The early civilizations of Egypt and Mesopotamia were dominated by geography which decided religious and political beliefs. Each society had rivers that helped them complete their daily activities. Their religious beliefs were focused on the rivers that were near them. They seeked order by having Kings and Pharaohs and establishing codes and laws. The Pharaohs and Kings created laws and leaded and protected the city. The Egyptians and Mesopotamian people shared many similarities and differences. These early civilizations revealed the dependency on geography, religion, and their leaders. Accordingly, geography defined each societies physical, social, and religious organizations. In the egyptians civilization they could expect when the river would rise and fall unlike Mesopotamia, they did not know when a flood would happen. Egyptians had more smaller populations compared to Mesopotamia. “ the Nile was the fastest way to travel, making both transportation and communication easier.” (Spielvogel 15) Mesopotamia was located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. This determined social, economic, and religious factors.Mesopotamia's geography made them vulnerable to attack which lead them to their downfall, unlike egypt which was protected by …show more content…
The Mesopotamia’s wrote a book of laws that the society had to follow. The laws helped contain order in the city. In Egypt there is a distinct social classes and each class had a certain job they had to do. The code of Hammurabi was a major law that the citizens had to follow. “ If a fire break out in a man’s house and a man who goes to extinguish it cast his eye on the furniture of the owner of the house, and take the furniture of the owner of the house, that man shall be thrown into that fire.” (Spielvogel 12) These laws may appear unreasonable for current times, but in the age of Hammurabi these provided structure and
The Mesopotamian government is different from Egypt in many ways. One way that their
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.
The physical environments of Egypt and Mesopotamia do explain their cultural differences. Egyptians had natural barriers and fertile, predictable land, while Mesopotamians had unpredictable land and no protection from invaders. These key differences are the basis of the cultural differences between the two regions, and explain different parts of their culture, such as their outlook on life/afterlife and their rulers.
Egypt and Mesopotamia Egypt and Mesopotamia were both very complex empires. Every aspect of Egyptians life was based around religion, Mesopotamian religion explained everything about life and death. Social classes in both civilizations were based on a pyramid like social structure. Egypt never developed any major cities but, Mesopotamia developed many major cities. These three elements of civilization helped Egypt and Mesopotamia grow into thriving civilizations.
Mesopotamia’s safety was lower than Egypt’s. Mesopotamia was out in the open land with no barriers to hinder potential invaders. Egypt was more invader-prone because it was “surrounded by deserts, mountains, seas, and cataracts.” Mesopotamia was pessimistic about life, because they faced violence and invaders more than Egypt did.
The social similarities between Egypt and Mesopotamia found its roots in the authoritative religious structure. The Mesopotamian religion viewed people as servants of the gods. Given that Mesopotamia was often affected by terrible weather and devastating calamities, people needed to ensure the gods were always happy to offer protection and shield from such mishaps. Egyptians, on the other hand, believed that the gods were responsible for creating all the humans, but everything was done in order. The cultural difference between the Egyptians and Mesopotamia differed partially due to their geography difference (Haber 250).
Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia were both ancient civilizations that were founded between 3500 BCE to 3000 BCE it was a time where people finally got together and formed a community where people could farm instead of hunting and gathering while wandering from place to place. Egypt and Mesopotamia were also both built upon great rivers for Egypt it was the Nile, and for Mesopotamia it was the Tigris and Euphrates. These rivers is what helped create the civilizations that we know of today because the rivers would flood at least once a year and the flooding of the river would create fertile soil for farmers every year. Both civilizations also had a similar view on religion as well both believing in many gods or polytheism. These two ancient civilizations
Egypt and Mesopotamia had various political and intellectual outlooks that had similarities and differences. Egypt had an absolute monarchy where the pharaoh, or person entitled with kingship, had all control and was believed to be in direct contact with the gods. The pharaoh was seen as being god-like as well. Politically, Egyptians were also focused on their material wealth and the expansion of their civilization. Intellectually, Egyptians were focused on their language and literature.
Old kingdom Egypt and Mesopotamia shared a lot of similarities and multiple differences. The first Sumerian cities had populations between 5,000 and 50,000 people and became the center of trade. City walls were important to ensure the people's protection so they didn't get raided. Egypt however had no walls and was isolated. Due to Egypt's isolation, they weren't involved in external conflicts and where the most peaceful and prosperous of the three kingdoms. While Mesopotamia had kings, old kingdom Egypt had god like
The Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations were vastly different in environment and culture, although they did share some characteristics. Both were located in river valleys, and both depended on the rivers to help their production of agriculture, especially in desert lands. The Tigris and Euphrates
The two civilizations had leaders that they believed were close to god. They have different law and order systems. The Egyptians had set punishment for certain crimes, while the Mesopotamian had similar systems but with the Hammurabi code which was “Eye for an Eye”. Their political systems for a majority were like a monarchy/dictatorship. In both civilizations they had certain gender norms. In Egypt men and women were treated as equals for a majority but the still had different roles. They both got education because they believed education was very important. Women in Egypt had the role of baring and raising children and responsible for family and domestic issues. Men on the other had taught there boys how to trade or how to do the same labor they did and provided for the family. When Egyptians kids turned 14 they would help their dad or mom depending on what sex they were. Mesopotamia had different views men clearly had more power and the women were not treated as equals. Men went to work with their sons and women stayed home took care of the family with the
Throughout the history of Earth, there have been many fascinating developments, the most prominent being the first civilizations, Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt. They had many similarities, such as characteristics of early civilizations and social structures, but they also had their differences. The most embossed differences included the divergent geography, prior belief, trade, relations with other civilizations, and politics.
Economically, these two civilizations both shared prosperous success in similar manners. One connection between Mesopotamia and Egypt is that they both manipulated their designated rivers to perform critical trade operations by using them as routes. They were able to communicated and send goods with other civilizations in a farther location via the river system. Also, these two civilizations were very productive in the agricultural field due to the strategically created irrigation systems that provided water to their fertile soils to provide lush vegetations in Nile and Sumer. The one difference between Mesopotamia and Egypt in terms of economy is that the Nile government controlled most if not all of the trading monopoly, and they had their citizens pay substantial taxes.
Mesopotamia and Egypt were very different because of their geography and world view. Mesopotamia was often flooded because of their bad geography, but the land around the Nile river was built well so the Egyptians didn 't have to worry about the river flooding as often. The land in Mesopotamia was often attacked and invaded. Ultimately the geography of Egypt was significantly better than Mesopotamia because of the benefits of the nile river created a positive world view, a strong government and a universal religion.
Along with the similarities, there are also differences between the Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations. “Mesopotamia was not as well protected geographically as Egypt and was thus more open to attack. Its rivers were not as navigable, nor were