Preview

Similarities Between Mesopotamia And Egyptian Civilization

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
452 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Similarities Between Mesopotamia And Egyptian Civilization
What developments in civilization can be recognized from the writings and laws of Mesopotamia and Egypt? Civilization evolved from the developments made in Mesopotamian and Egyptian societies. These cultures are the foundation of how we live today and had many similar characteristics of the world we live in. Mesopotamia and Egypt can be recognized for several aspects of society based on the advances made in their time. Mesopotamia civilization emerged around 3500 B.C.E., developing many characteristics we see in society today. This includes writing, large cities, religious centers and more. The Sumerian culture was one of the first societies that had social stratification. They had city-states organized by political leaders. These city-states controlled the agricultural areas surrounding it (Longman). Technological advances enabled agricultural development and trade. This society also started a writing system called cuneiform. This made keeping records of trade and property possible. Cuneiform also served as a religious tool, helping people write scribes (Ocana). Egyptian civilization developed along the Nile River around 3000 B.C.E. In this society, they used the Nile to start trading with other regions (Mark). They used unified political structure rather than separate like the city-states. The Egyptians had a more …show more content…

Political structure in Egypt was more centralized while Mesopotamia the government was based around regional city-states (Mark). Egyptian culture was more advanced with architecture. This was partially because they had more access to building materials than Mesopotamia. Egypt also had pharaohs who were able to commandeer large amounts of laborers (Ocana). Egyptians lacked the literary tradition that Mesopotamia had. They also had less technological advances in their society. While known for many things, these societies were stronger in different departments than the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Mesopotamia Dbq Analysis

    • 579 Words
    • 3 Pages

    First off, the societies of both Egypt and Mesopotamia meet the definition of a civilization because of their customs and traditions. For example, both Egypt and Mesopotamia displayed the need for a ruler. With Egypt, it was customary to believe that the pharaoh brings peace to the land allowing his citizens to live and use the Nile to farm (Doc D). With Mesopotamia, it is the Standard of Ur that depicts a king and his army on one…

    • 579 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The first civilizations began in Western Asia and Egypt. The way we determine how civilization came about is through science. Archaeologists find many signs of civilization in ancient ruins. No records were contained but scientists were able to find out what happened many years ago. The first humanlike creatures were hominids or Australopithecines. Hominids had the ability to walk upright and were the first to create stone tools. A new form of hominid was discovered…

    • 2240 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mesopotamia and Egypt DBQ

    • 663 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Mesopotamia was surrounded by most of the world's ancient highly developed and social complex states. Mesopotamia was considered one of the four riverine civilizations because at that time writing began or was invented and also, that’s when the Nile Valley in Egypt developed. Egypt was a second civilization that grew up in northeastern Africa, along the Nile River. The Egyptian civilization began its formation by 3000 B.C., which was mainly benefited by the Mesopotamia technological influence and trade, but differ from their culture and society.…

    • 663 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    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.…

    • 336 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout history, civilizations have contributed to the cultural and intellectual life of humanity. These civilizations had developed about 5000 years ago. These civilizations had been defined as based on agriculture and urban settlements. At that period had been developed many cultural and intellectual achievements, but also stable government and a strong economy. The ancient River Valley civilizations of Egypt and Mesopotamia all made key contributions to future societies. For thousands of years, people all over the world have developed, progressed, and eventually formed civilizations. The area between the Tigris and Euphrates River was called Fertile Crescent because its rich soil and crescent shape (document 1).This region was where Mesopotamia one of the first civilization on earth grew. Sumer was an ancient civilization in Mesopotamia they created cuneiforms. Cuneiforms were the world’s first written language; Sumerians invented this writing system to keep track of business dealing (document 2). Mesopotamia developed between the Euphrates and Tigris River. Geographically, Mesopotamia occurred near major rivers since water was easily available and agriculture flourished. The most important invention that was created in the ancient times by Sumer in Mesopotamia was the wheel .it had a major impact in the world because it makes it easier for people to get to places faster and without the wheel the world would not have been the same. Egypt civilization was located in northeast Africa near on the border of the Nile River. Hieroglyphics was a system of writing that was based on pictures; it was created by the Egyptians to keep the records (document 6).pharaoh was the name of the king or god king of Egypt. Pharaoh built pyramids to serve as houses or tombs and specialized skill such as mathematics, geometry, engineering and architecture were need to built the pyramids (document 5). Life in ancient Egypt was centered…

