Compare And Contrast Egyptians And Mesopotamians

The Egyptians and Mesopotamians both made enormous contributions to the development of technology and society. They had unique characteristics and made many advances for society and expansion alike. The Mesopotamians made advanced mathematical leaps and procured methods that we still use today. They were the ones that established a numerical place value system in which allows numbers to be categorized by observing the bordering digits that are placed alongside them. They also created a system that was derived by the sets sixty, ten, and six; the same system that our time keeping uses to keep track of minutes and seconds. The first states developed in Mesopotamia, which then led to the necessity of developing ways to control those states. This included Armies, taxation, and written
records. Because Mesopotamia was in a stable environment (The Fertile Crescent), their populations grew. Therefore, this forced them to find another way to produce enough food to support a larger population than what they were used to before. This led them to begin using large scale irrigation, which in turn, caused the populations to grow even more. Once this process began, The Mesopotamian city of Uruk developed into what historians consider to be the world’s first city.
After about 4,000 B.C.E., cities began architecting large-scale projects like dams, dikes, and reservoirs. In order to be independent of other city-states, villages built market places, defensive walls, and public buildings that allowed for internal business transactions which kept citizens from having to travel to neighboring towns merely to conduct trade. The Mesopotamians had very strong religious ideals that steered their entire society. They were believers of Polytheism, a religion in which the world is controlled by a multitude of different gods and goddesses. The common belief was that the human’s purpose in life was to serve these gods, and if the gods were satisfied with their efforts, the human’s would be treated well in return. Mesopotamian society was ruled by kings that were responsible for many parts of the government. Priests and other religious figure-heads worked with the king, helping him stay informed about religious happenings. They also worked together to preserve power by using threats of higher taxation, physical force, and
persuasion/bribing. All of the Egyptian civilization was based off the Nile River, which brought moisture and fertile soil to the village’s farms throughout the year. This caused them to produce an agricultural surplus of food, fueling their entire population as well as growing their stability. Their king, or otherwise named pharaoh, was viewed as a descendant of the gods; having the power to control the water level fluctuations of the Nile River. The pharaoh commanded and controlled the resources and wealth in Egypt, which in turn, controlled the people as well. The citizens believed in life after death, and often had spells inscribed to the inside of their tombs in order to assist their transition to the afterlife. They created a “Book of the Dead”, which contained recordings of all their complex ideas about the afterlife. They also believed in preserving the dead by mummification, which was essential for life after death. Although many other characteristics of Egypt are unique, the pyramids are what Egypt is most commonly known for. Contrary to popular belief, a large portion of the work force was made up of drafted young men as well as people that were paid for their work as opposed to just slaves. The Hyksos, who migrated to Egypt around 1,800 B.C.E, brought bronze, and the process of making it with them. This was used mainly for weapons, and slung shot the Egyptians into the Bronze Age. The Hyksos also brought with them composite bows and chariots, which completely changed warfare in Egypt. Not only did both the Mesopotamians and Egyptians have unique civilizations, but they also made a huge impact on the world’s history.