Egypt And Mesopotamia Similarities

Lindsay Evans
AP World Euro Fourth Block
Friday August 27, 2010
Egypt and Mesopotamia Compare Contrast Essay
Ancient Mesopotamia went through many different empires that shared similar parts cultural traits, where as Egypt went through several different rulers, but only a few dynasties. Mesopotamia lied in between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, and its main empires existed from 1650 BCE to around 330 BCE. The ancient Egyptian empires went through four main phases: The Archaic Period (3100-2600 BCE), The Old Kingdom (2660- 2160 BCE), The Middle Kingdom (2200-1730 BCE), and The New Kingdom (1570-1130 BCE). These two civilizations were located in close enough proximity to trade, goods and ideas. Egypt and Mesopotamia branched off of the
Like most civilizations of that time, the power of the people was held in the hands of the person in charge of the grain. In both Mesopotamia and Egypt, someone was appointed to be in charge of the grain and other agricultural products, on the other hand, the person in Mesopotamian culture that was in charge of the grain was usually a priest, and in Egypt it was usually an appointed official. City-states made up the Mesopotamian societies, and often neighboring empires invaded each other. Conversely, the Egyptian invaders were mostly from other areas of Africa rather than neighboring people. The reason behind the different types of invasion was due to the way the civilizations were split up. Egypt split in two, lower and upper Egypt, and Mesopotamia did not have definite territories in it, because of the way it was split, it effected where trading was possible. Trade routes accurately illustrate the way both societies interacted with surrounding empires. Both empires traded with the surrounding peoples, however, the Egyptians expanded their trade networks much farther than the Mesopotamians. The two civilizations did however trade with each
One of the biggest inventions of the ancient time was iron metallurgy. The Hittites were the first people to use iron metallurgy, and because of this, Egypt did not use iron as its main source for weaponry. Egyptians demonstrated a way to use materials that were available by using the bronze brought to them by the Hyksos. Both Egypt and Mesopotamia used a form of writing. Mesopotamian writing and Egyptian writing differ in many ways, due to Mesopotamian cuneiform laying the foundation for the Egyptian hieroglyphs. Similarly, pieces of both languages can be deciphered, but due to the Rosetta Stone, more of the hieroglyphic texts can be read. One thing historians have been able to tell from the writings of the Mesopotamians and the Egyptians was the ideas they had. Egyptians and Mesopotamians both created things essential to the way life is led today. Due to the Mesopotamians, the people of today have knowledge of the twelve month year, 60 second minute, and the 60 minute hour. Branching off of that idea, the Egyptians established that the year had 365 days in it. The laws to which both societies were based were similar because of the laws they were based on. Hammurabi, a Mesopotamian, was the first to write down laws and the laws he wrote were used in all