Ap History Compare and Contrast Essay: Egypt and Mesopotamia

Ethan Sua 10/16/10 Mr. McGrath AP World History A discriminate and Contrast Essay of Egypt and Mesopotamia Egypt and Mesopotamia developed disparate and similar govern workforcetal and religious civilizations. Mesopotamian civilizations such as the Sumerians, the Akkadian great powerdom, the Assyrian empire and the Babylonian city-state, were completely too dependent on the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Egypts natural isolation and material self-sufficiency fostered a unique subtlety that for broad periods had relatively little to do with new(prenominal) civilizations.Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of eastern trade union Africa, c at one timentrated along the unhopefuler reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. In politics, Mesopotamia culture created compact self-governing semipolitical units- the city-states. It was due to the geographical barriers of the rivers and rough terrains that make it impossible to unite the many opposit e settled communities under one rule. The Nile River was the inwardness opposite of the rivers of Mesopotamia. These kings emerged mainly by their multitude perspective and role.Through their powers they created mechanisms such as phalanx forces, laws, and taxations. Similarly, in Egypt, the control of wring taut control of knowledge and thus power. It is booming to see where they come to these conclusions. The Pharaoh controlled all political instruments of power and is also the potentiality in terms of religious beliefs. By the trey millennium B. C. E. the concept of king (lugal) developed, sooner possibly because of arguments ab turn out natural resources. spectral leaders decreased in power, as the power of kings increased. Although the kings subdued the temples, Mesopotamian kings did not fig heaven-sent power.Political changes occurred in Mesopotamia because of the succession of populate that followed the politically dominant Sumerian civilization. By 1750 B. C. E. , the pen law reckon of tycoon Hammurabi (the first ruler of the Old Babylonian state) , was utilize to maintain political authority and continuity. In contrast to Mesopotamia, Egypt spent nigh of its history as a merged monarchy, whereas Mesopotamia seems to have begun as a gathering of city-states (under the politically dominate rule of Sumer) and progressed to cosmos dominated by a meet of mutually hostile powers Assyria and Babylonia.In ancient Egypt, legendary King Menes united Upper and displace Egypt into one nation that lasted with continuity of culture from 3,100-1070 B. C. E. with thirty dynasties. Unlike Mesopotamian kings, the Egyptian king was represented as Horus and as the discussion of Re, and fit into the pattern of the dead return to lifespan and the climatic renewing life of the sun-god. No written law code was developed in Egypt. Egypt was substantially more(prenominal) than self-sufficient than Mesopotamia with copper and turquoise. The phara oh governed the country through with(predicate) a prodigious efficient bureaucracy.In extremely urbanized Mesopotamia, central powers, and the use of written records allowed certain groups to obtain mass amounts of wealth. masculine domination of the position of a scribe- an executive director or scholar charged by the temple or castling with stateing and writing tasks- further complicates efforts to reconstruct the lives of women. Women were satisfactory to own property, maintain control of their dowry, and point engage in trade barely men monopolized political life. The females also worked outdoors the home in textile factories, breweries or as prostitutes, tavern keepers, bakers, or opportunity tellers.Inside the home women wove baskets, cooked, cleaned, and collected water. For the virtually part, their literary works reflect elite male activities. synagogue leaders and the kings controlled commodious agricultural estates, and the palace administration collected taxes from subjects. How elite individuals acquired large surreptitious holdings is not known, since pull down was rarely put up for sale. In approximately cases debtors lost their land to creditors, or soldiers and priests have land in return for their service.The low crystallise, the slaves and peasants, of Mesopotamian society worked on the fields and used their strength, when harvest season ended, to build large public works like ziggurats- a multistory, mud-brick, pyramid-shaped tower with ramps or stairs. Women were subordination to men and had no property rights. In Mesopotamia by the second millennium B. C. E. merchants had gained in status and in power through gilds. In the Old Babylonian period, the class of mickle who were not dependent on the temple or palace grew, the amount of land and other property in private hands increased, and free laborers became more common.Hammurabis Code written in the ordinal century B. C. E. identifies three classes 1. Free landowni ng class- royalty, high-level officials, warriors, priests, merchants, and some artisans and shopkeepers 2. The class of dependent farthestmers and artisans, whose licit attachment to royal or temple, or private estates made them the primary sylvan work force and 3. The class of slaves in the beginning used in domestic service. Penalties positive(p) in the Law Code depended on the class of the offender. The lower orders received the most severe punishments. Slaves were mainly prisoners of war from the mountains.Egyptian class structure was less defined and more pyramid in shape. Compared to Mesopotamia, a far larger percentage of the Egyptian race lived in farming villages and Egypts wealth derived from a higher degree from cultivating the land. When not need for agriculture the peasants labored to build the tombs of the pharaoh. Slavery existed on a modified scale and was of limited economic significance. In contrast to Mesopotamia, Egyptian merchants had a low social status . For women subordination to men is lucid but they are represented with self-regard and affection in tomb paintings.Legal documents present that Egyptian women could own property, inherit from their parents, and willing their property to whomever they wished. Marriage, usually monogamous, arose from a cope withs decision to establish a household together rather than for sound or religious ceremony. Both parties could push aside the relationship, and women retained rights over her dowry in case of divorce. At certain times, promote and queen-mothers played significant behind-the-scenes roles in the politics of the royal court, and priestesses sometimes administrate the cults of female deities.In general, the limited evidence suggests that women in ancient Egypt enjoyed greater respect and more legal rights and social freedom than women in Mesopotamia and other ancient societies. State- make religion stands out in Mesopotamia. City-states built temples and showed devotion to th e theological system or divinities that protected the community. Priests attended this divine image with rituals that reflected the message of the Babylonian base Myth that humankind existed only to come the gods andapriestwould actually read from that text to the gods image.Many succeeding activities in the temple reenacted the events of the myth. The Sumerian gods embodied the forces of nature Anu the sky, Enlil the air, Enki the water, Utu the sun, Nanna the moon. Egyptians also believed in amulets and in magic. Religion was state organized there also. A primary struggle in Egyptian belief is that the Egyptians believed in the afterlife. They prepared for a safe expiration and a comfortable existence once they arrived. The Egyptian Book of the Dead, present in many excavated tombs, contains rituals and spells to protect them.In Mesopotamia, they felt that their deities were not loving, care-taking beings. They felt that their gods were vengeful, jealous, and malicious. Thi s view developed from the many natural obstacles they were burdened with. Geography and humour did influence different and similar developing in the political, and religious systems of both Egypt and Mesopotamia. quite an possibly Egyptian civilization enjoyed greater longevity than that of Mesopotamian because the Mesopotamia culture was started from scratch by the early Sumerians where as Egyptians were able to take in from Mesopotamia.