...Ancient Egypt vs. Mesopotamia The decision to write this Paper came about as soon as I read the subject. I am in love with Ancient Cultures. It is very interesting to me to study and learn new things about the style of life peoples of ancient times lead, the type of housing and furniture ancient peoples possessed, the foods and resources they had at hand, as well as the religious and other daily values which ancient peoples believed in. To compare the Ancient Egyptian civilization to the civilization of Ancient Mesopotamia is surely going to be a task which will not be easy, especially since it is my personal believe that both of these grandiose civilizations cannot be compared to one another. Comparing the Ancient Mesopotamian Civilization to the Civilization of Ancient Egypt is not really possible once you think about the difference of years between the beginnings of each of these Civilizations. Mesopotamia is considered to be at the least 5000 years older than Ancient Egypt. The earliest civilized form of Human development in Mesopotamia is known to Historians to have occurred between 10500-3500 BC (Mayan Archeology), whilst Historians believe the Ancient Egyptian Civilization to have started between the years of approx. 5500- 3100 BC, which is what is considered the Pre-dynastic Period. (Experience ancient) While Ancient Egypt started to develop Mesopotamia already made big progress in forms of Farming, building the first settlements...
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...The Role of Governments in Ancient Civilizations Peoples in ancient civilizations had different worldviews, and government was an essential aspect of their cultures. How those peoples understood the role of government determined the expectations individuals had from rulers. Some written records provide essential information to understand the differences and similarities of governments of the first civilizations. A comparison and contrast of some of those written records on three ancient civilization aims to provide a description of the different understandings of the role of government in those cultures. The Judgments of Hammurabi, a collection of decisions or laws and the Epic of Gilgamesh, the story of a king, are documents that provide...
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...How Geography Effected Ancient Cultures Mesopotamia and Egypt in the ancient world were in modern day Iraq, and Egypt is still there today. Culture in theses societies, was loosely based on their natural surroundings. While geography in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt differed in stability and protection, they were similar in farming opportunities, with comparable sources of water giving them both the chance to excel in agriculture. The river flooding in Mesopotamia and Egypt differed in predictability; while rivers in Mesopotamia were sporadic in flood patterns, the Nile in Egypt was very predictable in its flooding. This caused the two civilizations to have opposing ideas of the power of their gods. In ancient Mesopotamia, the Tigris and Euphrates rivers were incredibly unpredictable, and when they flooded they caused frenzies in surrounding areas. This unpredictability was reflected in their religion, as they felt the flooding of the rivers was a punishment for something they did. In thinking they could never please the gods, the people of Mesopotamia believed one only had the underworld to look forward to after death. They viewed nature as something out to get them. This belief led to more selfishness in people, and as a result, people were generally less trusting. However, in Egypt, the Nile River and its yearly predictable flooding led to the creation of calendars to plan agriculture around flooding; therefore, the flooding would help, not hurt them. The predictability...
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...between ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia was the political organization in both civilizations. The tyrannical presence of ancient Egypt’s godly Pharaohs and the justified structure of Hammurabi’s code in ancient Mesopotamia were the distinct political differences. Political organization affected the ancient economy, that then affected social order, which in turn affected the kinds of religions practiced, which played a huge role in the development of these ancient societies. Egyptian Pharaohs took advantage of the geography surrounding them, and found the Nile River Valley to be rich in precious metals, including gold, copper, and iron. A large number of men took a chance and left their homes to go out and mine for these precious metals. While in Mesopotamia, Hammurabi established many laws which allowed for the stabilization of the economy. These laws established legitimate trade and commerce for the sharing and distributing of agriculture grown in the area. In both ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia their economies flourished with trade, this is because in order to establish a...
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...Geyer Ancient World History Rough Draft 11/8/2014 In most civilizations in the ancient world, there were vast differences between the lives of men and women. For example, women could not serve in the Roman Senate, own property in ancient Greece, or ask for divorce. All of these rules existed while men had the ability to do all of these things. The life of a woman in the ancient world was in no way equal to men in most societies. The Egyptians believed that joy and happiness were of the utmost importance in life, and regarded the home and family as a major source of happiness. This meant that the Egyptian’s thought better of women who did not work, and took care of the home and family. All other ancient civilizations had one thing in common. Mesopotamia, Rome, Greece, and Israel were all surrounded by other sets of people. This meant that these other civilizations had to be warlike societies, and this meant women would have less of a role because men believed women could not fight as well in battle. Egypt developed under unique circumstances. The Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea separated the Egyptians from everyone else in the ancient world. In other words, the Egyptians did not have a warlike society because training like that was unnecessary. Since there was no need for a warlike society in Egypt, women had a more established role in society. Women’s rights in Egypt were more equal to men than other civilizations because of the unique circumstances under which Egypt developed...