    • 413 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Egypt was created with a settlement along a narrow strip of land that was also made fertile by the Nile river. Flooding also occurred but unlike Mesopotamia it was very predictable flooding and create a regular cycle of flooding then planting and lastly harvesting which kept repeating itself with every flood. The settlement had an intricate network of irrigation ditches. Egypt was mostly known for the lower region that focused around the Nile delta which flows directly into the Mediterranean Sea. Another benefit of Egypt’s location was the reliable transportation that the Nile provided the Egyptian settlements.…

    • 447 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Though Ancient Egypt and Ancient Mesopotamia were different in their outlook on life and in the structure of their governments , they were similar in their interaction and trade, because they both were embedded in larger networks of commerce, culture, and power, and they both carried on long-distance trade once they were established.…

    • 338 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mesopotamia vs. Egypt

    • 562 Words
    • 3 Pages

    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.…

    • 562 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    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.…

    • 560 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The root of the differences between the Mesopotamian cultures lies within the politics. The two cultures operated very differently as Mesopotamia was ruled regionally while Egypt used a more centralized government. Kings in the Mesopotamian region formed city states ruled by leaders of their armies while they just oversaw what was going on via these mediums. On the other hand, Egyptian culture featured “god-kings” or pharaohs that controlled much larger expanses of land than Mesopotamian leaders did. Logically, it makes sense that this would occur because of the differences in influence for these two regions. For example, unification of Egypt was inspired by Sudan’s use of small kingdoms that governed the agriculture of the rulers. The Egyptians then faced competition which caused their small kingdoms to conquer neighboring kingdoms to the point where they controlled much larger territories. The notion of kings and pharaohs leads into another difference. Mesopotamian societies featured monarchies as they were led by kings while Egyptians had a theocracy as pharaohs were divine rulers. In Mesopotamia it is figured that their monarchs evolved from men making decisions on behalf of their whole…

    • 961 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Mesopotamia Vs Egypt

    • 1255 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Mesopotamian society was set up as city-states, where farming villages were connected to an urban are, ruled by a leader living in a palace in the city. This decentralized government is in sharp contrast with the centralized and divine leadership of the Egyptian ruler. The villages in Mesopotamia provided produce, and the urban area provided military protection and specialized goods. There were many city-states in Mesopotamia. The city-states often fought for control of resourses, but they also came together when large man power was needed as in building new irrigation systems. The geography of both Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilization helped to develop the religion, the political and economic environment of two great early civilizations. Mesopotamian civilization was comprised of city-states. Their society was divided into landowners, farmers/artisans/and slaves. With the importance of farming, the role of women diminished, since the men did the hard labor of plowing. Women were still allowed to own land at the time. The writing system in Mesopotamia, cuneiform, was controlled by male scribes. This dominance probably led to a further decline in the role of women in Mesopotamian society. Women were allowed to engage in trade, work outside their homes, and make baskets and clean their homes. Politics was off limits.…

    • 1255 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    A civilization is a society in advanced state of social development. Mesopotamia and Egypt are some of the oldest civilizations on history. One of the most important steps taken for a civilization to occur was the agricultural revolution. This was when man stopped being nomadic and begun to settle down permanently or for long periods of time in one specific area and began living off the lands and raising animals, this as we know is known as the agricultural revolution. Other steps that helped towards the occurrence of civilizations were suitable geographical locations. They needed a reliable water and food source and sometimes good areas for defense or they built their own.…

    • 562 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Neither of them had a government system like the United States has today. In Mesopotamia, priests and kings ran the cities. In Egypt pharaohs and priests were the main leaders but other wealthy people helped lead. So both civilizations had a very similar power chain. Their writing however was not the same at all. The egyptians wrote in hieroglyphs while the people of Mesopotamia wrote in cuneiform.…

    • 389 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mesopotamia was the first great civilization and was built along the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers and is now located in present day Iraq. This is the area that is called the Fertile Crescent because its geography and layout caused farming and urban areas. The people in this region were either considered Sumerians or Semitics which led to religion in which the people worshipped gods of nature and also imagined gods as anthropomorphic. The social structure of Mesopotamia was organized in social divisions which gave certain economic and political advantages to some and condemned others. Social structure was very much controlled by The Law Code of Hammurabi which gave the society three classes; the free landowning class, the class of dependant farmers, and the class of slaves. The economy of Mesopotamia was based on slaves and trade. The trading was kept track with a system of tokens which gave ownership of different items and also property. Much of the trade there was done by boat and includes the trading of bronze, clay, and cattle. This is very much how Mesopotamia lasted so long and is known as the first great civilization.…

    • 744 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In comparing both they had important similarities corresponding to their society, some of their features were from early civilizations. Both Egypt and Mesopotamia foreground power structure, with a noble, landowning group on the near top and a…

    • 471 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays