Preview

Essay On Mesopotamian Culture

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
751 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Essay On Mesopotamian Culture
Throughout history different cultures the early stages of human development, the Mesopotamian and Egyptian cultures shared many of the same qualities and beliefs, but they also differed in many aspects. Found in prehistoric texts, there is a transition from ancient beliefs to more modern beliefs. In addition, the afterlife, along with relationships between gods and humans, responsibilities of rulers and hierarchy, and organized civilizations are all topics that provide differing viewpoints between the two civilizations. Mesopotamian and Egyptian views on the afterlife correlate in many different aspects. The Mesopotamian culture found insight through the story of Gilgamesh. Throughout the epic poem, Gilgamesh decides to befriend Enkidu and has to face one of the hardest tragedies that he has ever experienced. Enkidu becomes …show more content…
They had many human-like characteristics. They were rude, unwise, and greedy. Enlil, one of the gods, “heard the clamor and said to the gods in council, ‘The uproar of mankind is intolerable and sleep is no longer possible by reason of the babel.’ So the gods agreed to exterminate mankind” (Gilgamesh 95). The noise the people were making made it impossible for the gods to sleep, which made them decide to eliminate mankind. The Mesopotamian people were frightened of the gods because they did not care about humanity.
The Mesopotamians had very strict rules which led to unpleasant behavior within the city-states. The Mesopotamian people had a hard time keeping their behavior under control because of the strict laws. They believed in The Law Code of Hammurabi, which contained harsh rules such as “If the ‘finger is pointed’ at a man’s wife about another man, but she is not caught sleeping with the other man, she shall jump into the river for her husband” (Hammurabi 97). These unreasonable laws are not resolved by whether or not a person is in the wrong but simply because of

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Mesopotamia Dbq Essay

    • 87 Words
    • 1 Page

    Through 1894 B.C. the Babylonians supported control in Mesopotamia. Babylonians made a flourishing, composed society. Under the tenet of Hammurabi, the lord of Babylon, a directive system was produced and recorded. Despite the fact that proof support Babylonians sold attire and aromas in bazaar, little is thought regarding what Babylonians really donned. Although, there are a few delineations about the ruler, which demonstrate that he wearing styles fundamentally the same as the Sumerians, no images of Babylonian women remain. Thus, Babylonian Empire decline in around 1595…

    • 87 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Both Mesopotamia and Egypt have different universal views, which then affected their culture. The Tigris and Euphrates rivers of Mesopotamia have unpredictable flood patterns. This affected their view of the universe because the inability to prepare for floods leads the Mesopotamians to believe that the world was harsh and unforgiving. In contrast, the predictable, opportune floods of the Egyptian Nile led to a trust in supernatural powers. These polar opposite views also were seen in and affected the religious opinions of the afterlife. Due to the accounts Gilgamesh, a hero in an Egyptian epic, the afterlife is seen in a terrorizing light, whereas Mesopotamians looked forward to it.…

    • 336 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hammurabi's Code

    • 542 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Mesopotamia, “the Land between Rivers,” was one of the greatest civilizations of the world. It flourished around 3000 B.C. on the piece of fertile land, now Iraq, between the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers. In 1790 B.C.E., King Hammurabi conquered the neighboring city-states of ancient Mesopotamia, creating a Babylonian empire. During his reign, Hammurabi established law and order, and in about 1790, he had about 300 laws governing family, criminal punishment, civil law, etc. written on stone pillars for all to see. These laws were based around the main principal “an eye for an eye and a life for a life.” They were unfair, unjust, and based on the social classes. The code of Hammurabi was extreme and even tyrannical; it controlled Mesopotamian society through fear, not justice.…

    • 542 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    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.…

    • 672 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mesopotamia Social System

    • 773 Words
    • 4 Pages

    There were multiple attempts for conduct and law in Mesopotamia, but none took hold until Babylon. Babylon is where the code of the Hammurabi was introduced however they were known for much more than they're of social laws like, Mathematics, astronomy and literature (aqrobatq, 2015). The Code of Hammurabi is better known to us today as “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”. Which meant that there was fair punishment for a committed crime, if you were of the same class. There was…

    • 773 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A piece of Mesopotamian literature that illustrates these views is the Epic of Gilgamesh. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh goes on a journey to save his friend Enkidu, the first person he has ever felt any kind of love for. He is also testing his limits as a human being ad searching for immortality. The fact that the Mesopotamian people are searching for immortality shows that they are afraid and unsure of what life after death might entail. In the Epic of Gilgamesh he states “ Because I am afraid of death…