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...When examining the ancient cultures of Egypt and Mesopotamia, it is vital to observe the distinct similarities between their religious beliefs. Considering the geographic closeness of the two ancient civilizations, Mesopotamia occupying mainly modern day Iraq, centered around the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and Egypt which is still located in the region recognized as modern Egypt, centralized around the Nile River, and the overlapping time frame both of these societies occupied, it is not unexpected that Mesopotamia and Egypt would possess similar ideologies. Despite the fact that the political structure of these civilizations differed between Mesopotamia’s unstable collection of city-states and Egypt’s unified monarchy, both societies were comprised a polytheistic philosophy where the Gods reflected a larger, universal system. Furthermore, both ancient civilizations relied on the flooding of their adjacent rivers for survival and these floods manifested within their religious ideologies. Although, the annual flooding of the Nile gave the Egyptians a sense of comfort and satiability surrounding death and was the direct rational of the Egyptians belief that rebirth followed death, the inconsistent flooding of the Tigris and Euphrates left the Mesopotamian people uncertain of the continuity of lives, evident in their harsh God’s and lack of interpretation of what the after-life consists of. Nevertheless, the similarities between the two culture’s religious beliefs are far too comparable...
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...Civilization than the Tigris and Euphrates in Mesopotamia, as the floods in the Nile River were more predictable than the Tigris and Euphrates. Geography is the study of Earth; it’s landforms, features and inhabitants. It is important as it includes the study of our planet and what happens in nature, it studies people, helps with navigation, includes study of natural resources and let’s us appreciate life. Unfortunately, The Tigris and Euphrates River set a negative view of the afterlife for Mesopotamia, as they couldn’t foresee the floods that were going to happen. Thus, the people of Mesopotamia believed that the Gods were displeased or rather frustrated with them. This led them to believe that the afterlife was absolute misery. The rivers were used as a water supple and to irrigate crops, but also important for transportation and trade. Because of these rivers, Mesopotamia was a crossroads of the ancient world for trade between China, Egypt and India. As the Mesopotamians thought that their gods were furious at them, they built statues of them prayigg in hopes of them to please their gods....
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...ASSESSMENT TASK ANCIENT RELIGIONS Religions of Ancient Mesopotamia George Pauls 10K Ms. Delalande (Note: Ms Delanlande instructed that essay format was permitted and an extension was granted in regards to my absence.) George Pauls 10K Year 10 Religious Education Assessment Task Ancient Religions – Religions of Ancient Mesopotamia Many religions around the world in modern time are still believed and followed by a large portion of the world’s population with the predominant religions being Christianity, Islam and Buddhism. Many Religions have simply come to a halt and ceased to be believed and followed such as the religions in Ancient Egypt and Ancients Greece. One of the lesser known and arguably the oldest ancient religion of our world was the ancient religion on Mesopotamia, which did follow some key concepts from the other foreign ancient religions in which there were multiple gods, goddesses and other deities and supreme beings. It is believed to have originated over fifty centuries ago. Mesopotamia is known more commonly known as Iraq, situated within the Middle East. The religion of Ancient Mesopotamia consists of numerous components. The God Anu (Below) The God Anu (Below) The Mesopotamian religion was followed by Sumerians and Akkadians (Assyrians/Babylonians) who lived in Mesopotamia. Mesopotamian religion was basically perceived as a form of paganism with over 2100 deities which associated with a specific region, city or state within Mesopotamia. The main deities...
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...cultivation techniques. For early humans, almost all time and energy was devoted to gathering plants for food and hunting animals. Once agriculture became the primary method for cultivating food, societies and governments began to form and the modern notion of the nation state (or city state in some cases) began. The development of agriculture also had a heavy hand in influencing early religions. Religion would go on to become one of the most dominant forces throughout human history; influencing everything from powerful governments to the day-to-day life of citizens the world over. This paper will discuss the importance of the development of agriculture among early humans with specific regard to the rise of Mesopotamian city-states and the ancient Egyptian nation state. These two early societies provide poignant examples of the profound influence of agriculture. In their respective eras, they...
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...Wine - historical & Archaeological OVERVIEW INTRODUCTION: Archeological studies of alcohol can provide deep insight into societies past and present. Around the world and throughout time, humans demonstrate a nearly universal proclivity towards alcoholic beverages. As cultural anthropologist David Mandelbaum writes, cultural attitudes towards alcohol vary around the world from adoration to proscription of drink, but there are few cultures [1]that completely ignore alcohol (Mandelbaum 1965: 281). Distillation of hard spirits happened only in recent times and for much of human history, wine and beer[2] were the only alcoholic beverages available for common consumption (if a bar or tavern was present in a particular culture). Archeological evidence shows that while during the last 10,000 years alcohol consumption was common, it was also uniquely culturally contextual. Dutch archeologist Marijke Van der Veen claims that “[studying] the production, preparation, consumption, and disposal can help identify the social context of food” (Van der Veen 2006: 407). A more traditional archeological approach focuses less on the production of food due to its “transient nature”.[3] Ethnographic research can provide more information about consumption practices as can historic sources, but we need more information from actual artifacts found at sites around the world. With artifacts, we can provide a more conclusive picture of how different cultures produced, consumed, valued or...
