Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - History Other Comparing Mesopotamia and Egypt Comparing Mesopotamia and Egypt Before the beginning of history, people from across the land gradually developed numerous cultures, each unique in some ways while the same time having features in common. Mesopotamia and Egypt are important to the history of the world because of religious, social, political and economic development. Mesopotamia was the first civilization, which was around 3000 B.C., and all other countries evolved from it. Mesopotamia emerged from the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. The soil was rich and agriculture was plentiful. The Semitic nomads occupied the land around Akkad. The Sumerians established the city-states. Villages became urban centers. Because of the formation of the city-states everything flourished. However, Mesopotamian agriculture lacked stones; therefore mud brick became their major building block. Their diet consisted of fish from the rivers. The rivers were flooded frequently destroyed the cities. Mesopotamians made their living from crops and pottery. Mesopotamian society was stratified into classes and social differences. It was composed of nobles, free clients of the nobility, commoners and slaves. Slave women participated in the textile industry. Free women did exist, however, men dominated the women in Mesopotamia. The nobles consisted of the king, his family, the chief priests, and high palace officials. The king was a war leader elected by the citizens. He established an army and led it into battle. Kingship was hereditary. Commoners were free citizens. The school system of the Sumerians set the educational standards for Mesopotamia culture and other cultures to follow. Their studies included mathematics, botany and linguistics. Some students that were advanced studied and copied the classics of Sumerian literature. The Mesopotamians developed such things as the concept of the place value. The knowledge of geometry and trigonometry was used for the building of cities, palaces, temples and canals. Medicine in Mesopotamia was a combination of surgery, prescriptions and magic. They believed that the cause of sickness were due to demons and evil spirits and they only way to be delivered from it was to drive the spirits away by magic. Or the physician could force the demon out by giving the patient bad tasting medicine. As time went on and the knowledge of medicine grew, some medicines were found to work and some were not. It was very dangerous to practice medicine because the penalties for failure were severe. If a physician made a mistake and caused the death of his patient, his hands would be chopped off. Religion played a big part of the Mesopotamians. They believed in many gods and the gods had different jobs to perform. They did not consider the gods to be equal. People offered sacrifices to their gods to please them. If they did not offer sacrifices, they believed wrath would come upon them. The gods did not offer hope of an afterlife. Natural catastrophes were thought of as the work of the gods. Mesopotamians believed that church and state were inseparable. In 2331 B.C., Sargon who came from Akkad expands Mesopotamia. He created a new empire. Sargon was a great leader. He unifies southern and northern portions of Mesopotamia. He captures major cities and rules them. Sargon appointed officials to rule cities. He sought to destroy powers by redistributing land and wealth to followers. Sargon ruled until 1750 and was captured by Babylon. Hammurabi took over in 1750. He was a leader in Babylon. Hammurabi is known for “The Code of Law”. He wanted to accomplish three things: make Babylon secure, unify Mesopotamia, and win for the Babylonians a place in Mesopotamia civilization. He accomplished all three of his goals. Hammurabi fell to the Hittites in 1600. The period of Egypt was around 3100 B.C. Egypt is known for the gift of the Nile. Unlike the rivers in Mesopotamia, Egypt geographical foundation rarely brought death and destruction like that of Mesopotamia. The Egyptians never feared the Nile River like the Mesopotamians feared the Tigris Rivers. Egyptians thought that the Nile River was a supreme fertilizer because it brought floods, which afterwards the land was covered in fertile mud. This made the land become more abundant in crops. Egypt was eventually self-sufficient. Individual bands of settlers moved into the Nile Valley and created communities. The Egyptians had plenty of stones in which the Mesopotamians lacked. Egypt did lack some raw material, which was available from other counties like Sinai and Lebanon. Egypt received cooper and timer from these countries. The Egyptians enjoyed centuries of tranquility and peace in which they used to develop peaceful development of their civilization. This was totally opposite of Mesopotamia. Egyptian culture was fertilized by some foreign influences without changing it in a fundamental way. Ancient Egypt was a theocracy. It gave rise to political unification under a king called Pharaoh. Unification of Egypt was in 3100-2660 B.C. The Egyptian kinship can be found in Nubia, which is the south of Egypt. It has been noted that the Egyptians and the Nubians enjoyed long and peaceful relations and also learned from each other. They Egyptians divided their city into dynasties. The Old Kingdom was known for prosperity, evolution of religious beliefs, and artistic flowering. Egyptians developed complex and sometimes contradictory ideas about the afterlife. The beliefs were rooted in the environment. The focal point of religious and political life was the Pharaoh in the Old Kingdom. He commanded wealth, resources, and people of all Egypt. The Egyptians considered Pharaoh to be a falcon-god Horus in human quality. The Pharaoh lived in a lavish home, which was considered a palace. During the First Intermediate Period after the Old Kingdom, civil war occurs. It brought famine and drought. An influx of people came from the desert into Egypt during that time period. The Middle Kingdom came the rule of Amenemhet. He was responsible for rebuilding democracy, staff of scribes and administrations. He used propaganda literature to reinforce his position as king. The Egyptians pictured him as a good shepherd opposed to inaccessible god. Ammon was given prominise over other gods. His kingdom became extremely powerful. He established trades with foreign land and formed a standing Army and built forts on the southern frontier. The Second Intermediate Period lasted 150 years. Hyksos from Palestine invaded it. The New Kingdom begins when Hyksos are driven out of Palestine. The New Kingdom was the 18th Dynasty. Ahmose I take over. He reunified the country. Women played in an important role in the New Kingdom. Hatshepsut was a powerful female. She was the wife of Thutmose II and mother of Thutmose III. The wars were fought in horse drawn carriages. Bibliography: Word Count: 1177
Copyright © 2005 College Term Papers, INC All Rights Reserved.