    • 1446 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Historians have come up with certain criteria they believe a society must obtain in order for it to be considered a civilization. These criteria are that the society must be stratified, must contain monumental architecture, and must have a formal system of law and order. Other historians may argue that writing must be part of a society in order for it to be considered a civilization, but that is not a criterion that is certainly agreed upon. According to this definition of a civilization, I conclude that both the ancient societies of Mesopotamia and Athens can both be considered civilizations.…

    • 797 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The three cultures that merged in Mesopotamia were Sumerian, Akkadian, and Babylonian. Sumerian was about 2350 B.C. Akkadian rose about 2000 B.C. Babylonian came along about 1600 B.C. History began at Sumer (Mattews, Noble, & Platt, 2014).…

    • 175 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Egypt was a monarchy and Mesopotamia was a democracy. In Egypt, the Pharaoh was in charge of making laws and owned everything, meanwhile, in Mesopotamia, there were many kings in different city-states and they did not own people’s belongings. A difference is that the land was measured differently. In Mesopotamia, they divided the land into city-states. Also, both civilizations thought differently about their kings. In Egypt, the Pharaoh was considered a god. Meanwhile, Mesopotamia believed that the kings weren’t gods so they didn’t worship them as gods. At one point, when the Assyrians were expanding a lot, the city-state got cut up into provinces. The ancient egyptians wrote hieroglyphics about the profits, costs and laws civilians made. In Mesopotamia, the scribes would draw pictograms on clay boards. While Egyptians trusted their justice goddess to teach right from wrong among their citizens, Mesopotamians would follow Hammurabi's law that demanded and Eye for an Eye. With this law, the offended person would be free to do the same thing he suffered at the hands of the criminal. In Mesopotamia would have a voice and a vote for city matters as going to war or not meanwhile Egypt didn’t have a voice. Everything was decided by the Pharaoh. So after all, there are differences and similarities between these dissimilar civilizations that…

    • 455 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Mesopotamia there were 4 classes of people. The Kings and Priests were at the top of the class. The Upper Class was the wealthy. The Lower Class was salaried for their work. The slaves were at the foot system. The kings and priests were very influential. The priests controlled the society because they owned most of the land, and a lot of. The Priests were over the schools and the libraries in their temples.…

    • 451 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    They also believed that any nobility they had as a mortal was no longer recognized nor relevant. This meant that even the greatest rulers wouldn’t be recognized as a noble in front of the gods of death. Their ideas about afterlife wasn’t dependent on what they did while they were living that determined how their afterlife would be, it really didn’t matter what they did while they were living, everyone was going to the same place. Death for the Mesopotamian people was believed to be in the hands of the gods. The gods decided when and how a person would die and once that decision was made there was nothing they could do to prevent it. This was shown with the death of Endiku. The Gods made the decision that Endiku should die because of his actions with Gilgamesh. The gods had a lot of power it was kind of like their life was in their hands. They could also punish them if they did something that didn’t approve of or not doing what they were told to do. For example, Anu sending the bull after Gilgamesh because he didn’t want to date his daughter. It’s also…

    • 500 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Epic of Gilgamesh is a prime example of how the Mesopotamians found meaning through their worldview. In Enkidu’s dream, he dies…

    • 448 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mesopotamia, also known as the land between two rivers, became the grounds of many ancient civilizations that we know about today. Perhaps one of the most famous is Sumer. Sumer was a civilization that thrived off of the two river, the Tigris and the Euphrates. Using irrigation systems, the Sumerians used the floods of the rivers produced to grow crops and support the growing population. This civilization grew into an early form of a modern city, with things like business, jobs, currency, and social classes. How were the Sumerians able to keep track of money and payments and when floods happened without a writing system? Eventually, the Sumerians were able to create to world's earliest writing system to keep record of all this. Later, that system evolved and became what we…

    • 692 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the very early days, before Christ, there were great, powerful empires. They built tall, beautiful buildings and temples. They rose to be the greatest empires ever. In my opinion, the best were the Ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamians. They were different in many ways, but had their similarities. (Mrs. Welsh)…

    • 398 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    If there was not justice in the societies, the rate of crime would have risen highly, and the community would have been afraid of their lives and could kill each other easily because without justice, there is not order, so when there is not order, people will freely do whatever they want without having obstacles which lead to civil wars. Beside the strengths point about justice, the ancient Mesopotamians had also some weaknesses justice system, For example, the decisions of the court could have been wrong, and the right cause of the crime could never be found, so some people might be killed to death without doing any sort of crime; as a result, justice was not right every time. Also, punishments were so strict to the people and did not have a meaning of decision, for instance, the punishment of the person, especially women was to throw them to rivers in order to know the cause of the crime which is very unusual because the…

    • 526 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays