The most prominent religion of ancient Mesopotamia was polytheism. In the surrounding areas of Mesopotamia, polytheism was mostly practiced also. The Israelites, Jews and Hebrews were in contact with Mesopotamians quite often and they were impacted by their religion and beliefs. They believed in similar gods as the Mesopotamians, including several nature spirits. It wasn’t until the time of Moses, when the Israelites embraced a monotheistic way of worshiping. When Judaism was introduced, it wasn’t widely accepted among the area. The religion did influence the development of other religions. Writing systems in Mesopotamia showed that Mesopotamia and the other areas surrounding it were intermixing and adapting to one another. Syrian and Phoenician cultures developed their own systems of writing based off of Mesopotamian culture. Writing evolved over time by the intermixing of cultures. During this time, the ancient peoples developed new ways of building and constructing ships, iron and metal welding, developed several tools still used today and trade networks. The…
Mesopotamia and Egypt are both similar because of their civilizations being located on a river system. The Egyptians had the Nile River and its delta that led in to the Mediterranean Sea. The Sumerians had the Tigris and Euphrates rivers that led into the Persian Gulf. Both of these rivers flooded, depositing silt onto the ground that would fertilize the soil. This would allow for agriculture and for huge populations to settle and grow in these regions. The Nile River flooded annually and the Tigris and Euphrates flooded randomly which could lead to a good or bad crop season. For ancient civilizations to exist, they needed to be located along rivers because they were a source of fresh water that is necessary for life. It also gives the settlement a good form of transportation up and down the river. Also, the water is used for farm animals to drink.…
In both societies, the patriarchal leaders were influenced by religion tremendously. For example, in Egypt, all the citizens believed that not only did their pharoah have “powers”, but he was God in human form, allowing them to have more power over people. As a result, religion became more intertwined within politics, and even back then it was hard to tell them apart.This is shown with the many tombs they designed for themselves, called the Great Pyramids. With religion in political structure was an effective tactic because the Mesopotamians feared their gods since their Gods’ punishments included making rivers flood unpredictably Also, like in Mesopotamia, in Egypt below the pharaohs were nobles and priests, and at the very bottom were slaves. By having patriarchal societies, rulers were often influenced by priests, and many decisions were based off of their polytheistic religion. Although both civilizations had rulers, Egypt only had one ruler whereas Mesopotamia had many.…
Mesopotamia as ‘the cradle of civilization” was one of the first civilizations- in the modern sense of the word, to arise. It is understandable then that it set the standards for what government, religion, art and culture should be for the countless civilizations that followed it. Their system of government in particular left a huge impression on how later civilizations wrote laws judging the behavior of the people, in fact historians agree that Hammurabi’s code of law- although somewhat cruel at times, was surprisingly ahead of its times. The Mesopotamian structure of religion with its many gods and goddesses also proved very popular as it was replicated in some of the most well known civilizations of Egypt, Greece and Rome. Artists of Mesopotamia also set the standards for how generations of artists would interpret the world around them in art.…
Each of these regions practiced polytheism, the belief of many gods. Both believed that they were created by gods and that a person’s sole purpose was to serve the gods. Egyptians were very adamant about this servitude while the Mesopotamians were more relaxed in their religious practice. The Egyptians would try their hardest to show the gods they obeying them and focused on following their rules. Pyramids were built to honor them. They had faith that if they did well by the gods the gods would do well by them in the afterlife. The Mesopotamians made statues to show respect and support to their gods and hoped that indicated they worshiped them. Their daily life was also concentrated on making the gods happy in the here and now. They felt their gods responded to its people’s works by a show of nature: i.e. hurricanes, rain, floods, drought etc.. They built ziggurats, tall temples that enable people to be closer to the gods.…
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.…
