Mesopotamian Women

* The status of women in Mesopotamia was lower then men. Women enjoyed some protection and liberties, yet not as much as men.

Throughout time womens rights varied from being treated equal to a man, to being treated as property. Women in Mesopotamia did not have big roles in society. Many things were restricted or frowned upon in society for a woman to do. However, in some communities women had more rights and freedoms while others were more restricted and other times their privileges varied. Women had some freedoms and rights that varied from city-state to city-state. The average woman stayed at home and acted as a housewife, but could have had the opportunity get an education and a job. As compared to some places today, women had more rights then, in Mesopotamia, then now, thousands of years later.

This is some facts about mesopotamia about how women were mistreated and not equal, slaves were not equal, and about their religion. Women were mistreated and note equal in so many ways. Slaves were equal because they were considered a lower class. And last people back then believed in gods a lot. Women were mistreated in some many was like they had to do all the work around the house like make clothes and make beverages “http://mesopotamia.lib.uchicago.edu.”

Mesopotamia has a bunch of different laws than the countries today. Mesopotamia was around 3500 B.C. Mesopotamia was located in modern Iraq. Mesopotamians had a bad inequality between their men and women. Mesopotamians laws had a lot do with conflict. Mesopotamians had different social classes.

Gender roles in ancient Mesopotamia were clearly defined (teachmiddleeast.edu). Generally, men worked outside of the home and women stayed inside of the home while focusing on raising their children and keeping up with work that took place in the home. However, there were exceptions; we know of women who were “bartenders” and even women who were priestesses, but with limited responsibility. Due to the fact that some were from socially higher families and owned large amounts of property, those women were not allowed to marry. Women at the time were given much less freedom than men, however, women were more protected than men, which is seen in Hammurabi’s Code of Law, specifically in his 130th law:

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.

     Back in the days of Mesopotamia, things were quite different. Women were respected for who they were and did not have to fight to gain the rights they had.

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.

Mesopotamian women did not have very much freedom at all. They were expected to follow the laws of Hammurabi’s code, which were not very fair to women. “The Mesopotamian woman's role was strictly defined. She was the daughter of her father or the wife of her husband. Women rarely acted as individuals outside the context of their families. Those who did so were usually royalty or the wives of men who had power and status.” (oi.uchicago.edu, 2010) Mesopotamian women were very limited to what they could or could not do.

While both the Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations share similar political, social and economic qualities, the details of these broad spectrums branch off in opposite directions. For example, both Mesopotamia and Egypt were ruled by kings, but in Egypt, their kings were called pharaohs and they had significantly more power than the Mesopotamian kings of the city-states. Both civilizations also had social classes in which a person fit into, but in Mesopotamia, many more rules and restrictions were forced onto women, especially young girls, than Mesopotamian boys or Egyptian boys or girls. Both Mesopotamia and Egypt traded with each other,

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.

Their primary role was to bear children and take care of the house. Thus, was the life cycle for a woman. Then again, in Ancient Egypt, gender was based on social dignity instead of social status. As a result, according to the social classes in the society, women had enjoyed equal rights to that of men unlike the Mesopotamian women or any other civilization during the same period through legal and economic rights. In contrast to societies in other civilizations, women in Ancient Egypt had a modern higher status and much more freedom than the women in the Ancient Mesopotamian civilization. Women were thought of as

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.

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

Mesopotamia restrictions on female roles in society were more prominent than they were in Egypt. In Mesopotamia, men were of greater value in the hierarchy than the women were. The men were the ones who served in the military, built the walls that protected the city, served in governmental positions but men also did a majority of the agricultural jobs. The men protected the city-states and the women did not, which created a patriarchy in the civilization that was constantly at war. This created a divide in the rights of men and women both legally and social. Women was not defined by her personality but instead by her relationship with her husband. Men were seen as the head of the household, giving men of the lower classes more power even if