similarities and differences between ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia.

Urban focus

Urban Focus

Mesopotamia consisted of city-states, developing politically within them.

Cities were also religious centers because of their ziggurats.

Egypt and Mesopotamia both had class divisions within their cities, social development, river valley civilizations.

They also both traded with other cities, causing economic development around their cities.

Egypt is formed around the Nile river. This led to development of effective travel and, in turn, development of Egypt's economy focused around the cities along the river.

Egypt was also a unified empire at it strongest, acting as a single city-state. This led to development in politics centered around their "city."

Political and Military structures.

Political and Military Structures

Both Egypt and Mesopotamia had a government with one main ruler.

Both ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia were theocratic monarchy, meaning that both political and military structures were controlled by gods.

Egypt had a centralized government with a pharaoh.

Mesopotamia did have a set of written laws to base punishments off, called Hamurrabi's code

The pharaoh would usually control the whole country rather than each little city.

Egypt had natural barriers that gave them protection from invasion, including deserts, Nile, and the sea. These however were only effective when combined with egyptian fortifications at specific locations.

Mesopotamia had a decentralized government with a king.

The kings only ruled a single city though, rather than the entire civilization. For example, the city of Babylon was ruled by King Hammurabi.

Egypt did not have a set of laws, like in Mesoptamia

Leaders would usually prepare armies for war but it depended on if you had a good relationship with the gods.

development of more complexity in a material sense

Development of Complexity in a Material Sense

In Egypt they had a wide variety of materials and more of them than Mesopotamia, meaning that they were able to produce more goods than Mesopotamia could.

Ancient Egypt was a country rich in many natural resources but still was not self-sufficient and had to rely on trade for necessary goods and luxuries that they did not have.

Exportation of ancient egypt was grain and gold.

Mesopotamia did not have an abundance of materials like Egypt.

They also barely had any wood and stone so they mainly used mud bricks to construct, and they even had some of the largest brick buildings in the world.

Exportation of Mesopotamia was fish,grain,and other goods..

Both ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia used sun dried brick to build.

They both also traded goods that were inaccessible for luxury and everyday goods.

They also had an infrastructure for goods that used ships.

Both also had similar goods, but Egypt had more.

Social Structure based on Economic power

Social Structure

Both Egypt and Mesopotamia were hierarchical.

Both were similar in having slaves.

Both were patriarchal society

The people of Mesopotamia had a social structure with kings and priests at the top.

The upper class was the King and Nobility and the Priests and Priestesses.

Lower class was the common folk that had jobs like merchants,

And finally slave who were usually owned by land owners and high officals

Ancient Egypt had three main social classes upper, middle, and lower.

Upper class are consisted of the royal family, rich

landowners, government officials

Middle class were the common people that had normal jobs like

merchants, manufacturers, and artisans..

The common people or lower class of ancient Egypt were usually slaves or farmers. Slaves were usually captured after a war. In addition to being forced to work on building projects, slaves toiled at the discretion of the pharaoh or nobles.

Religious Structure

Both Egyptian and Mesopotamian were polytheistic, meaning that they believed in multiple gods.

Both civilizations had gods of the sky, earth, freshwater, and the sun, as well as gods devoted to human emotions and the underworld

Mesopotamia was polytheist, they believed in many gods and they thought that things like the weather conditions were all controlled by supernatural forces.

Their most important deities were, the god of the sky, god of the wind, god of earth rivers wells and canals, and a goddess associated with soil, mountains, and vegetation.

Mesopotamian religion saw humans as the servants of the gods, who had to be appeased for protection. Gods were also very destructive and hateful

Egyptians believed that the gods created all humans but were also controlled by the principle or order.

They mainly worshiped the god of sun, who had different names depending on what form he took on. he was called Atum in human form, and Re who had a human body and falcon head. Gods were also very helpful and merciful

Writing

Mesopotamia developed a system of writing called cuneiform.

They used a reed stylus that they would use to wedge impressions on clay tablets that they would then dry.

These impressions involved pictures and symbols.

These new ways of writing made it possible to write the first book called Eric of Gilgamesh.

The ancient Egyptians used the distinctive script known today as hieroglyphs (Greek for "sacred words") for almost 4,000 years.

Hieroglyphs were written on papyrus, carved in stone on tomb and temple walls, and used to decorate many objects of daily use.

Writing was important to both of them because it enabled a society to keep records and maintain knowledge.

It also

helped communicate new ideas in a new way.

Writing in both Ancient Egypt and Mesopottamia was to keep past records

Both were symbols wedged into something like clay or stone.

artistic and intellectual activity

Artistic and Intellectual Activity

Both were similar in having wall art paintings and having statues.

Both had similar and discreet characters.

Egyptian art was largely functional

They had large amounts of wall paintings and statues which consisted of gods and kings, and they usually served a spiritual purpose.

They also thought that their art was necessary to preserve the cosmic order and well being of Egypt.

Egypt had a base 10 number system.

Mesopotamian art consists mostly of things made of pottery.

Some were religious, some weren't.

Mesopotamia had a base 60 number system

Sources

The Essential World History

Class notes

Sources