Compare And Contrast Egypt And Mesopotamia

The Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations are two of the most well known first civilizations in the study of World History. Though these societies have their fair share of similarities and differences, they are imperative to the progression of modern day society. In both of these civilizations their cultural influence spread throughout early societies and also increased their knowledge about new traditions and technology through neighboring civilizations. However, the Mesopotamians had a pessimistic outlook on life, an unpredictable agriculture system, and a political system of independent city-states. Moreover, the cultural influence of Mesopotamia and Egypt on neighboring civilizations was great. For example, Mesopotamians greatly impacted the Phoenicians who created their alphabet system from the cuneiform method of writing founded by the Sumerians. Another great important cultural influence was the incorporation of Sumerian deities into the

Where the Egyptians created a positive outlook on life because of their rich agriculture, the Mesopotamians created a pessimistic outlook on life. The reason the Egyptians created such an optimistic outlook on life was because the Nile allowed for a plentiful supply of food along with constant fertile soil. Because of this, the Egyptians believed that the gods and goddesses had blessed them and had created an afterlife even better than what they had experienced as a living human being. This greatly differs from the Mesopotamian outlook on life, who thought that they gods and goddesses were torturing them by flooding their crops. And so when the Mesopotamians got to the afterlife, there would be no celebration, instead the Mesopotamians would serve as servants to the gods. It amazes many how the environment of a civilization could create such a drastic difference between the two