From 3500-1500 BCE, Mesopotamia and Egypt emerged as two of the first river- valley civilizations. Although they came to be around the same time, they became different in their cultural aspects, such as universal views and classes, and economies due to differences in commerce.…
Mesopotamia and Egypt were two of the very first civilizations dating back to 3500 BCE. Their cultures were very similar, but were very different. In what ways were their cultures similar and different? Mesopotamia is similar to Egypt in that both were based around a river system and they both created their own form of writing. These two civilizations are very similar, but they are also different in that their structures are used for different purposes and Mesopotamians invented more important things.…
Egypt and Mesopotamia vary drastically in land and geographic features due to its location. They had more differences than similarities which was a cause for the uniquely different cultures of each.…
The First Civilizations for the River Valley differed among class systems, gender roles, and even trading. Class systems determined whether or not you were high in ranking. Mesopotamia and Egypt both had different views on these class systems. Egypt had pharaohs, which were basically wealthy kings and queen who can control mass numbers of people. Gender roles between these civilizations varied between upper class men and woman to slaves. Upper class men and woman had more freedom than the enslaved people. Slaves were used strictly for work, and they received seldom food and shelter in return. Mesopotamia did not have that many natural resources; therefore, they had to trade with other civilizations to get the necessary needs. Egypt, on the…
The parallels between The Epic of Gilgamesh, translated by Benjamin R. Foster, and the Genesis stories, from The Hebrew Bible, are uncanny. The overall theme of these stories talks about divine intervention and questions the human condition of mortality. Both of these infamous literary works address the fact that humans are the only known species capable of abstract thinking, moral judgment, and meta-cognition. While continuous belief compares this ability with the divine, the human life is limited whereas the supernatural is not. Theodore Hiebert raises this same awareness in “The Eden Narrative: A Literary and Religio-historical Study of Genesis 2-3” by saying, “wisdom and immortality are a stable pair in the ancient Near East, and that they are used both in Mesopotamian myths and in Genesis to explain the human condition and to mark the line between human and divine” (p. 2). The literal and metaphoric resemblances will force critical readers to wonder if the antecedent Gilgamesh story influenced the stories in Genesis.…
Egypt and Mesopotamia were both flourishing examples of civilization in their day, yet their worldview differed drastically: Mesopotamia had a negative outlook upon the world and life in general, whereas Egyptians had a much more positive worldview. The negative worldview of the Mesopotamians was most likely caused by the instability within their lives. For example, their two major rivers—The Tigris and The Euphrates—flooded wildly at unpredictable times, ruining crops and causing mass starvation. Being unable to know, each year, whether farms would be able to yield enough crops to feed the population definitely would have added to the negative attitude of the Mesopotamians. Another contributor to their negative worldview was how easy it was for armies to invade. Because there were no mountains or other natural barriers in place, marauding armies had no trouble marching across the flatlands of Mesopotamia in order to pillage and loot villages and farms outside of large cities. Mesopotamian commoners, who didn’t live within the protective walls of citadels, were often subject to the raids of roaming armies, and thus were unable to feel safe, adding further to a negative worldview. Another reason Mesopotamians had a negative worldview was their religion. They viewed the gods as bickering deities, who had no problem smiting down people and razing cities just for their silly whims. Furthermore, they believed that the afterlife was nothing more than a dreary world where souls would bide out eternity in. All of these factors contributed to Mesopotamians believing that the world was little more than a prison of suffering which would go on to lead to an endless existence of emptiness. In complete contrast to the Mesopotamians, the Egyptians had a far more stable lifestyle, and thus a much more positive worldview. Unlike the wild Tigris and Euphrates, the major river of…
After the Agricultural Revolution, the rise of civilizations scattered around the world, each one having various features that formed from their people and the land. Two civilizations that honed similarities and differences, Mesopotamia and Egypt, grew and adapted alongside river valleys—the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and the Nile respectively. Both civilizations turned to control and unify their people through ideas of class hierarchy and kingship. However, Mesopotamian life differed from Egyptian life, consisting of troubles in their crop production, negative viewpoints about death in their religious beliefs, and more restrictions for slaves and women.…
