Compare Egypt and Mesopotamia

Jenny Di bowler hat 5th Period AP World muniment Comparative Essay 07 September 2010 The geographics of Egypt and Mesopotamia helped shaped their economies, social organises, and religious beliefs. In these cardinal societies, the rivers they depended upon play central roles in each parts of society. The Tigris and Euphrates Rivers surrounding Mesopotamia and the Nile River, in the center of attention of the desert, produced both polytheistic, ancient civilizations.Although Egypt and Mesopotamia both save similar economies which center on market-gardening and include heavy affair, they resist in their religions and social structures because the geographical features in each region altered the packs beliefs and scenerys. The two civilizations views on religion were likewise affected by the geography of the bea, to a greater extent specific bothy the alluvioning of the two rivers. The Mesopotamians believed in a dark and cruel beat to come where e genuinelyone was se ntenced to after remainder, while Egyptians thought that they would be judged by the god of the underworld, Osiris.He would determine if they could drop on to the good future or non. The Mesopotamians view of gods as uncaring was to the highest degree likely due to capricious reputation of their rivers. The direct result of the gods capriciousness was give tongue to to father lead to the unpredictable flooding. The rulers of Mesopotamia could not claim to be gods or throw off divine powers because they could not predict or reckon the floods, while the Egyptian kings were definitely divine.The Egyptians had a very fond view of their gods and tried to keep their cycles of life continuing, including the sequel of divine kings, while Mesopotamians feared their gods and did everything possible to disport them. The consistent cycle of floods in the Nile brought plentiful harvests. Rebirth occurred all around them and the Egyptians swear in this cycle. They put a clustering o f effort in order to consider rebirth and went through many rituals, such(prenominal) as mummification, in order to refrain their bodies for the afterlife.They also self-relianceed and provided for their gods so that the floods would lodge to bring them with bountiful crops and wealth. The Mesopotamians did not trust their gods, just now relied on meeting all of their needs so as to not anger them and cause ruin to their regionscape. Egypts location was quite isolated and watch over due to its surrounding deserts, while Mesopotamia was undefended to invaders due to its flat plains. Warriors were important and consequently high on the social come apart due to Mesopotamias vulnerable location. On direct of the warriors in the social structure were the priest and kings, while underneath was everybody else.The priests stayed in control of the population and on top by threatening death. The fear of death was prevalent because the religious belief of the time concerned a dark, dreary, underworld that people went for eternity once they were dead. Mesopotamias rulers were not gods, whereas Egypts society was led by pharaohs claimed to be gods on earth, in item the sons of the sun god Re and incarnations of Horus. They were the centers of the Egyptian state and could determine whether or not the people of Egypt would go to the good afterlife or the bad.The pharaoh also ensured the fortune and wellbeing of the state by predicting when the floods would come. Therefore the bring low classes of peasants and artisans all looked to please and obey their rulers. twain h The economies of the two different civilizations were very similar because they both depended heavily on agriculture. Both were centered on rivers. Theses rivers would flood and provide ample silt for the crops to get on on, however each region did not always have all the resources necessary. Because of that, trading was also very vital and played an important role in the economy.In Mesopotam ia, the land surrounding the urban centers would all be irrigated and taken care of by farmers. They would nominate crops (wheat and barley flourished here) and all the surplus would go to those inside the cities who were artisans, officials, etc. In Egypt, roughly people were farmers. They planted things like lettuce, wheat, barley, dates, grapes, melons and cucumbers. The two societies also relied on trade. Mesopotamia did not have many natural metals. They traded barley, vegetable oils and textiles in return for metals, timber and stone. Egypt did much trading with its southern counterparts.Egypt traded with Nubia for gold and precious stones, but was more interested in conquering lands in order to gain opening to resources. In the second millennium BCE Egyptians invaded Nubia and took control over its gold fields. If these two civilizations had been in any other region in the world, their religion, social structure and economy would differ from what they were. The behavior o f the rivers and land features of Mesopotamia and Egypt caused the differences in religion and social structure, while the presence of the rivers that brought fertile silt to the croplands and lack of certain resources are what made the economies so similar.