Egypt And Mesopotamia Similarities

Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt had quite a few similarities, as well as many differences. In this essay I will talk about a few of each of the ways they were similar, as well as different in how they progressed toward becoming civilizations. Mesopotamia was located in between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. They relied on the rivers flooding so their soil could get nutrients to benefit them in agriculture, which would further help them grow. The nutrients made the soil very fertile for farming, which quickly led to cities that would grow into city-states. Egypt was located along the Nile River, they also depended on the river to flood to assist them in agriculture. Unlike Mesopotamians however, Egypt was formed because after the Ice Age, animals were scarce so people had to track animals

While describing the cultural among the people of Mesopotamia and Egypt, I learned the differences and similarities in culture. The birth of Mesopotamian Civilization began in c. 3000 B.C.E., in the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers of Southwest Asia. Mesopotamia is a Greek word and it means ‘between the rivers.’ In contrast, the birth of Egyptian Civilization began in c. 3100 B.C.E., in a valley of the Nile River in Northeastern Africa. Egypt is a Greek word and it means ‘House of the Spirit of Ptah.’ Since there are several categories in the cultures of the Mesopotamians and the Egyptians, I decided to narrows it to three categories: Religion, Writing, and Geography. The three categories will present the basis to compare cultural differences and similarities.

Some of the similarities between Egypt and Mesopotamia are that the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers in Mesopotamia and the Nile River in Egypt were essential to the survival of these two civilizations. Also, both Egypt and Mesopotamia suffered from flooding of their own

Mesopotamia and Egypt had quite a few similarities. Both communities were ruled by kings and were developed along rivers. These rivers helped with the agricultural needs that erected the villages and city-states into what they were. People populated these areas because of the resources from the rivers. They were able to grow their own food and irrigate their own water supplies. Both settlements also believed in many gods, or were polytheistic. The kings were the highest in the social structure because they owned land and were dearest to the gods.

Mesopotamia and Egypt two ancient civilization who have so much in common, yet are also different in many ways. These two civilization both share geographic characteristics. Even though Mesopotamia was brought up in 5000 BCE a whole 1900 years before Egypt, they both used similar techniques to grow their civilization to what they were. (Acrobatiq, 2014)

Although the pharaoh’s believed they were gods themselves, the Mesopotamian kings thought of themselves as doers of their gods’ will. Secondly, location was important as the Mesopotamian and Egyptian economy was dominated by agriculture. Overall the Egyptians invented technological advances, which are still in use today

Mesopotamia and Egypt are two of the oldest and most famous civilizations in the history of the world. Mesopotamia and Egypt were both River-Valley civilizations, yet, their political, social, and cultural beliefs developed differently due to their geographic location. The rise of these early river valley civilizations occurred around the same period of time. Both Mesopotamia and Egypt grew alongside mighty rivers, however, Mesopotamia developed between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers while the Egyptian civilization emerged beside the Nile River.

The rise of civilizations in Egypt and Mesopotamia occurred around the same time and the environment and natural forces affected the similarities and differences in social, political, and economic stability. There were many similarities and differences between both of these countries as well. In both cases, it was the river valley and geography that affected the agriculture, religious views, and government structures. The Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilization developed in the Middle East and were located by the river. Mesopotamia was located between the Tigris and Euphrates, while Egypt was located near the Nile River. Due to the location of these civilizations, they relied heavily on its surrounding environments. Mesopotamian civilization was a unique culture and created the world’s first set of laws. The Egyptian civilization naturally was a very strong society because of the environment it was surrounded with. They lived in the Sahara Desert and in the harsh environment they inherently adapted as a tough group of people. Both civilizations developed similarly because of the same environment they were in. Mesopotamia’s social classes varied overtime and place. The gender roles are very similar to most of the population; the woman played the housewife while the husband provided for the family (Sayre). Egyptians also had a similar but more powerful mindset when it came to gender roles; Egyptian males dominated the world whereas women had minimum output (Sayre). Politics

