What Is Mesopotamia?

In Egypt specialized labor was a feature to societies in the southern part of the Nile River valley, Egyptian and Nubian lands build patriarchal societies that placed authority in the hands of adult males. The Egyptian economy was really productive because of it’s location and prosperity of the location, Egypt was a center of trade, linking lands in southwest Asia, the eastern Mediterranean, and sub Saharan Africa. The Nile allowed Egyptians to travel back and forth due to the winds, all you needed to do is change your sail. Mesopotamia is known as the fertile crescent. There was much farming in ancient Mesopotamia. Farmers would dig trenches from the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers to keep their soil moist. The Tigris and Euphrates Rivers were very important in Ancient Mesopotamia,

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

Beginning with Mesopotamia, according to McKay Mesopotamia was part of the Fertile Crescent, which was where the first agriculture developed (McKay, 35). Moving from Mesopotamia to the city-state Sumer, many farmers brought with them their farming tools and trade abilities so that they could successfully farm in warmer, more arid climates (McKay, 35). Irrigation was a major part of the process and was needed for them to succeed. As the civilization grew, people built temples in Mesopotamia, where farmers would use them to store food items and animals. To the Mesopotamian people, the belief of Polytheism, which is that of many Gods controlling the earth and world, brought a distinct outlook on life (McKay, 36). Sumerian

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

The civilizations in river valleys both had communities that were forced to work together due to the lack of agricultural resources. They each had to focus on maintaining canals, dikes, weirs, and other structures related to the valleys. Floods were constantly a threat, and so each civilization had a different view on nature’s aspects. Mesopotamians tried their best to please the kings and queens of nature, while Egyptians trusted supernatural powers. The difference in religious thoughts led to contrasting attitudes towards life after death and therefore burials. Egyptians displayed the majority of their wealth on their tombstones. Rulers of Egypt had several rooms dedicated to their passing, so as to provide a better afterlife. Mesopotamians built new cities, walls, palaces, and religious buildings, as final exhibitions of their existence. River valley civilizations had different opinions on the role of women. Mesopotamians women in the second millennium had little freedom, but Egyptians women had a high level of respect, as referred to in poems and books.

Mesopotamia’s land required more work than Egypt 's because of their unscheduled flooding. The land in Mesopotamia was fertile, but was very harsh due to the amount of excess water coming off the two rivers. The people in Mesopotamia had a bad world view because they were constantly working and fixing the land and it would get ruined again after the flooding because it was constant. The Epic of Gilgamesh connects to the flooding of the river because his writings showed how the Mesopotamians were under the mercy of the gods. It also described how the Mesopotamians had to keep fixing their land after the unscheduled flooding.

One of the cultures of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia developed into successful civilizations is by their water sources. In document 1, the river Nile in Egypt flooded every year, which gave the land around it soft fertile ground, great for planting crops. Most people lived near the river. In document 2, the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which was also called the Fertile Crescent, provided food, transportation, and plants. They were especially populated since the area had deserts and mountains. Another reason is their rulers. As stated in document 3, the ancient Egyptian looked at their ruler, the pharaoh, as one of their gods in a human form, serving them well and deciding what’s best for the country. Quoting document 4, the people of Mesopotamia

Mesopotamian religion was polytheistic, with the Mesopotamian pantheon consisting of hundreds of gods of different importance. This epic takes place in a place known as Mesopotamia—which in Greek is a term meaning "between two rivers." Unsurprisingly, Mesopotamia lays between two rivers: the Tigris and the Euphrates. In ancient Mesopotamia, each city had a different patron deity. The humans in the time of Gilgamesh believed that the gods lived by their own set of laws and rarely considered how their actions might affect life for those on earth. The gods not only had relationships among each other but also with humanity. The gods in the Mesopotamian society, though not always altruistic, had an active role in the lives of humanity and were often known to be helpful in times of need. Especially since the gods were in control of external elements such as

It is undeniable that the natural environment of ancient Mesopotamia had a profound effect on the earliest civilizations known to the world. Humankind’s ability to control irrigation waters directly correlates with the rise of mass agriculture. With this mastery of their river environment, early farmers were capable of supporting large urban populations. However, in Mesopotamia the Tigris and Euphrates rivers were both a source of life as well as destruction for early societies. In many ways, the geography of ancient Mesopotamia fostered a sense of catastrophic determinism within the Sumerians, Akkadians, and Babylonians. The scarcity of resources as well as the untamable nature of their deluge environment led these early people to

Egypt and Mesopotamia were both located near rivers, and these rivers helped shape everyday life. Both civilizations used their respective rivers (Nile for Egypt, Tigris and Euphrates for Mesopotamia) to help grow crops. However, the Nile was much calmer and more predictable than the Tigris and Euphrates, making it much easier to grow crops and predict when the waters would rise. The Tigris and Euphrates were much more unpredictable, flooding irregularly and requiring more labor to grow crops. The Nile’s calmness and predictability allowed Egyptians to get an abundance of food while not having to work as much, giving them time to spend on other things, such as building pyramids and temples.

Agriculture was central to ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia; it was the basis of both their economies. While both civilizations utilized agriculture in similar fashions, ancient Egypt had a more stable efficient system due to geographic location and resources, therefore relishing in a more positive economy. The Tigris and Euphrates rivers surrounding Mesopotamia were harsh, unpredictable, and prone to erratic flooding, causing

The overflow, flooding, or lack thereof of the rivers as well as weather differences contributed greatly to the economic stability of each country. As previously stated, Mesopotamians were farmers. The flooding of the Tigris and the

According to Hammurabi's Law Code and the Egyptian Book of the Dead, Mesopotamian society valued and strong central authority to ensure prosperity through hard work and vigilance, while Egyptian’s emphasis on faith required humility and submission to one’s superiors to create a stable society. Hammurabi’s Law Code reveals the Mesopotamian values of hard work and self-vigilance while advocating a powerful central authority. Historically, Babylon, as well as all of Mesopotamia, needed to build strong and complex irrigation systems along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers for farming, due to their wild and unpredictable nature. Without such canals, the river’s random flooding rendered farming impossible, and the large scale of this project necessitated a strong central authority to monitor food production. The

The first thing I have learned when I was learning about the civilizations was the river system. There were two rivers in Mesopotamia called the Tigris and Euphrates river. The rivers in Mesopotamia had flooded and damaged crops and destroyed crops, but had

In this essay I am going to be talking about Mesopotamia and all of its glory. I will be covering a pretty large time frame from 2340 BCE to 539 BCE to tell you what you need to know about this great civilization. A few questions I will be answering will be why the Mesopotamia people chose this geographic region to be their home, what characteristics of this region allowed Mesopotamian civilizations to develop, and how the geographical characteristics impacted the structure of the society, laws, religion, and the perception of nature.