Egypt vs. Mesopotamia Venn Diagram

2016/2017 Green Class

Egypt vs. Mesopotamia Venn Diagram

Egypt

Mesopotamia

R.I.P. HARAMBE!

Sumerians created arches and domes. They also produced wooden textiles, pottery, and metalwork.

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The Sumerians also created a number system with base 60 and they used geometry to measure fields and build buildings. They also used astronomy to chart constellations and they created a calendar based on 12 lunar months.

Around 300 B.C.E the Sumerians invented

cuneiform which was a system of writing. They used reed styluses to make wedged shape impressions on clay tablets. The tablets were dried in the sun so they became almost indestructible. Sumerian writing evolved from pictures of concrete objects to simplified signs, leading eventually to a phonetic system. It was also used in literature; the Epic of Gilgamesh was written in cuneiform.

Egyptian society evolved around the Nile river. The Nile flooded at around the same time (peak September to October) annually making the river banks fertile and great for farming. Since the Nile flooded more regularly, the Egyptians did not need as much irrigation to control the water.

The Nile river was the fastest way of transportation and created a natural barrier against invaders. The winds from the North would push sailboats South, and the natural current would push boats North. Therefore, the Nile river helped with trade because it made Egypt so accessible to merchants and traders.

Both were polytheistic.

Both were connected with nature and the origin of Earth/Humanity. Both also took the religion very seriously

The Tigris and Euphrates rivers flooded irregularly which caused the soil around it to be fertile. However, it also made a very unpredictable society, and made it hard for farming because of the large amounts of water that could appear at seemingly random times. It was harder for the Mesopotamian people to get a food surpuls because the crops sometimes failed due to floods. The Mesopotamian society had extensive irrigation that was built with help from the government.

War:

• Hard to invade because of natural barriers (desert)
• Mainly focused on defense rather than invading
• Built outposts and fortresses along the East and West of Nile delta
• Scouts all around Egypt
• Most cities had no defenses (city walls)
• Southern Egypt conquered Northern Egypt and they became one

Sumerians produced woolen textiles, pottery and metalwork. They imported copper, tin and timber in exchange for dried fish, wool, barely, wheat and metal goods.

Mesopotamia and Egypt also had a main god while having many other gods.

For example, in Mesopotamia, Anu, the sky god, was the most important force of the universe. In Egypt, Ra, the sun god, was the most important.

Government and Law:

• The Egyptians had an authoritarian and centralized government
• Only a select group of people or one person controlled everything
• The pharaoh was at the top of the social hierarchy, then powerful officers (viziers), priests, administrators, common folk (laborers, farmers, scribes)
• Divided into Lower and Upper Egypt (Pharaoh ruled both)
• Mostly peasant farmers
• Specific governors that were appointed to different regions
• No city-states
• In the beginning period of the Egyptian empire, people believed their kings were divine in origin
• People believed that if they obeyed kings then they would maintain the cosmic order

Both share love for Harambe

• Social classes were strongly based on religion with the king being referred to as "god-king"
• Middle class was mostly made up of craftsmen
• The lower class was made up of laborers
• The status of women was greater in Egypt than in Mesopotamia
• King's ruling was thought to be final. By worshiping the god amongst men, the cosmic order was balanced.
• The upper class were mostly religous driven people
• The lower class had to pay the king a tax in the form of crops, establishing and asserting the dominance of the King in society.

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War:

• King normally led army
• Army was just local militia and were disorganized
• Cities were surrounded by large walls with many other defense measures

Government and Law:

• Laws were not written down, king's word was absolute
• King had the army, the bureaucracy, and priests to aid him
• Harsh laws/punishments (often biased)
• "An eye for an eye"
• Non unified government throughout the whole Mesopotamia (more individual governments within city-states)

Both Mesopotamian and Egyptian societies were founded next to rivers. Both of their economies were based mainly on farming. The rivers that they were situated by both flooded every year, making the soil on the banks fertile and good for farming. Therefore, the bulk of both Mesopotamian farms and Egyptian farms were by the rivers.

Trade was essential to both societies and they both got a lot of the materials that they used from trade. In terms of technology, they both had a writing system and some form of weapons to defend against invaders.

• Both Egyptian and Mesopotamian kings were thought to be of divine right, making both hierarchies driven by religion.
• Both societies had a clear disparity of wealth in the class system, leading to obvious and clear cut class differences
• Both cultures had large amounts of craftsman work (metal making, silks, fabrics, etc.)
• Both partook in large trading operations, Egypt going as far as Europe.
• Both valued land and took that as the main source of class/importance

• Arts served a spiritual purpose in both Mesopotamia and Egypt
• Art was used in temples.
• Writing helped both the Mesopotamian people and Egyptian people keep records, maintain knowledge, and communicate abstract ideas.

• 90% of the Mesopotamian population is made up of farmers
• Mesopotamia has 4 main social groups: elites, dependent commoners, free commoners, and slaves
• The slaves were usually used to serve the palace officials
• Trade was common throughout Mesopotamians, often coming in the form of markets in various villages/towns
• The culture of Mesopotamia was highly advanced with plenty of modernistic innovations (basic astrology, advanced number system, etc.)

Mesopotamian people feared the gods. Mesopotamia had droughts and major floods, and that made them think that the Gods were angry.

• Art was commissioned by kings and nobles.
• An integral part of performing religious rituals,
• Egyptian art was used to help the deceased in their journey to the after world.
• Writing emerged during the first two dynasties.
• They wrote in hieroglyphics, meaning "priest carvings" or "sacred writings" rather than in the Cuneiform alphabet.
• Hieroglyphs were initially carved into stone, but were later written on papyrus, a much cheaper option than carving into stone like Cuneiform.

Government and Law:

• Both had an authoritarian rule
• Both saw their kings as shepherd figures at one point in time as well as divine
• Both had a monarchy government
• Religion greatly influenced the government

The gods' and goddesses' features were more of animal. Their heads' had animal heads. Some gods had wings.

Gods and goddesses were imperfect and relatable. Some get jealous. Others get greedy or angry. For example, in the Epic of Gilgamesh. The goddess Ishtar wanted to be Gilgamesh's wife, but he knew how she treated her men. He rejected her and Ishtar brought her anger towards her father, Anu. Anu later sent down the Bull of Heaven to bring seven years of bad luck to his city.

The Mesopotamian Gods had more human features.

The gods were practically perfect in Egypt. They could do no wrong. They also respected the women more in the religion. They gave more deference to the goddesses. For example, in Mesopotamia, Ishtar started a problem for the humans, but in Egyptian mythology that rarely happens.