How Did Geography Affect Mesopotamian Society

Geography has a tremendous impact on the development of societies. In the mesopotamian society, geography has an impact on the items that are produced, food, trade, and the way that people are able to travel. Large-scale irrigation made possible the expansion of agriculture in this region, and the abundant food provided the material base for the emergence of the civilization in Mesopotamia (Spielvogel p. 7). The geography in Mesopotamia, such as; waterways and soil, helped the society to expand in a positive direction. In Egypt, the society was relative to Mesopotamian society because they also used geography to their advantage by using trade and travel. They also used the geography of their area as a way to shape their upper and lower class.

In Mesopotamia, The Sumerians believed that gods and goddesses owned the cities, and much wealth was used to build temples as well as elaborate houses for the priests and priestesses who served the gods and supervised the temples and their property (Spielvogel p. 8). The Sumerians believed that their kings were sent by gods and guided by gods. I believe that this is why the Sumerians had such a great amount of respect for their kings because they believed they were sent by a much higher power to rule their societies. On the other hand, in Egypt it’s society believed in an afterlife. Egypt was part of the universal cosmic scheme, and the pharaoh was the divine being whose duty was to preserve Egypt’s place within that divinely ordained cosmic order (Spielvogel p. 19). In comparison, I feel as if the Sumerians felt about their king how the Egyptians felt towards their pharaoh. The influence geography had on the mesopotamians was that they believed that each and every city- state was sacred and was associated to a specific god or goddess. For Egypt, they believed that all their heavenly bodies connected with natural forces and they found the sun, fertile land, and rivers