The ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt are seen as related in several aspects of their culture. However, there are also major differences between the ancient giants. This argument is based around the economic, social, and political aspects that these civilizations show similarity and difference in. Economically, Egypt and Mesopotamia share some things in common but not all. Agriculture was the key to wealth in both of the civilizations. This was due to the fact that both civilizations were constructed near rivers. Mesopotamia was between the Tigris and Euphrates; Egypt was on the Nile. Trading wise, the civilizations are near opposites. Mesopotamia traded away resources such as cloths, oils, flax, and grains. They didn't have many
Mesopotamia and Egypt show there similarities in the aspects of economic, political, and social elements with amazing similarities at a broad level until you look at specific comparison.
Known as one of the earliest civilizations, Mesopotamia and Egypt both share set amounts of similarities along with a share of striking distinctions. Environmentally, these two civilizations were formed in similar surroundings, yet their weather patterns show distinctions. Politically, both governments derived from a monarch, yet their laws and punishments distinguished the two’s court systems. Economically, they both shared prosperous success in similar manners. Socially, although the two lands followed a hierarchy, the value of women contrasted. Culturally, they both believed in a higher order of creation; however, their views of them were polar opposites. Intellectually, these two societies developed skilled abilities and creations that
Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia present a valuable area of historical research. They are of great importance mostly because of their ethnic kinship (Watson, 2017). In such case, comparison and contrast essay is very promising as causal relationships can be formed based on a mutual starting point. This comparison-contrast essay focuses on differences and similarities in these societies’ economic, political and cultural life in order to make further implications regarding the circumstances the peoples of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia faced.
While describing the cultural among the people of Mesopotamia and Egypt, I learned the differences and similarities in culture. The birth of Mesopotamian Civilization began in c. 3000 B.C.E., in the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers of Southwest Asia. Mesopotamia is a Greek word and it means ‘between the rivers.’ In contrast, the birth of Egyptian Civilization began in c. 3100 B.C.E., in a valley of the Nile River in Northeastern Africa. Egypt is a Greek word and it means ‘House of the Spirit of Ptah.’ Since there are several categories in the cultures of the Mesopotamians and the Egyptians, I decided to narrows it to three categories: Religion, Writing, and Geography. The three categories will present the basis to compare cultural differences and similarities.
Although Mesopotamia and Egypt were nine hundred miles away, they had many similarities. They both were influenced by constant flooding and drought, causing a big effect on their daily life. Mesopotamia’s and Egypt’s geography both impacted society and had different natural resources causing different struggles, yet had some big similarities due to both having a large river, variable climate, and advanced technology.
Both fields grow as these three rivers flood, bringing joy and riches to the people of these ancient cities. The Egyptians and Mesopotamians were both major agricultural civilizations that relied on trade and their rivers to prosper in the ancient world. Though these two civilizations share some of the same needs they differ from each other in more ways than one. Egypt and Mesopotamia’s economy, politics, and social aspects show how different, yet similar these two societies are.
Mesopotamia and Egypt two ancient civilization who have so much in common, yet are also different in many ways. These two civilization both share geographic characteristics. Even though Mesopotamia was brought up in 5000 BCE a whole 1900 years before Egypt, they both used similar techniques to grow their civilization to what they were. (Acrobatiq, 2014)
Ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt are recognized as some of world's biggest innovators, from inventing the wheel to construction of magnificent pyramids, Mesopotamia and Egypt are credited with having some of the richest cultures in the world. The environmental factors of both ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt heavily impacted the product of these creations, along with the growth of their civilizations. While Ancient Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt were both developing civilizations they are also vastly different. Both Mesopotamia and Egypt relied on their environmental factors for agriculture/irrigation and trading. However, they developed very different views on their warfare methods.
