Joy Ogbonna
Two ancient civilization Mesopotamia and Egypt created unique and complex civilizations with distinct political, social, and religious characteristics. Egypt and Mesopotamian civilizations are different in gender roles, but similar in religion and political structure. Each civilization viewed the world very different, and these differences led to the instability of Mesopotamia, and protection of the civilization. The historical evidence would indicate that the two civilizations, Mesopotamia and Egypt had some subtle differences but for the most part they were very alike.
Although Egypt and Mesopotamia were among the first river valley civilizations, but their different views on the world greatly changed their social structure.Their
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Each civilization had some form of ruler believed to have some connection with the gods, and protect their society. In ancient Egypt their political leader was called pharaoh. The pharaoh was believed to be a combination of Gods and a human being, he was the link between the Gods and mankind. The king was distinguished in many ways, such as wearing a special crown and changing his name. The primary role of the king was to maintain ma’at. Ma’at was the concept of truth, balance and justice. In Mesopotamia their political leader was called the lugal. The purpose of Mesopotamian lugal was to provide military protection and also initiate religious rituals. Mesopotamians also believed that their king was the link between the Gods, but few kings claimed they were actually gods.
Religion was a huge part of Mesopotamia,and ancient Egyptians. Both Egyptians and Mesopotamians believed that worshiping their gods was the primary purpose of life. They would pray for at least 3 hours a day, and donate up to half of their life savings, to the gods. Egypt and Mesopotamia both had a belief in afterlife (though Egypt’s belief in afterlife was stronger than Mesopotamia), and were controlled by the principle of ma’at.The main similarity between the two civilizations is they both believed in many Gods, and that there god’s took form in powers of
The understanding of gender roles in society has been very fluid in the evolution of mankind. In ancient civilizations, the roles that you were given within a society were centered primarily around gender. These gender roles did vary from civilization to civilization, but were generally comparable. In most ancient civilizations, the roles of women were confined to the household. This was evident in most societies, but a stand out among these was Ancient Egypt. In which, Egypt was one of the only civilizations where women were even remotely equal to men. When comparing to other societies during the ancient time period, women were most respected in Egypt.
Ancient Egyptians referred to their king as pharaoh. Document 3 explains that they believed that pharaoh is a god that controls everything and has an absolute power that nobody can came close to. According to document 6 the Sumerians and Akkadians practice polytheism, the worship of many gods. They believed that keeping the gods happy will be the key of their own happiness and prosperity but, if the gods were angry, they might bring suffering and disaster.the sumerians built temples that called ziggurats, they believed that the temples linked earth with the heavens and linked people with gods.
The Egyptian and Mesopotamian religion and society were similar, but their government system was different. The religions in Egypt and Mesopotamia were similar because both were polytheistic, had beliefs of an afterlife, as well as priests who were part of the upper levels of the social hierarchy. Social similarities between Egypt and Mesopotamia included: rigid social structure, dependence on slavery, and authoritative religious structure. However, the system of government was different because Egyptian society was governed by a theocratic monarchy, while Mesopotamia was ruled by a traditional monarchy.
All three of the major river civilizations had a government in the form of hierarchy. Each civilization had a ruler; they were in a monarchy system. Some of the systems were considered to be well off systems because they were able to rule without any disruptions while others had systems in which were not in equality with men and women. In Mesopotamia, there was a king who ruled city-state regions. The kings were war leaders and their main function was to make sure everything was running great in their region. On the other hand, the Egyptians, Indians, and Chinese had similar monarchy systems. Their rulers were Pharaohs and kings, however in their society, people were slaves. The Pharaoh was such an elite person that they needed people in their society (slaves) to build pyramids and elaborate palaces for them. With each civilization having a distinct leader, this helped keep the environment more stable although some civilizations weren’t fair in the distribution of power.
During the third millennium, early civilizations began to expand. These civilizations started evolving from simple farming and trade to advanced governments, economies, and cultures. The Nile river valley civilizations of ancient Egypt and the early civilizations of Mesopotamia near the Tigris and Euphrates River had many similarities and differences in political, economic, and cultural aspects. Both the Ancient Egyptians and the Mesopotamians had rich, fertile soil for agriculture; they also had very similar religion. However, Mesopotamia had more abundant trade opportunities, a city-state style government, and less gender equality.
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
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.
These differences played a huge role in their social lives. Like Egypt was ruled by a pharaoh who was considered a God. While Mesopotamia was ruled by a king who was not one of the many Gods they believed in. Except in Mesopotamia These Gods weren’t called Gods at all, they were called dingir. Their gods were believed to have supernatural powers.
The earliest societies, such as Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt exhibiting indicator traits of civilization developed along the floodplains of great rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates in Iraq, and the Nile in Egypt. People had settled in Mesopotamia by 7000 B.C. and the First Dynasty of Egyptian
Most societies that developed in ancient civilizations were centered around their belief systems. The Egyptians and the Mesopotamians were no different in this sense. Both civilizations were polytheistic and built elaborate temples to praise their gods. Additionally, the leaders in both regions were believed to be related to the gods because of the great power they held and the wealth under their control. However, the Mesopotamians had a pessimistic outlook on life because of the unpredictability of their environment. The Egyptians, on the other hand, had an optimistic outlook because the Nile River inundated their region regularly, which could be predicted by the stars. The similarities and differences in the religions of these two
Mesopotamia was divided into city-states. They saw each city-state as a divine copy of heaven on earth. They viewed kingship as divine in origin. One could also view Mesopotamia as a primitive democracy. They had a consul responsible for everyday affairs and a government to administer
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 ancient Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations were two of the world's first city-based civilizations. Because of this, they had many things in common such as they both had some form of religion and writing, to codes of laws and politics. However, they were not duplicates of each other. Other things affected the way Mesopotamians and Egyptians lived, such as the geography of their locations, interaction with other neighboring civilizations, and their leaders. By about 8000 years ago, most civilizations, including Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt, primarily depended on agriculture to thrive.
Each early civilization was different and unique in their own way, they all came up with their own advancements and all created a unique society. However each early civilization wasn't entirely unique, they each learned from the previous societies mistakes and shortcomings. Being the first civilization Mesopotamia acted as the template for all civilizations after it. Mesopotamia established city-states, a monarchy, polytheism, irrigation, and created a currency system as well as a writing system. Despite having a seemly organized society, Mesopotamia was divided and at odds with one another over their water source, and thus the civilization crumbled. In contrast Egypt was unified, albeit forcefully as they were surrounded by nothing but desert,
The Egyptians viewed the afterlife as a happy place filled with food and the gods. In contrast, the Mesopotamians viewed the afterlife as a place of horror and fear. The vital cause for the differences of viewpoints in the afterlife is the River they depended on. Both civilizations saw the afterlife as an extension of their current life. With this being said, the Nile was giving and gave them lots of water along with silt, which was crucial for the survival of their crops. In turn, the Egyptians perspective on the afterlife was gracious. Conversely, the Mesopotamians depended on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. While it did bless them with fresh water, on occasions, the river would grow violent and cause a catastrophic amount of damage to their homes and crops. Since they also viewed their afterlife as an extension to their current lives, they saw it as a dark and horrible place that wasn’t wanted. However, both civilizations accomplished achievements through religion and for other reasons.