun, etc. and each god has their own specific powers. To please the gods they will have to sacrifice one for a specific desire or necessity. In The Epic of Gilgamesh it is said that gods feast and love the smell of burnt human flesh; “When the gods smelled the sweet savor, they gathered like flies over the sacrifice” . The relationships that Mesopotamians have with their gods is cruel, they please the gods with sacrifices. This is what they believed was necessary to have a peaceful life with no catastrophic chaos. The Mesopotamians wanted harmony with their gods so they don’t die. Mesopotamians did not only believe in one god but many gods so they would worship the gods for specific needs. They also viewed the gods as the highest level class, in other words

A need for social interaction, the ability to trade goods, and a place to worship would develop and cities would form. The first written languages called Cuneiform, were established by the Sumerians, which consisted of symbols and were used for record keeping with trade deals (Steele 12). Throughout the modern world, people are required to pay their taxes to the government, well you can thank the first rulers from Mesopotamia. Although they did not have a currency system set in place, so taxes were paid with livestock and grains (Steele 13). Government and religion would play off of each other. It was believed by the people of Mesopotamia that the humans were to serve the gods, Anu, was considered the Chief Sumerian god, and Inanna was the goddess of love and war ((Hunter, Corbishley 48). A much later time Hammurabi would be considered a fair ruler, but harsh ruler of the land. While other states had their own beliefs and rituals, they respected him. The Code of Hammurabi was carved into stone for all to see. The statue stood about seven feet tall, and consisted of 272 laws but, what made this different from prior rulers is the laws were passed down from the sun god, Shamash, and not from man (Kerrigan 25). If someone broke the law, there was no way around saying, I did not know. Punishment could vary depending on your status within the community. A surgeon would be held responsible, and his punishment would be

Ancient Mesopotamian religion was the oldest known recorded religion. Mesopotamian religion was polytheistic. There is a relationship between the codes of law and religion in Babylonian – Mesopotamian

Mesopotamia and Egypt had different types of governance. In Mesopotamia, the government was a monarchy, whereas the Egyptian government was a theocracy. The difference is that in an Egyptian theocracy, society was ruled by a king who was worshipped and considered a god-like figure. A monarchy is a government ruled by a king or military ruler. In Mesopotamians society, priests held the most power, until military leaders came to power due to the arising dangers of attack. Military leaders promised protection and power to Mesopotamians. The Mesopotamians believed that

The Ancient Egyptians, Mesopotamia, and Greeks were some of the oldest complex societies, although similar in many aspects. Mesopotamia is located in the Fertile Crescent, land in and between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers usually known as modern day Iraq and Eastern Syria.(24) In Egypt, the Nile River creates a fertile valley which is rich in nutrients and essential to their survival. The Nile flows from Burundi, slightly south of the equator eventually traveling through Egypt and into the Mediterranean. Ancient Greece is situated very closely to Egypt so trading was easy between them. How are these three civilizations comparable and different?

The Mesopotamian people valued a strict, rules-oriented society. This can be seen by examining the Mesopotamian social classes, government and job specialization. In The Code of Hammurabi, created by the King of Babylon in 1780 B.C.E. it was evident that there were rules for every thing, and every thing you do has a consequence. The Mesopotamian life style was very rigid; this lifestyle can lead to disputes and outbreaks, which can have negative consequences in society.

Mesopotamia political structures were to have one king and he would control the resources and build an army to go to war he also would make laws and be in control of building projects. Once King Hammurabi became the ruler he made a set of laws call the law of Hammurabi. These laws took more on a political stance of money and war. To maintain order they would go to other neighboring cities and collect money and it would help to build a stronger army to conquer more land.

Mesopotamian society was nestled in the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates river, with freshwater access and fertile lands, it was the earliest hub of human population. Mesoamerica was settled after the first wave of migration from Siberia to Alaska around 13,000 BCE, making them in reality more than a few thousand years behind the Mesopotamian formation of early society. Mesopotamian and Mesoamerican society were similar in regards to order of development, but developed at different rates. Agricultural villages were common in Mesopotamia and Southwest Asia around 6000 BCE, and in Mesoamerica by 2000 BCE. In Mesopotamia monotheism was accepted along with worshiping deities and in Mesoamerica agricultural gods were worshiped through sacrifice. Mesopotamian, city-state government was also well organized sooner than Mesoamericans where government was formed around the need for gods to be constantly worshiped for the good of the society.

