What Are The Similarities Between Mesopotamia And Egyptian Civilizations

When you look back in history to the development and the contributions of both the Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations, you see that there was a lot accomplished, as well as a lot created. The earliest forms of writing developed in Mesopotamia, while Egypt was referred to the “Gift of the Nile” by traveler Herodotus (McKay,42). Development of cities was another major marker, especially in the “old world”, of how people eventually determined civilizations and what they represented. According to McKay, civilizations were determined by people who considered themselves more “civilized”, urban people mostly. Made up of cities, written rules of law, and social justice codes, Mesopotamia and Egypt would develop into two of the largest civilizations in history.

    The river valley civilizations developed writing systems. Each writing system was unique, but they also had similarities between them. The people from Mesopotamia had a writing system called “cuneiform.” The Egyptians had a writing system called “hieroglyphics.” Cuneiform was a writing system based on pictures (3.) Just like cuneiform, hieroglyphics was also based on pictures (11.) Both writing systems presented objects or ideas. Also, they were both carved into stone.

Historians are confident that Mesopotamia and Egypt are the earliest documented civilizations based on archaeological evidence. They are known for their innovations in technology, agriculture, and law, which society uses today. The evidence from various researches by credible historians and archeologist shows that indeed both civilizations had a legal system whether written or not. The Mesopotamian people were tame by rules put forth by Hammurabi – the sixth king of Ancient Babylon – referred to as Hammurabi’s Code by historians. The Mesopotamian government went to great lengths to spell out their laws, and consequences for breaking them, in depth detail; on the other hand, Egypt failed to do the same. While less visible proof of Egyptian law exists today, there is evidence that proves they had a structured and progressive legal society. Even though both societies were advanced, their legal system in many ways contrasted each other.

The setting is around 3000 BCE, surrounded on all sides by vast, arid deserts, steep cliffs, and extensive bodies of water. And, in these massive deserts civilization exists; there are grand, shining empires, pillars of humanity. Ancient Egypt and Ancient Mesopotamia, both known as cradles of civilization, were hosts to some of the greatest ancient kingdoms of mankind. These empires shared a number of common practices due to similar geographical settings, but likewise they were different in their structure, customs, and views. The ancient civilizations of Egypt and Mesopotamia shared many similarities; however Egypt was more prosperous economically, established a superior, unwavering political structure, and possessed more unified and content religious views.

While describing the cultural among the people of Mesopotamia and Egypt, I learned the differences and similarities in culture. The birth of Mesopotamian Civilization began in c. 3000 B.C.E., in the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers of Southwest Asia. Mesopotamia is a Greek word and it means ‘between the rivers.’ In contrast, the birth of Egyptian Civilization began in c. 3100 B.C.E., in a valley of the Nile River in Northeastern Africa. Egypt is a Greek word and it means ‘House of the Spirit of Ptah.’ Since there are several categories in the cultures of the Mesopotamians and the Egyptians, I decided to narrows it to three categories: Religion, Writing, and Geography. The three categories will present the basis to compare cultural differences and similarities.

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.

Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia were thought to have existed around 4000 BC. These two river valley civilizations have many similarities and differences. One similarity is that they both have polytheistic beliefs. Some differences are that they don’t get the same agricultural wealth from living along rivers, and the way in which both places are ruled. These two civilizations have more differences than similarities.

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

Egypt had isolated from the Mesopotamia in more courses than simply their political issues and perspectives. Inevitably, the Mesopotamians had built up a letter set called Sumerian cuneiform. The Egyptians would not like to acknowledge their letters in order. Rather, they had built up their own letter set called hieroglyphics. Both civic establishments had frameworks of composing that were exceptionally mind boggling.

The egyptians have many achievements from a calendar to algebra. The most fascinating is their writing system. The writing

writing is the physical manifestation of a spoken language. It is thought that human beings developed language c. 35,000 BCE as evidenced by cave paintings from the period of the Cro-Magnon Man (c. 50,000-30,000 BCE) which appear to express concepts concerning daily life. These images suggest a language because, in some instances, they seem to tell a story (say, of a hunting expedition in which specific events occurred) rather than being simply pictures of animals and people. Written language, however, does not emerge until its invention in Sumer, southern Mesopotamia, c. 3500 -3000 BCE. This early writing was called cuneiform and consisted of making specific marks in wet clay with a reed implement. The writing system of the Egyptians was already in use before the rise of the Early Dynastic Period (c. 3150 BCE) and is thought to have developed from Mesopotamian cuneiform (though this theory is disputed) and came to be known as heiroglyphics.

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

Scribes began writing on papyrus, a smooth surface created from tall, pithy sedge plants that grew along the Nile river. The hieroglyphic inscriptions had utmost importance, becoming more detailed and delicate as the act of writing with a fine reed pen evolved. The scribe was a professional and regarded as such. Three hieratic versions of hieroglyphs developed, formal for religious documents, less formal for official documents and literature and even less formal for private

they had some differences but many similarities, and they were first started along the Nile River. Even though the Egyptian Civilization seemed the strongest, the Sumerian Civilization was the first to create writing and government. " Their writing system was called cuneiform and was named after the wedge shaped writing implement used". ( Rachel, 2009) Egyptians developed what was called hieroglyphics written on the papyrus leaf.

Sumerian and Egyptian civilizations were believed to begin roughly the same time. Both civilizations had a develop trading. They established trade relations to each other so the appearance of writing system in both places was obviously. The Sumerians etched their recording in writing on mud or clay tablets. They used a developed system called cuneiform. It used wedge shaped symbols, pictures to depict words rather than letters. Egyptian used the writing system called hieroglyphs, based on a combination of pictograms and phonetic (Backman, p23). They recorded their writing on papers making from the woven strips of papyrus reed. This material was more simple, easier to produce and cheaper than clay