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Mesopotamia and egyptian societies
Mesopotamia and egyptian societies
Mesopotamia and egyptian societies
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Mesopotamia and egyptian societies
Mesopotamia and egyptian societies
Mesopotamia and egyptian societies
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Prior to Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten) reign, Egypt practice polytheism which they worship many god and goddess and pharaoh were contest by the local temple priests. “Throughout the dynastic history of Egypt, the central authority of the pharaoh was repeatedly contested by local temple priests, each of whom held religious and political sway in their own regions along the Nile.” (Fiero pg. 54). When Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten) was a pharaoh of Egypt between 1353-1337 B.C.E, he had a different view more like a monotheism belief which belief is one single god. He changed the views of ancient Egypt from polytheism which is the wordship of many gods and goddess, to one god who name was Aten.
Ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt shared many differences and similarities. The documents we read to learn about the two civilizations included excerpts from "Gilgamesh", "The Code of Hammurabi", "Book of the Dead", pyramid texts and lastly "Be a scribe.". From these various documents you can see some very clear differences. In the "Epic of Gilgamesh" gods, mortality, and the afterlife are seen in a very pessimistic way. While in Ancient Egypt, death and the afterlife are perceived as beautiful and tranquil.
One way they were similar was that they were both theocracy's. A theocracy is a type of government where priests rule in the name of a god or gods. Another way their governments were alike was that they both had rankings in their governments where pharaohs were at the top in egypt and kings were at the top in mesopotamia and slaves and peasants were at the bottom. Another similarity between the two governments was how laws were made. The laws in Egypt were made by the goddess Ma’at and they were made of common sense and what the priests thought was right and wrong.
The Ancient Israelites and the Mesopotamians are both early societies in the Middle East. These societies have similar social similarities, such as having the society being patriarchal. They also had the same political laws such as men were recognized as the head of the household. Another similarity is with inheritance. Usually men would inherit property, money, or other values.
Many features of Mesopotamia’s and Egypt’s surrounding area influenced their religion and how they looked at the world, while Egyptians where relatively happy and optimistic people who believed that the afterlife carried great joy, Mesopotamians had a rather glum outlook on their life after death; In addition the way they portrayed their gods differed quite a bit, Mesopotamian’s depicted their gods almost exactly like humans whereas Egyptian gods had animals features, or didn’t resemble humans at all. Despite these differences they shared similarities as well, both religions were polytheistic which means they believed in many gods, and in both religions these multiple gods each represented an element of
Let’s start by talking about each of their politics and governments. According to our ‘Religion in Mesopotamia notes,’ Mesopotamia was ruled by kings, who were thought to be chosen by the god Enlil. Egypt was also governed by one individual called the Pharoah, who was like a king. The kings and pharaohs were believed to be superior beings that were in contact with the gods.
In egypt the pharaoh also had absolute power among their land. The pharaoh were thought to be the mothers and fathers of all, and they were way more powerful than all of the social classes. The egyptians believed that the soul of the pharaoh lived in the mummified body of the pharaoh. Also they buried the pharaoh with items that he or she would need in his or her afterlife. The civilizations of the city-states of mesopotamia built ziggurats.
Both civilizations had the same social structure and divided people by wealth, power and gender. Egypt and Mesopotamia were patriarchal; men were the dominant gender, giving them more power in the political system. In both civilizations, religion played a big role, those with powers were believed to be connected to the gods and were chosen by the gods to lead. Those with wealth had power and with it the rulers of these civilizations used religion as a tool to control the people and created laws that following the gods might grant you eternal life in the afterlife. Laws mainly focused on obeying the King or Pharaoh, to never anger the gods, to pay tribute and appease them, performing negative confession appeased the gods.
Religion played an important role in civilization as government laws and divine kingship derived from it. Both civilizations were quite similar, but acquired some differences unique to each civilization. These differences include the environment, divine kingship, and sense of security from either nature or law. The idea and practices of ancient Mesopotamia originated from the Sumerians. Moreover, both Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilization diffused their practices and ideas to other ancient civilizations like the Hebrews and the Greeks.
The religious beliefs centered on the worship of numerous deities who signified various features of ideas, nature and purposes of power. Religion played a part in every aspect of the lives of the ancient Egyptians because life on earth was seen as only one part of an eternal journey, and in order to continue that journey after death, one needed to live a life worthy of continuance. So, the information about what did religion affect and how did religion affect the lives of the ancient Egyptians will be provided in this paper. First of all the belief in many gods and goddesses was crucial part of everyday life in ancient Egypt.
Egyptians believed keeping ma 'at (harmony), remembering their actions affect others, and depending on each other were extremely important. One of the worst sins was being ungrateful. They also believed the gods kept balance in society and guided the people of Egypt. Men and women could be priests in Egypt.
Ancient Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt were two early human civilizations that lived during the bronze age in harsh desert environments located not far from each other. Both civilizations were built around rivers that they depended on for survival. There is evidence that these rivers had great influence on both the societies politics and culture. Egypt was built around the very strong and reliable Nile River. Ancient Mesopotamia was established in the fertile crescent between the less reliable Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.
Ancient Egypt is memorialized for its opulent history and culture along with the unique and defining burial practices. Ancient Egyptian religion was a complicated scheme of polytheistic beliefs and rituals which were an integral part of the ancient Egyptian society (El Mahdy, Christine). The religion centered on the Egyptians' interaction with a slew of deities who were considered to be present in, and in control of, the forces and elements of nature. The legends of these gods were to explain the influences of the forces they represented. The practices of Egyptian religion were efforts to provide for the gods and gain their favor.
The depth of Egyptian thinking and the rich imagination displayed in the creation of ideas and images of the gods and goddesses are beyond the way to compare. In elaborating their beliefs, the Egyptians were working on the cosmic plane. They want to search to understand the most basic laws of the universe. Their morals and society conformed as a result of religion. My intention is to focus on three aspects of ancient Egyptian religion.
They both believed in gods and afterlife, but their characterization was very much unalike. Differences in their religious believes serving ones’ individual needs were important in demonstrating the religious impact in Mesopotamian and Ancient Egyptian Civilizations. Therefore, I shall discusses the geography, government, and art in Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt civilizations. Geography played a big role in both Mesopotamian and Ancient Egyptian civilization. When it came to agriculture, Mesopotamia in the beginning of civilization was rich in cereal and grains but lacked stone and materials, while Egypt was rich with sandstone, limestone, and granite; perfect elements for the creation of materials, and cultivating mostly emmer and barley (Faltas, 2018).