AP World History
Period:8
9/29/12
Comparing: Egypt and Mesopotamia
Although Mesopotamia and Egypt were similar in terms of their writing system, they differ with technology. The Mesopotamian’s both were one of the first civilizations to invent the writing system. Both places started with pictographs. On the other hand, the Mesopotamian’s invented more important things than the Egyptians, such as the wheel and the sailboat.
Mesopotamia and Egypt both had the same types of religions, including the same gods and goddesses. Both Egypt and Mesopotamia had supreme gods such as Ra, Amon and Osiris. Male gods had a female goddess as their wife. The gods and goddess of these two civilizations often had a human form and an animal form., sometimes the two forms were combined. For example, the god Horus can be shown as a hawk, or as a man with the head of a hawk.
Both Mesopotamia and Egypt were similar in their agriculture. They both had rivers such as the Nile River and the Euphrates and Tigris River provided silt to help their crops grow. They both had very fertile land, but neither of them received enough rain to grow the crops. During the year 3000 B.C, farmers came up with a way to help them with their crops; they invented the plow that the oxen could pull. During that same period of time, Mesopotamia and Egypt developed the world’s largest irrigation system.
In despite of Egypt and Mesopotamia believing that their rulers were gods, they differed in the type of ruling system, which later changed. Both civilizations became monarchies. Egypt had a Pharaoh, a position passed down from father to son, lasting a lifetime. Mesopotamia’s king did not operate on family legacy, the king would normally attack the lower standard areas of the city with his army.
These two civilizations were similar, because they were on of the first ones to start using the writing system. They differed with one another, because the Mesopotamian’s evolved faster with their technology. For example, inventing the wheel and the sailboat.
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
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 -
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.…
- 672 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Egypt and Mesopotamia had more differences than similarities, mainly being the predictable versus the unpredictable flooding of its nearby rivers and the isolation of Egypt due to the deserts located on both sides of the Nile River. While the deserts provided natural protection against invaders it also reduced interaction with other people. The desert protection would cause Egypt to develop mostly in isolation and therefore a very unique culture formed whereas in Mesopotamia the Sumerian innovations in achieving civilization set examples that other cultures would…
- 447 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
Egypt and Mesopotamia were both similar in the way that government controlled the irrigation systems. These early river valley civilizations formed by the fertile lands so that farmers don’t have to live a nomadic life. There religious ideas were both similar because they were polytheistic. They had a god for each thing such as the sun god, the Nile river god, or the god of death. These two river valley civilizations also were similar in their social class structure. Priests were considered the highest social class because they were closest to god and it ranged to peasants who made up majority of the social class.…
- 414 Words
- 2 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
Along with their outlooks being different, so were the structures of their government and cities. The Mesopotamian civilization was organized in a dozen or more different city states, while the Egyptian civilization maintained unity. This being, cities in Egypt were far less important than in Mesopotamia. Each city-state in Mesopotamia was ruled by a different king, that claimed to be that city's patron deity. The Egyptians were ruled by a pharaoh, believed to be a god in human form. This shows that were ruled in very different ways, by very different people. It also shows how different the structure of their cities were.…
- 338 Words
- 2 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
In both civilizations religious leaders were given a very high status. They were both polytheistic, meaning they believed their world was ruled by more than one god. They believed that the gods created them, and they were also responsible for good harvests. Now that Mesopotamia and Egypt were more technologically advanced, they both built religious structures. Mesopotamia built ziggurats, and the Egyptians built pyramids. The priests went to the Ziggurats and Pyramids to pray, and to make offerings to the gods.…
- 394 Words
- 2 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
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 -
Egypt and Mesopotamia are similar because they share the same concept of having a single rule, although Egypt is a theocracy and Mesopotamia is a monarchy; and both are divided into social classes, the difference being that women in Egypt have more right than Mesopotamia.…
- 345 Words
- 2 Pages
Satisfactory 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 -
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 -
Both Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt were polytheistic. In Mesopotamia, the gods embodied forces of nature. Some examples include Anu, the sky and Uta, the sun. The Egyptians believed in over 2,000 gods. Both civilizations were anthropomorphic. This means that they believed their rulers were gods on earth.…
- 256 Words
- 2 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
There are many similarities that characterize the two governments of Egypt and Mesopotamia. For example, both civilizations had manuscripts and inscriptions. These were written down to make sure that civilians would understand, follow, and obey their laws. These law writers were called Scribes. Their job would be writing things down. Sometimes, there were the only people in the land who were literate. This way, when people were caught disobeying a law, they could not escape the consequences. Also, both Egypt and Mesopotamia had to pay taxes. There were citizens in charge of collecting them. Moreover, the two had kings that were thought to be descendents from the gods. Both surmised that the kings were related gods in the skies. As to that…
- 455 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
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 .…
- 389 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
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…
- 899 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
Both Egypt and Mesopotamia believed in many gods. In Mesopotamia they had massive destruction of their crops and lands because of the flooding, they believed that their god had exceptional powers so they had to keep the gods satisfied. In order to maintain them they offered food to the gods. While in Egypt it was calm and mother earth was not acting up, Egyptians believed that their place was designed as some shelter in a world so chaotic. Egyptians believed in preserving their bodies in order to supply the important tools that they would need for their afterlife. Overall Egypt and Mesopotamia left their marks and thanks to them we are able to benefit from many things that they created as a…
- 471 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays