Ancient civilizations are primitive, yet advanced for their time period. It is astonishing to learn about how our ancestors were able to develop languages, build intricate structures, and create well-planned cities without the luxury of advanced technology. Ancient civilizations can have many similarities; however, only a few aspects of a civilization can make it stand out from the other civilizations of the time. The Egyptians and the Sumerians are two peoples that established great kingdoms with many similarities and differences.
Mesopotamia, often called the Cradle of Civilization, was nestled between two rivers: the Tigris and Euphrates. The land has fertile, dark, rich soil and golden wheat fields. It is no surprise that this area became
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The rivers were prone to flooding, which could devastate the land for long periods of time. Yet, the flooding of the rivers caused the Sumerians to organize into groups to control flooding. This created a type of government. Eventually, Sumer was divided into independent city-states. In each city-state there was a ruler-who was usually a warrior that rose to power.
Within each city-state there was a hierarchy as well. Under the ruler: publicans, scribes, and high-priests made up the upper-class. Lesser priests, scribes, and artisans were a part of the lower-class. Peasant farmers and slaves resided in the lowest of the classes, and most of the Sumerians were a part of this class. Sumerian women had many legal rights; in fact, women were held in high regard because they were believed to be givers of life.
The Sumerians were polytheistic. The Sumerian gods were thought to behave much like humans; however, they were responsible for peace or violence. Ancient Mesopotamians strived to please their gods so that there city-states would remain safe. They built ziggurats, which were pyramid-temples for the gods to be worshipped and offered sacrifices. The people of Sumer believed in the afterlife; however, the afterlife was thought to be nothing more than a place of eternal
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Such things were: writing (cuneiform), basic algebra and geometry, and calendars. It is remarkable to think that a people that existed about 3000 years before Christ entered was able to create such things when the world was so primitive. Cultural diffusion occurred when other civilizations learned things through contact with the Sumerians. The civilized people of the world disparaged from Sumer.
Egypt had a vast civilization that lasted for a long time. However, without the Nile, there would not have been an Egypt because this civilization depended on the flooding of the Nile at particular times of the year. Egypt is located in Northern Africa which is mostly arid. The Nile provides fertile soil, freshwater, and transportation. Neolithic farmers took advantage of the fertile soil of the Nile River Valley to grow wheat and flax (used for clothing). Not only did the Nile help produce resources, it helped Egypt become the world’s first unified
Conscious of the geographical region, Egyptians settled around the Nile, as the Nile provided substance (agriculture, irrigation, trading routes, etc.). The Egyptians noticed that the Nile would flood regularly, and exploited this natural flooding by building an irrigation system to support their agriculture, as well as their society. “Hymn to the Nile” depicts this prosperous age of agriculture, “Lord of the fish, during the inundation, no bird alights on the crops. You create the grain, you bring forth the barley, assuring perpetuity to the temples.” ("Ancient History Sourcebook: Hymn to the Nile, c. 2100 BCE."). However, the Nile might have contributed to the eventual collapse of ancient Old Kingdom Egyptian civilization. The Nile partially destroyed the society that it had once nurtured. A series of low or high floods over the course of a few years immensely impacted their agriculture, which in turn created epidemics of famine and civil unrest. The Egyptian civilization eventually prospered once more, only centuries later and with new social
During the years of 3500 BC to 2500 BC, the geography of a land often impacted a civilizations development in great measures. Depending on the resources available or the detriments present due to certain topographical characteristics like rivers or deserts, a civilization could flourish or collapse. By studying the geographic features of growing societies like the Nile, Euphrates, and Tigris Rivers as well as the Mediterranean Sea of Egypt and Mesopotamia, the link between developing cultures and geography will be examined through sources, including Egypt: Ancient Culture, Modern Land edited by Jaromir Malek and Babylon: Mesopotamia and the Birth of Civilization by Paul Kriwaczek. To determine the extent of its influence, this investigation will attempt to compare and contrast the role of geography in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, focusing on the civilizations’ various periods of development and settlement.
The ancient cultures of Mesopotamia and Egypt are a factor of the evolution of civilizations in present-day. Though, it wouldn’t occur if both of these ancient civilizations didn’t develop into successful ones. There are three similar components that led Ancient Egypt and Ancient Mesopotamia to become prosperous. These are the locations, their way of life, and their beliefs. All of these elements will be explored more thoroughly throughout this essay.
Egypt and Mesopotamia; two different civilizations that were similar in some ways, as well as different. They had their difference of their geographical location, as well as their different aspects of life. Even though they had their different life aspects, they had also had several similarities between each other.
Mesopotamian society was stratified into classes and social differences. It was composed of nobles, free clients of the nobility, commoners and slaves. Slave women participated in the textile industry. Free women did exist, however, men dominated the women in Mesopotamia. The nobles consisted of the king, his family, the chief priests, and high palace officials. The king was a war leader elected by the citizens. He established an army and led it into battle. Kingship was hereditary. Commoners were free citizens.