Mesopotamia means “the land between two rivers” (Tigris and Euphrates rivers). In Mesopotamia, A man named Hammurabi conquered and united all of the cities of Mesopotamia under his rule (Document 2). His advancement of Mesopotamia was his set of laws. It is an advancement because his laws were one of the first written laws. These laws were called “Hammurabi’s Code”. The type of laws were an “Eye for an Eye” which means if you killed someone you would also be killed. It wasn’t a fair policy because if you killed someone of a lower class all your punishment would be is a fine.

Mesopotamia has a bunch of different laws than the countries today. Mesopotamia was around 3500 B.C. Mesopotamia was located in modern Iraq. Mesopotamians had a bad inequality between their men and women. Mesopotamians laws had a lot do with conflict. Mesopotamians had different social classes.

Religion was practiced throughout Ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt. Both the Mesopotamians and Egyptians shared polytheistic beliefs. Each god was responsible for an action, but they did not consider the gods to be equal in Mesopotamian society, in order to please the gods, a sacrifice must be made to please them in order to avoid the god’s wrath. The separation of church and state did not exist in both ancient civilizations, pharaohs of Egyptian society was known to be a god on Earth, the incarnation of Horus, the falcon god. The Mesopotamian rulers were known as a representative to the gods. Although they worship to several different gods, they do have differences between the two. The idea of an afterlife, In Mesopotamia didn’t exist but for the Egyptians the idea of an afterlife was of significant importance to them, rituals were held to ensure that the body and soul would be ready for an eternal life after death. The writing systems of both the Mesopotamians and the Egyptians have many similarities. Pictographic writing, which was developed by the

Around 3500 and 3000 B.C.E., when the Sumerians ruled the southern area of the Mesopotamian region, the ziggurats were religious leaders who ruled the Sumerian people. Due to the fact that the people believed all property and objects belonged to the gods, they relied on the ziggurats to make decisions and uphold their godly duties. Because these priest-like figures were supposedly as close to the gods as any mortal human being could get, they ruled from the top of the temples that included shrines and were considered the powerful superiors of the people. Even though the ziggurats were influential rulers of the Sumerians, the architecture made during ca. 2500-2050 B.C.E. will be considered as the most influential artifacts from this time period.

The Mesopotamian people were the first stable civilization. The Mesopotamian people were polytheistic. Polytheistic means they believe in many gods. “The god can affect the fate of humans and they controlled the natural world” (Tuner, 2016). The Mesopotamian people would be afraid of the god since they had more control over them than what they had on themselves. The Mesopotamian people also followed the law very closely. The Code of Hammurabi which was named after a prince, who feared God, to bring about the rule of righteousness in the land, to destroy the wicked and the evil-doers…(King, 2008). The Mesopotamian people also looked up to their kings like Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh talked them about friendships and life. Gilgamesh and Enkidu were best of friends and equals. It was the death of Enkidu when Gilgamesh felt his heart breaking and was willing to do anything to bring his dear friend back to life. When Gilgamesh visits Shiduri she basically tells him to enjoy his life because no one knows when they are going to die. It better living your life being happy and being around the

It’s clear to see the distinctions being made with ancient texts because words, phrases, and ideas are more often than not represented with unique characters (as such is the case with Sumerian and Chinese) rather than a series of meaningless letters constructed together to form a word with meaning (as such is the case with English and Russian.) Archaic Sumerian standards make the value in size and style of symbols (called standards) blatant. One sign that represents several standards is a “high shaft made for carrying and judging” [Sumerian 1]. These staff and poles were used for administrative representation; and, naturally, the taller the staff that was inscribed was in height, the greater the importance. This method literary heightening of provides a sort of Tower of Babel (and in the form of tall Ziggurats in real life) representation in which linguistically altitude is exaggerated for the purpose of importance. The elevation and enlargement in Nubian Egypt similar to Sumerian with the physicality of titles. The most blatant