The geographical location was an important factor in many of the ancient civilizations. Where the people settled determined whether they would have success at surviving. Both Mesopotamia and Egypt were ancient civilizations founded in roughly the same longitude and latitude area of the world. Hot dry areas full of dessert. What drew early civilizations to settle on these locations was the same for both places, land near water that was good for planting. What is different about each location is what makes these two early civilizations vastly different yet extremely important to our world today, the natural resources and the way the early settlers utilized them. Both Mesopotamia and Egypt were founded near large rivers. To be a farmer and either of the ancient civilizations would have met hard work seasonal changes and hauling water from the river difficult even in today standards. Mesopotamia has fertile land near the water’s edge. The rivers run parallel down both sides of the country. The remaining area is barren dessert, with a limited amount of Natural Resources. Egypt is surrounded by fertile land along the Nile its desert has many natural resources that makes both areas unique but completely different. Living in the desert area of either location required using the land and the resources it provided such as eating what was easy to grow, building houses out of what could be mined from the land and advancing everyday life by examining and experimenting with

Egypt and Mesopotamia were the two greatest civilizations in ancient times because of the sophisticated way of living, but most importantly the way the kings rule over the people. These civilizations had aspects of their daily lives that were similar, and others in which they are different. Mesopotamians had an idea of expansion in mind, while Egyptians had an idea of internal ruling and making the people’s daily life peaceful and harmonic. In Ancient Mesopotamia the most readily available material for writing was clay. When writing on clay first arose, Mesopotamians would try to make an artistic representation of what they were referring to. The process was technical and when you are describing a rock next to a deer, you would draw the rock first and then add the deer to the picture. Pictograms were the earliest stage in writing. The Mesopotamian drove an urban social change and that is when cuneiform was found.

Geography helped to define both Mesopotamia and Egypt, but Egypt, without a doubt had an easier lifestyle and definitely not as difficult as Mesopotamia. Egypt was mostly cut off from the entire world by the environment on all sides and was safe and calm for many years. As a result of this they developed much differently politically, religiously, and socially compared to Mesopotamia.

The Egyptian civilization and the Mesopotamian civilization developed at roughly the same time, by 3,100 BC, in nearby regions, probably with some indirect contact. However, these two earliest states/civilizations are often compared in that it has similarities, yet, also differences within the society and culture. Many aspects of the two civilizations can be compared, for instance, geography, politics, culture, economics, religion, arts, and etc. Among these various differences, I will be focusing on the writing system of each civilization, as it was the key characteristics

Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia are a valuable area of historical research. This essay will focus on the differences and similarities in these societies economic, political, and cultural life. As well as the circumstances the people of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia faced.

To compare and contrast Mesopotamia and Egypt, Mesopotamia introduced more of a literacy value to the civilization including formal law codes, city planning, architecture, and many institutions. They became very advanced in irrigation, farming, pottery, bronze and copper. Mesopotamia was becoming very complex in their ruling system and money systems. They were ruled by a king and used silver to trade and buy goods. On the other hand, a pharaoh whom was seen as god and worshipped had complete power over the entire country of Egypt. Due to their complex geographic structure along the Nile River, there was a lot of slave labor. Although both had many differences, they both enjoyed religion and art, relied on rivers for transportation, importation, and exportation. They each had slaves to do the labor from their complex civilizations and also had the same stratification of social contrasts between peasants on the bottom and landowners well above and beyond at the top. Other similarities included writing, law and communication (Comparison of Early Mesopotamia and Egypt).

Over the years Egyptians had more experience than the Mesopotamians, because the Egyptians had more ideas for making new things. In Ancient Egypt the Egyptians had built pyramid structures and in Ancient Middle East the Mesopotamians had built ziggurat structure. The Egyptians and the Mesopotamians mostly had things in common but they just look at things differently. The Mesopotamians were the first to developed tools during that time, but over the years the Egyptians had also developed tools but it was real science technology. Another thing is that when it came to women rights in Ancient Middle all the womens were owned by their husbands, and in Ancient Egypt the people worshiped womens and there was even a woman ruler. Even though Ancient Middle East and Ancient Egypt share written language and both heavily relied on the Nile, Tigris, and Euphrates, rivers the difference between Ancient Middle East and Ancient Egypt is that they both have an opposite view on the afterlife.