Mesopotamia’s first invention was a form of writing called cuneiform which was written on clay tablets with a sharp reed called a stylus. This permitted for recording events and writing formal laws. The Sumerians, a civilization in Mesopotamia designed the wheel which was used to help transfer heavy objects to and from places. They also began constructing daggers, spears and chariots, which has led to their successful wars. The Mesopotamians were also responsible for the first laws and the discoveries of glass, sailboats, and ziggurats. With interest high in religion and mythology, Sumerians and their successors worshiped gods and goddesses just like Egyptians, Greeks, and Aegean cultures.
One of the biggest parts of any civilization would be religion. In the Maya civilization and the Roman civilization religion played a big part in their culture. Both of these civilizations had polytheistic religions, but later the Romans became monotheistic which is something the Maya didn’t do. The Romans had the same gods as the Greeks but the Maya had a unique religion and unique practices. In the Maya civilization they practiced human sacrifice for religion purposes, however in the Roman civilization they watched gladiators fight to the death for
Mesopotamia’s climate consisted of temperatures rising from 110 to 120°F in the summer. This led to many dry days that eventually led to a severe drought. Basically, there was little to no rainfall from the months of May until October. This led to the devastation of agriculture. Not only did the Sumerians have to deal with the effects of the droughts, they had to deal with the consequences of flooding as well. The Tigris and the Euphrates surrounded Mesopotamia thus when it would overflow more devastation would occur such as the washouts of embankments. (Hause, 2001, pg. 7)
Throughout time societies have developed and progressed from each other through trade and exchanging knowledge, as well as numerous other aspects. Although, initially each civilization possesses their individual benefits, which causes each civilization to be quite diverse. During the River valley civilizations period, the civilizations Mesopotamia and Egypt developed upon their society politically, economically, and culturally. However, each civilization progressed upon these aspects differently based on the structure of their society, geography of their settlement, and their overall beliefs. Politically, Mesopotamia had a less centralized government, as they possessed numerous city-states, which were self-governed. Egypt, however, possessed
Ancient Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, and Greece were all historical civilizations that made history the way it is today. The three civilizations differed in many different ways, but they were also quite similar in other aspects. The focus of survival, beliefs, daily life, and many other focuses connect the three civilizations.
The ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt began to develop circa 3,000 B.C. Located near rivers, the lands offered fertile soil and an excess of crops that drew in many people. As more people arrived, the small settlements flourished into large, thriving civilizations. Many aspects of Mesopotamia and Egypt, such as their cities, their strongly organized government, and their religion, greatly contributed to the success of these two civilizations.
A consistent characteristic among the first civilizations was social stratification. In most of the first civilizations, social hierarchies included kings, the elites, the working class, and slaves. Social stratification was evident in the Mesopotamian and Egyptian societies based off of the documents from the Babylonian Empire, The Law Code of Hammurabi, and the Egyptian student text, Be a Scribe. In the document The Law Code of Hammurabi, soldiers, farmers, salves, and other jobs are mentioned (96-97). In the document Be a Scribe, farmers, cobblers, soldiers, and various other jobs are mentioned (100-101). It is significant that these jobs are mentioned in both documents because it illustrates the similarities in these civilization’s social hierarchies. But, the similarities in their social structures do not end there. Special treatment based off of social standing was a consistent factor in both of these civilizations as well. This is clearly exemplified in Mesopotamia with the harshness of punishments for crimes being dependent on class (97). In Egypt, evidence of special treatment based off of social stratification is insinuated in the document Be a Scribe. This document delves into the negatives of having low class jobs and encourages people to become educated to grow in class rank (101). Despite these similarities, these two civilizations still held vastly different values and
Mesopotamian civilization exercised profound and cultural influence throughout west Asia and beyond for about 3,000 years. Mesopotamia had many independent city-states with its own government and ruler. Priests ruled these city-states with other administrators such as organizers and managers. Since turmoil and tension would often arise between the city-states, Mesopotamian Political Unification was rarely achieved. Mesopotamia was constantly invaded by foreigners who would incorporate their culture into newly society and form a new one by force.
For thousands of years, people all over the world have developed, progressed, and eventually formed civilizations. A civilization is a community characterized by elements such as a system of writing, a development of social classes, and cities. Early civilizations such as ancient Greece, classical Rome, Mesopotamia, and classical China have made many contributions to society that still affect people in the modern world. The inventions, progress, and contributions of the people of these ancient civilizations and others have shaped the world that we all live in today.
Also, they were considered the first people to use a metal plow in farming due to their development of the bronze which they also used in making weapons and tools. But one of their most prize contribution to this world is their invention of writing. From one of the empires of the Mesopotamians, the Sumerians are responsible for the oldest writing system that exist in this world. They called their form of writing as cuneiform which is composed of shape marks that represent syllables (Mark,