The rise of civilizations in Egypt and Mesopotamia occurred around the same time and the environment and natural forces affected the similarities and differences in social, political, and economic stability. There were many similarities and differences between both of these countries as well. In both cases, it was the river valley and geography that affected the agriculture, religious views, and government structures. The Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilization developed in the Middle East and were located by the river. Mesopotamia was located between the Tigris and Euphrates, while Egypt was located near the Nile River. Due to the location of these civilizations, they relied heavily on its surrounding environments. Mesopotamian civilization was a unique culture and created the world’s first set of laws. The Egyptian civilization naturally was a very strong society because of the environment it was surrounded with. They lived in the Sahara Desert and in the harsh environment they inherently adapted as a tough group of people. Both civilizations developed similarly because of the same environment they were in. Mesopotamia’s social classes varied overtime and place. The gender roles are very similar to most of the population; the woman played the housewife while the husband provided for the family (Sayre). Egyptians also had a similar but more powerful mindset when it came to gender roles; Egyptian males dominated the world whereas women had minimum output (Sayre). Politics
The geographical location was an important factor in many of the ancient civilizations. Where the people settled determined whether they would have success at surviving. Both Mesopotamia and Egypt were ancient civilizations founded in roughly the same longitude and latitude area of the world. Hot dry areas full of dessert. What drew early civilizations to settle on these locations was the same for both places, land near water that was good for planting. What is different about each location is what makes these two early civilizations vastly different yet extremely important to our world today, the natural resources and the way the early settlers utilized them. Both Mesopotamia and Egypt were founded near large rivers. To be a farmer and either of the ancient civilizations would have met hard work seasonal changes and hauling water from the river difficult even in today standards. Mesopotamia has fertile land near the water’s edge. The rivers run parallel down both sides of the country. The remaining area is barren dessert, with a limited amount of Natural Resources. Egypt is surrounded by fertile land along the Nile its desert has many natural resources that makes both areas unique but completely different. Living in the desert area of either location required using the land and the resources it provided such as eating what was easy to grow, building houses out of what could be mined from the land and advancing everyday life by examining and experimenting with
Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia are similar and different in many ways. Life was way different back then compared to life today. These two civilizations are known as River Valley Civilization. Things that make them different are their culture, religion, and government. Both Ancient Egypt and Ancient Mesopotamia
Although Mesopotamia and Egypt are similar in many ways, they also have many differences. This essay will point out the differences and similarities of how these civilizations were governed, how the geography affected the people of these civilizations and the outlook these people had.
To compare Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations, one can look at their organization, academic achievements, and economic styles. In terms of organization, there were many similarities. Both were agriculturally based. In both societies, the leader held divine status. However, differences arise when comparing their academics. Both societies developed mostly equal science and elaborate art. However, Mesopotamia developed a more complex writing system and Egypt
To compare and contrast Mesopotamia and Egypt, Mesopotamia introduced more of a literacy value to the civilization including formal law codes, city planning, architecture, and many institutions. They became very advanced in irrigation, farming, pottery, bronze and copper. Mesopotamia was becoming very complex in their ruling system and money systems. They were ruled by a king and used silver to trade and buy goods. On the other hand, a pharaoh whom was seen as god and worshipped had complete power over the entire country of Egypt. Due to their complex geographic structure along the Nile River, there was a lot of slave labor. Although both had many differences, they both enjoyed religion and art, relied on rivers for transportation, importation, and exportation. They each had slaves to do the labor from their complex civilizations and also had the same stratification of social contrasts between peasants on the bottom and landowners well above and beyond at the top. Other similarities included writing, law and communication (Comparison of Early Mesopotamia and Egypt).
While Egypt and Mesopotamia grew around like environments eventually political and social life among many other things began to diverge. The key feature that drove the Egyptian and Mesopotamian ideology apart was the water sources they surrounded. Both civilizations had a dependency on the rivers that they bordered, one big difference was while the Egyptian Nile flooded predictably and annually, the Tigris and Euphrates that the Mesopotamians surrounded had harsh unpredictable ones. This is what made the two civilization’s ideas of gods and other things such as the afterlife differ greatly. Egypt and Mesopotamia were two civilizations separated by the Arabian desert that appeared around c. 3500 B.C.E. While the civilizations were about 500 miles apart, they still shared many similarities such as how both were polytheistic, patriarchs, and at one time both were ruled by monarchies.