Have you ever wondered, where some of our current society’s amazing gadgets or ideas, originated? I would guess that most people would find it hard to believe that the calendar; hieroglyphics; paper; the ox-drawn plow; wigs; clocks; eye makeup; mathematical reasoning and geometry, to name a few, plus many other modern-day technologies and philosophies, can be traced to a civilization that is thousands of years old. Two of the oldest and most important civilizations known to man were the ancient Egyptian and ancient Greek civilizations. The ancient Greek civilization is the term used to describe the Greek-speaking world in ancient times, however, the dates for the beginning or end of the Ancient Greek period are not generally agreed upon. …show more content…
During the New Kingdom of ancient Egypt, people were divided into seven different levels. At the top was the Pharaoh with the government officials, nobles and priests under him/her. The fourth level consisted of the scribes and soldiers with the craftsmen and merchants making up the middle class in the fifth level. Farmers and unskilled individuals were in the sixth level with the slaves making up the lowest level. As would be expected, each level of the social chain came with specific duties. The top of the social chain was called the Pharaoh, which was the political and social leader of Egypt. The Pharaoh’s duty was to make the law and maintain order. Following the Pharaoh came the nobles, priests and government officials. The government officials consisted of members of the royal family who assisted in running the government. The nobles, were the only group, beside the royal family, who could hold a government office. They ruled the regions of Egypt, made local laws and maintained order. The priest, served the gods and conducted rituals and ceremonies to keep the gods happy. Scribes, part of the fourth level of the chain, were some of the only people in Egypt who could read and write. They kept the records of the country, including the amount of food produced and gifts presented to the gods. Soldiers were also part of this level and their job was obvious, fight and protect the land when needed. When they were not fighting in wars, they were supervising the farmers and slaves while they built structures. The next level, the middle class, consisted of craftsmen, merchants and other skilled workers such as doctors. Merchants sold the goods made by craftsmen and doctors treated the injured. Craftsmen included carpenters, jewelers, metalworkers, painters, potters, sculptors, stone carvers and weavers. After the middle class, came
The first civilizations and the rise of empires began with small groups or villages existing with the use of hunting, fishing, and foraging. (William J. Duiker and Jackson J. Spielvogel, World History, vol. 1, 1) Within a few thousand years, people learned how to cultivate food crops and this led to an increase in population. Increased food production resulted in larger communities. The cities began to expand their cultural and religious developments leading to the beginnings of civilization. (Duiker, World History, 1) The first civilizations emerged in Mesopotamia and Egypt during the fourth and third millennia B.C.E and had various components in common. Each of these civilizations was established in a river valley so they were able to provide and produce the agricultural resources needed to survive and uphold the population. (Duiker, World History, 1) Mesopotamia developed in the valley between the Tigris and Euphrates River known as “the land between the rivers.” These rivers provided irregular and catastrophic flooding for the city-state. They created an intensive irrigation system to improve their agriculture. The first people to create Mesopotamian civilization were known as the Sumerians. These people were the first city builders and created the major city’s named Eridu, Ur, Uruk, Umma, and Lagash. These cities were built with surrounding walls and defense towers. A six-mile-long wall enclosed the city of Uruk. Mesopotamia lacked
Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia present a valuable area of historical research. They are of great importance mostly because of their ethnic kinship (Watson, 2017). In such case, comparison and contrast essay is very promising as causal relationships can be formed based on a mutual starting point. This comparison-contrast essay focuses on differences and similarities in these societies’ economic, political and cultural life in order to make further implications regarding the circumstances the peoples of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia faced.
In the past, before many early civilizations and ancient cultures became successful and able to
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.
Social stratification was visible in Egypt like other societies. The king is at the top of hierarchy who is also referred to as a Pharaoh during the era of the new kingdom, or sometimes even referred to as a living god (Jones, Podcast 1). Kings could demand the people to build monumental tombs or canals to show their power (Jones, Podcast 1). Lower to the king are Nobles, who control the nomes. Majority of ancient Egyptians were common people (Backman, p. 27).
Two widely known ancient civilizations in history are those of the Greeks and the Egyptians. Both are famous in their history and favored by many. Each of these civilizations were built from the ground up, and they developed their own culture, practices, religions, and architectures. Although these two civilizations are similar in having this development, they differ significantly in each of these aspects of life. In this essay, we will observe the similarities and differences of Greek and Egyptian religion, as well as their attitudes towards women in this time.
