Compare And Contrast Egypt And Mesopotamia

The Mesopotamians and Egyptians responded to the same geography, climate, and natural resources. The cultures of Mesopotamia and Egypt were both facilitated by rivers that ran in their midst, and farming civilizations (McFly, 2013). They had to learn how to farm because it was hazardous while hunting wild animals for their food source. The Mesopotamia and Egypt were located in river valleys, which are areas of flat land that has rivers running through it. They each adapted to the culture, which supported the development of writing styles and languages. However, the Mesopotamians established the cuneiform writing, which was used to preserve the records (Matthews et al., 2014). The Egyptians created the hieroglyphics writing, which was used to

However, the Mesopotamians were theocratic, which they believed that ruled at the behest of gods and the kings were appointed by the gods. The Mesopotamian cities had their own independent ruler, unlike Egypt. The Egyptians believed that the pharaohs were incarnations of gods and the deities had planned their country’s future from the beginning (Matthews et al., 2014). Therefore, the religions in both Mesopotamia and Egypt were polytheistic in which they both believed in multiple gods and goddesses based on nature. Both civilizations had gods of the sky, earth, freshwater, and the sun, as well as gods devoted to human emotions and the underworld (Matthews et al., 2014). However, their government and laws were the same, and they had no problem with women ruling in both Mesopotamia and

Nevertheless, they both utilize the calendar. The Mesopotamia and Egyptians both had similar social structures, which was slave-based with a society of hierarchical and stratified surrounded by palaces and temples (Matthews et al., 2014). Perhaps the most similarities between both the Egypt and Mesopotamia was the development of irrigation. The irrigation system helped to stabilize the flooding in both Egypt and Mesopotamia, which was one of the primary reasons why both civilizations developed a surplus of food (Nyokabi, 2016). However, one of the differences of the rivers is that Mesopotamia’s rivers the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers flooded irregularly and would flood during the spring, and they never knew when it would happen; therefore, it was hard for them to prepare for them. The Mesopotamian’s floods would cause loss of crops and sometimes even death. The Egyptian’s river the Nile River regularly flooded having a set schedule; therefore, the Egyptians were able to plan accordingly. This enables the Egyptians to save their people, cattle, and crops. The Mesopotamians had beliefs that were different because of the floods; therefore, they believed that the Gods were too unpredictable because of how the floods came and went. The Egyptians, on the other hand, praised the Gods because they did not have a hard time with the floods (Matthews et al., 2014). Lastly, another difference between both the