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...The Civilizations and Cultures of Mesopotamia and Egypt Mesopotamia has been called the first civilization, forming around 2500 BC, but there was also another civilization being formed around the same time; the Egyptian civilization was formed by 3000 BC along the Nile River. Both civilizations were strongly influenced by geography, natural resources, and social class. The development of two great early civilizations were guided by the geography, natural resources, and social classes but these broad categories branched off in different directions for each civilization. Geography had a large impact on the successful development of these two civilizations. Both largely depended on nearby rivers for their success and were called the river civilizations. Mesopotamia translates to “land between rivers” which is exactly what it was. It was located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. These rivers provided for the Sumerians to develop an extensive irrigation system. They were also able to use the flooding of the rivers to their benefit, and all of these developments lead to them having things to trade which they also used the rivers to do. Goods were able to move from place to place along the river along with ideas. Similarly, the Egyptian civilization was strongly dependent on their river, the Nile, and they would have not made nearly as much advancement without it. When the Nile flooded it helped farming and agriculture by providing silt, helping the soil. Their irrigation...
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...Religion is defined by Emile Durkheim as a “unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden”. In the ancient world the religion a society believed was unified and worked with their lifestyle and situations. a lot of times gods & goddesses were directly related to the weather and wars. There would be a god of rain who would bring good crops which kept a society functioning. The ritual of religion is an important part of these societies, it gave people a purpose and made sense of the world even if it was really just a functional way to build an prosperous kingdom for the elite rulers. I am going to explain the rituals & religions of five ancient civilizations; Mespotamia, Egypt,...
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...Where would our world be today if the ancient civilizations in Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Palestine did not exist? Who do we have to thank for their achievements? What contributions did they make to society? In these paragraphs the ancient world of Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Palestine will come back to life as I talk about their achievements and contributions that helped not only to their civilizations, but helps to the future civilizations to come. In 2650 B.C. Egypt's Old Kingdom era began. (Document 1) During this time period dynasties were created and in those dynasties were Egyptian rulers called pharaohs. The pharaohs had majestic pyramids as tombs built to show their power. These pyramids started the architectural development. Every since the Egyptian civilization started the Egyptians believed in faithful life after death. On judgment day the more pure you are the better and kinder judged you will be by Osiris the god of the dead. (Document 3) The Egyptians wore clothing made out of cotton. Cotton is one of the world's most important agricultural products and not many civilizations could grow it so the Egyptians sold it. (Document 4) Egyptians had a system of writing called hieroglyphics. Hieroglyphics are a form of pictures to create an idea. Over time scribes developed demotic a simpler form of writing. They wrote on paper like material called papyrus. The Egyptians were among the first to use something to write on rather than stone and clay tablets. Now today we have...
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...Taylor P Ancient Architecture Functions of Ancient Monuments Ancient monuments have been discovered to be a prominent feature of many different ancient civilizations throughout history. The most elaborate and well known ancient buildings are the pyramids and the ziggurats of Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Mesoamerica. The construction of these massive monuments began sometime during the fourth millennium BC and to this day many can still be seen. Although believed by most to serve a particular religious function, historians are still trying to discover the exact purpose of these breathtaking feats of architecture. However, through the vast studies of archaeology, enough information has been acquired to make some valid theories. The first civilization to construct a massive architectural project was the Egyptians with their construction of the pyramids. It is believed that the Egyptian civilization began around 5500 BC and then began to flourish as a result of new innovations in agriculture and the abundance of natural resources around the Nile. Over time, Egyptians made great achievements in mathematics, writing, astronomy, medicine, engineering, and architecture. This played a huge part in the progression of Egypt into a powerful and influential civilization. In addition to these achievements, the significance of religion was another extremely important factor that allowed the Egyptian civilization to thrive. Egyptians practiced polytheism. In their religion, not only were...
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...provide archeologists with a great deal of information about the ancient cultures that constructed them. When comparing The Great Pyramids of Egypt with The Ziggurats of Mesopotamia, the differences between them are more apparent than the similarities that they share. The two structures actually only appear to be similar. Both have the general form of a pyramid. Some other similarities shared by these two types of structures can be interpreted from the context of the religions of those who had them erected and what role they served for the society. Among the differences are their intended usage, how they were decorated, their designs, and the materials used in their construction. In order to clearly describe how different these two structures are, I have summarized some information about their designs and the materials used to build them. Contrasts in the decorations of the two types of structures are then discussed. The intended uses of these structures then introduces some similarities in relation to the religious symbolism of the structures. Considered to be among the greatest wonders of the known world, The Pyramids of Egypt were built with exacting precision from granite blocks. The pyramids of the early dynasties were of a more stepped pyramid form, similar in appearance to the ziggurats of Mesopotamia. Advancements in available technologies and construction techniques in the later dynasties of ancient Egypt allowed for pyramids to be constructed with less of a stepping...
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