According to history there existed two of many important ancient civilizations that left a significant mark in the history of human development that even today leaves modern society in awe of its greatness. In spite of being distant civilizations, Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece share similarities and difference in terms of how they practiced religion,political structure, everyday life style, and how they built the monumental architectures that continued to amaze the modern world of today. These comparison and contrast explain their difference in history and their dynasty's long term success. Through the early developmental age these two ancient civilizations contrasted in many ways perhaps due to
The Egyptian New Kingdom social structure has six tiers. The first tier consisted of the pharaoh. The pharaoh duty was to make law and to make sure that the
Both ancient Athens and Egypt adhered to a strict hierarchical framework, ranking people as superiors or inferiors. Old Kingdom Egyptian hierarchy is described as having the king and queen at the top, with priests, administrators, governors and army commanders coming second, then the commoners who worked mostly in agriculture, and finally, slaves, who had been captured in war. (Hunt, pg. 22). According to Esolen, (pg. 35), Egyptian society was structured as such: the Pharaoh came first, and was believed to be God on earth. Next came the “Vizier”, who was the pharaohs chief advisor. Nobles were next in the hierarchy, responsible for making local laws. Priests came next, and were responsible for performing rituals and ceremonies. Scribes were a very important group, as they were the only ones who could read or write, so they were the record keepers. A small percentage
The society in Ancient Egypt had an upper class of nobles and priests surrounding the pharaoh, who was the god-king. The upper class ran the government and owned land that provided its own wealth. Below the upper class in this hierarchy were merchants and artisans that engaged in active trade. The merchants traded up and down the Nile with the villages along the coastline, as well as international trade with Crete, Syria, and a few others. The artisans made varieties of goods that were beautiful and well-built. Lastly on the hierarchy class were those who worked the land, as well as the largest group of people in a class. Even though the king did own the land, he would grant sections of it to hs subjects who then acquired them. The nobles and
The ancient Egyptian and ancient Greek civilizations are two of the oldest known civilizations in our history. The Egyptian civilization, based in the eastern part of North Africa, is believed to have started around 3150 BC and continued till the end of the Pharaoh rule in 31 BC. The ancient Greek civilization is believed to have been in effect from 1100 BC till about 146 BC. Many similarities and differences existed between these two civilizations, as even though they co-existed during a certain timeframe (1150 BC to 146 BC), they were located in different geographical areas. Because of these differences in geography, both these civilizations were subjected to different kinds of exposure, which included contact with other civilization and cultural inheritance. In the political sphere, we find that the Egyptian civilization had stronger emphasis on central authority, while the Greeks had a more decentralized structure, where powers were distributed over the cities and the states as well. As far as art is concerned, we find that the Egyptians were more involved in creating great monumental and gaudy structures, while the Greeks were more involved in creating smaller, more literary pieces of art.
The people groups in ancient Egyptian were very different than our societies social groups today. Ancient Egyptians were grouped in a hierarchical system with the Pharaoh at the top and farmers and slaves at the bottom. The groups of people nearest to the top of society were the richest and most powerful. The Pharaoh was believed to be a god on earth and had the most power. He was responsible for making laws and keeping order. Ensuring that Egypt was not attacked or invaded by enemies and for keeping the gods happy so that the Nile flooded and there was a good harvest. The Vizier was the Pharaoh's chief advisor
A civilization refers to “a particular and distinctive type of human society” (Strayer, pg. 90). Civilizations aren’t always different from one another nor are they the exact same. Each civilization has some form of a unique characteristic that differentiates itself from the rest. For example, the Ancient Egyptians and the Hindus from Ancient India. They both have a permanent arrangement of societal roles, yet they aren’t constructed or operated in the same manner. These two locations are the main topics of this discussion/comparison.
When comparing The Shang River civilization (China) The Nile River civilization (Egypt) during the Bronze Age there were similarities and differences. Politically, they were similar and different because both governments were a dynasty and they governed their lands differently socially they were similar and different because both civilizations had distinct social classes and they had differences when it came to women’s rights. However, based on close observation (or close analysis) Ancient Egypt was more successful.
Most people believe that all ancient civilizations were the same: they all lived with a steadfast loyalty to their one and only king that ruled all of the lands, civilizations only achievements were monumental buildings, and they vacuously attacked neighboring societies to gain more land for millennia. While some of this knowledge is true to an extent, civilizations accomplished an abundance more than some realize. Some fail to register that early civilizations are unique from each other. Egypt and Mesopotamia were two distinct civilizations. Despite similarities such as both being river civilizations, Egypt and Mesopotamia contrasted with each other in the areas of, type of ruling, religion, and