Despite the fact that both Mesopotamia and Egypt were first developing around the same time, natural forces and the environment caused variations in many cultural developments such as political systems, religious views, and much more. Their biggest differences were dependent on the river-valleys they lived in and how that affected the way they managed agriculture, as well as their view of their gods. One similarity that Mesopotamia and Egypt did have was that both civilizations developed a system of writing and keeping records.…
The story of Adam and Eve is one of the most culturally important and known stories in the Bible regarding the origin of mankind. It’s generally followed by Judeo-Christians but is also grasped by other religious views, though many tend to overlook minor key details that may alter the whole interpretation. First, God created a man named Adam to primarily tend to the garden he planted in Eden. There were many trees in the garden that happened to contain two special types of trees. God allowed Adam to eat from any tree he wished, except from one specific tree. Then, God created a woman to accompany Adam who automatically became his wife. The woman came across a serpent she claimed to have deceived her. In actuality, the serpent simply told her a fact that is later proven correct with the help of her temptation. After Adam and the woman both consumed fruit from the forbidden tree, they realized that they were naked and tried to hide from God. God came to find that Adam and the woman ate from the forbidden tree because they suddenly were full of knowledge. God punished the serpent, Adam, and the woman for their disobedience. He then banished them not as another punishment but to help them avoid temptation again. Within the controversial context of the story lie theoretical themes that can be analyzed by existentialism and the Post-Freudian psychoanalytic theory of eros, thanatos, and the Oedipal Conflict. The story can be viewed using the Oedipal Conflict as God plays the role of both the mother and father figure while Adam and Eve play the role of the rebellious children. Along with this conflict, the characters of the story demonstrate existentialism qualities and carry out actions that they are either eros or thanatos.…
In the life of Egypt and Mesopotamia there were similarities and differences. There are comparisons in culture, social class, and gender. Also parallelism in their religions existed however, the differences found, clearly define them as individual entities.…
The simplification of such complex concepts makes it easier for readers who have little to no prior religious understanding to comprehend the basic themes of this novel. For this reason, Armstrong's work has been highly popular among individuals who are seeking a deeper understanding of their faith, or other widespread religions. This aside, it is not a reliable academic text. An overwhelming amount of statements and claims made in this book are coloured by opinion, and are in fact, not of any legitimate substance. Any one reading this novel must interpret it with a grain of salt, and it should not be used to contribute to any scholarly studies. Armstrong plucks what she deems to be important from religious texts, and implements it into her writing, yet she misses crucial facts while doing so. For example, there are inadequate references to the Israelites Exodus from Egypt, considering the grave importance placed on this story in Judaism. This leads one to enquire what other facts may have been left out, or over emphasized. Academic texts are meant to be impartial, yet A History of God is at times warped to prove an opinion of…
The passages in this chapter illustrate various ways in which humans relate to their gods. How do the Sumerian, Egyptian, and Hebrew people differ in this respect?…
Perhaps the most well known story of the Holy Bible is that of the creation story. In this story, God creates the earth in six days and rests on the seventh, after creating light, dark, oceans, and animals of all types. When he feels that there should be creatures other than animals, he creates man, in His image. He names this man Adam, and then creates a counterpart for his new creation, Eve. Adam and Eve lived together in harmony with God and all the other animals in the Garden of Eden, a paradise where evil did not exist, and their only rule was to not eat from the tree of Knowledge. However, Adam and Eve, under the temptation of the serpent, showed greed, and wanted to be more like God, so they ate the fruit, in order to become like God. When compared in depth, the protagonist of the creation story, Adam, and the street sweeper, Equality 7-2521, of Ayn Rand’s Anthem are condemned men, whose stories are very similar, save one key difference.…
How much did ancient civilizations have in common? To figure this out the civilizations like Ancient \Egypt and Mesopotamia need to be compared and contrasted. All of the ancient civilizations formed around rivers, but is there really anything alike about them beyond geographic location.…
The most obvious form of discrimination in To Kill a Mockingbird is racism; however, there are other types of prejudice and discrimination that typify relationships among the novel’s characters. Scout, for example, is ridiculed in “To Kill a Mockingbird” because she is a tomboy. Boo Radley is ostracized despite the fact that hardly anyone knows him. Reverse racism is also present in the novel, as evidenced by the threats against Atticus Finch and his family as he defends Tom Robinson.In current day America we still see these injustice’s but at a lower cases. We sill see African American who have no evidence against them still get charged and prosecuted because they are black.…