Mesopotamia and Egypt had similar religious beliefs. Mesopotamia was a polytheistic religion. They had gods like UR and Uruk. Egypt was also a polytheistic religion,with gods like Isis and Osiris. They created different gods which helped to explain why different things occurred. Like wheather and other natural events that happened. Both Ancient River Civilizations believed that their rulers were tied to the gods. Egyptians believed that once their pharaoh died, they will become a god. Mesopotamia and Egypt both believed in the afterlife. The Mesopotamian people believed that the dead souls went to the Land of No Return, and the Egyptians preserved the dead by mummification, because they believed that their spirit still lived even after death.…
Last, in Mesopotamia they had a government based strongly on Theocracy and in Egypt, they had a government based on the Pharaohs. The Mesopotamians thought the gods ruled the land and they were their leaders and in contrast, the Egyptians had Pharaohs who they followed and believed to be their leaders. Ultimately, the floodings of the two large rivers affected every aspect, of both the Mesopotamians and Egyptians way of life. Due to these floodings Mesopotamians and Egyptians formed two very different ways of life. These different views of life caused two different religions to form between Mesopotamia and Egypt. Due to the differences in religions in Mesopotamia and Egypt this caused their way of government, to be much…
How did religion compare between Egypt and Mesopotamia. Both Mesopotamia and Egypt were polytheistic societies. The flooding of the rivers had to do with the consistency of the gods. In both societies priests are at the top of the class system. They play a major part in religion. The gods were pictured differently in these societies. A few of the Egyptian gods were Ra, Anubis, and Osiris. A few of the Mesopotamian gods were Ashur, Anu, and Enki .…
Religion was the basis of civilization for the ancient Mesopotamians; it dominated every aspect of their lives. The ancient Mesopotamian society was built upon mythopoeic thinking. This way of thinking based on myths, led them to believe in Polytheism, the belief in many gods. These gods controlled universally. The "ancient Mesopotamians saw gods and demons everywhere in nature."(13) Each god served a different purpose; there were gods of the sun, moon, storms, river, and fire and in all other things. There were also the demons; they caused the disasters and sickness.…
When humans are faced with a phenomenon they cannot explain, often times they turn to external deities for an answer. These phenomena, such as natural disasters or geographical markings, heavily affected the gods civilizations created. An example of these differences could be seen with the Mesopotamians and Egyptians. First of all, taking a look at both of these civilizations rivers, sets the slate for most of the two civilization’s beliefs. Mesopotamia’s rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates, weren’t the most agreeable rivers, and so, their religion was set upon pleasing the gods in order for more acceptable weather. Their gods, also, weren’t a force to be reckoned with, seeing as one of their gods, Enlil up and decided to destroy humanity…
The practice of religion and the worship of gods and goddesses had a significant role in everyday life in Ancient Egypt. Hapy is a mummified man with a baboon head. Hapy the god of silt deposited by the yearly Nile river flooding. The yearly flooding is called inundation. Silt is in the water from the Nile and on the banks. Hapy is prayed too from everyday Egyptians to have a good flood that year so silt goes all over the land. Egyptians need this silt because it helps crops grow so, when the Nile overflows and floods the silt spreads all over the land so it can help the crops grow. Hapy is a big part of a stable food suplie because, the silt is better for the soil so the crops can grow better. Religion is important to the Ancient Egyptians…
Throughout ancient literature, most of the ancient people believed in one god or more. People _regardless of the time of their existence needed to follow, worship, and believe in god. People in ancient Mesopotamia, and ancient Egypt needed to believe in gods to answer questions they could not answer, to feel some kind of control in land they lived in, and to get the survival of their souls in the afterlife.…
As two of the first recorded prosperous civilizations, Egyptian and Mesopotamian cultures have many similarities. Particularly, religion was an important aspect of both Egyptian and Mesopotamian lives. Steeped in religious activity, Egyptians did not have a specific word for the activity since it was completely consuming of their lives. Believing that the pharaoh, which is the Egyptian king, was a divine being, he/she was therefore responsible for overseeing sacred ceremonies in order to keep cosmic order. Similarly, in ancient Mesopotamian culture, religion played an important role in the lives of the people. Considered to be divinely appointed, the king of the Mesopotamians possessed the power of the gods due to his position of power. Additionally,…