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Monotheism v polytheism
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Monotheism v polytheism
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Thesis on code of hammurabi essay
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The main gods then created less powerful gods who ruled different aspects of the Earth like Utu and Nanna, gods of the sun and moon, respectively. Not knowing much on how the world worked, religion filled in the blanks for people living in Mesopotamia. Their gods had divine ruling and conducted every natural action -- including forces of nature, life and death, good and evil etc. Ziggurat, a local temple, was where everyone met to praise the gods.
In the time period, the world was full of polytheistic religions, like the Ancient Egyptian religion, and therefore the transition from henotheism to monotheism was extremely significant in history. The start of this transition can be seen in the story of Noah’s ark, especially in comparison to the flood from the Epic of Gilgamesh. These two stories are undeniably linked and share many similarities. An important difference between the two is that the Mesopotamian story contains many gods and the Biblical story only contains one God. Creation myths are essential to a religion because they give an explanation for the origins of the world, and usually revolve around certain deities.
Each work shows how the relationship bet ween the gods and the humans work. In the Indian culture the gods is someone who can show the people the way but in the Hebrew culture their god test the loyalty of the humans. In both cultures from the works the people will seek their gods for guidance and wisdom but the outcomes are not the same in both places. There are similarities and differences between how the relationships between people and the gods work in the different cultures. Each work the main character has a problem that is troubling the throughout each work.
Egyptians believed in the multiplicity of deities, as they differed in power and status, just as the people themselves did. Individuals would have gods they worshiped in the home or cities would have gods they thought watched over them, as well as the state ceremonies that brought them all together, there was no discrimination or persecution for one’s beliefs, only in monotheism does this
For centuries civilization has evolved and spread across the globe, causing for many cultures, traditions, and especially religions to develop. Even in ancient societies such as Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt, religion was one of, if not, the most important aspect of an individual 's life. The religions found in Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt would shape how relationships within society functioned, including how communities related themselves to the divine and the role of leaders and priests. Furthermore, these religions would also affect how each of these societies thought about justice and even influenced attitudes toward the afterlife.
They both had organized and centralized religion. The Ancient Israelites and the Mesopotamians were also different in many ways. One way was that the Israelites practiced monotheism, while the Mesopotamian s practiced polytheism. Also, Mesopotamians laws was based on the Hammurabi's Code.
Although the Mesopotamians and Egyptians of 3500 to 1500 B.C.E. were similar due to social hierarchy and power roles, nevertheless, the differences between Mesopotamians and Egyptians are evident with politics. This is because of the way Egyptians saw opposing countries as enemies and how Mesopotamians saw other countries as trading partners. The Mesopotamians viewed their priests as extremely powerful people, believing that priests were connected spiritually to the gods and worked hard to appease the gods. The priests would use this to their advantage. For example, selling amulets to citizens to ‘ward off evil spirits’ was just a business move for the priests to make more money and keep their power.
Despite a steady trading relationship, Mesopotamian and Egyptian societies have very dissimilar views on life and the afterlife. Indeed, Mesopotamian civilization certainly had much stricter views of life and the afterlife. This is likely a reflection of the frequent nature of wars and violence in this highly urbanized society (83). As a result, their views of the fragility of their mortality seemed to be pessimistically realistic. They seemed to accept that their gods gave them this life and nothing else.
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.
In the epic poem The Odyssey, Homer portrays Greek gods and goddesses as possessing human qualities and faults. Through their actions and emotions, Homer emphasizes the detrimental effects of lust, envy, wrath, and greed in ancient Grecian society. He also never fails to remind readers of the importance of respect for holy figures because of their powerful abilities to create chaos and wonder". Homer wants to prove that gods and humans share a variety of traits, and the only difference is that god don’t allow these flaws negatively to impact their society. To help further his argument, we can compare Greek gods and goddesses to that of Christianity.
The first point that Hebrews exhibit all features of a civilization is after their Exodus from Egypt and rise in Jerusalem, in my opinion. Although the Hebrews did live in tribes and show pieces of civilizations beforehand, they had adopted aspects of the Mesopotamian civilization and did not fit into all categories for a civilization. The Hebrews needed to exhibit several things, on their own, and those things are: a writing system, complex government, job specialization, complex religion, art and architecture, rise in cities, public works, and finally social classes. To start, Moses helped them with religion and transformed them into a nation in the early 13th century, as well as, helped them believe in Yahweh, the one god. After Moses, the Hebrews had their first king, Saul, which can be assumed that at this point they had a complex government.
The Egyptians had gods for every aspect of their lives and afterlives. Although the Mayans had many gods, they also practiced Animism. Both cultures had places for rituals and ceremonies. The gods they believed in were different from each other and some were worshiped more than others. With very few differences, the religious aspects of both cultures influenced both cultures equally.
Geography not only plays a part in the spread of a religion but also can be inspiration or reflection for the religion itself. Many societies have numerous deities inspired by the landscape in and around their civilization. However, I believe not all religions drew inspiration from the land they lived in. Mesopotamian societies had multiple gods. Most deities represented cosmic forces of nature such as the sun, moon, water, and storms who were responsible for the creation of the earth (World Societies p. 36).
The rivers that these civilizations were built around directly impacted the way they viewed their gods. The Nile was a very strong and reliable river. It flooded annually blessing the Ancient Egyptians with a richer agriculture then Ancient Mesopotamians. (pg 17) Because of this the Egyptians viewed their gods as reliable beings who wanted to help them.
Greece and India had belief systems that shared some common aspects. However, the two systems had many basic differences. Greece and India were more different, because Greece’s system was based in Humanism, while India’s was based in spiritualism. The Greeks emphasized the physical world, concentrating on what was right in front of them, things they could see and touch. The Indians believed in something beyond the physical world.