Sumer and Egypt

Ancient Egypt and Sumer

"The Land Between Two Rivers"

Eleanor Taylor

Ancient Egypt was divided into two regions, upper Egypt in the South and lower Egypt in the North. The two halves were unified in 3100 B.C by a Pharaoh called Menes. Menes ruled over both upper and lower Egypt for many years, and was the first of 170 Pharaohs.

A Long Time Ago...

North of the Nile, in Asia, there were two rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates. Between these two was an area of land called Mesopotamia, or "Land Between Two Rivers". Sumer was just one of many civilizations in Mesopotamia, and like Egypt, it relied heavily on the flooding of the rivers near it for crops. The annual flooding for Sumer was less regular than in Egypt though, and sometimes the height of the water was too high or too low for the crops, causing a famine. Irrigation systems helped with this issue, and Egypt used them too to control the flood waters.

Government

Sumerians and Egyptians had very similar government structures. Both were monarchies, with the king or Pharaoh on the top of the social hierarchy. Below them were priests, rich merchants, royal overseers and army leaders. After them were usually scribes and farmers, and then laborers and slaves. For both civilizations, religion was intertwined with the government, making them both Theocratic. Both civilizations had to pay taxes to the Pharaoh in the from of crops or other valuables, and the percentage of crops taken depended on the crop yield for that year.

... there were two civilizations, Sumer and Egypt. They grew and developed during a similar time period, when depending on the Earth and its seasons was the only way to survival. Both Sumer and Egypt relied heavily on rivers, their only source of water and fertile land, and as a result, they both grew into very similar civilizations, but with neither one influencing the other in any way. But just how similar or different are these two ancient civilizations? Let's find out!

Sumer was wrapped around the Persian Gulf, and it used this body of water to trade extensively with neighboring countries like Lebanon to get resources.

Pyramids and Religion

"The Gift of The Nile"

The pyramids were for only the richest of people (mostly the Pharaoh), and they were filled with all the belongings o the person because they believed that they would need them in the afterlife. They also preserved the deceased peron's body in a process called mummification, which included removing all the organs of the person and wrapping the body in bandages dipped in perfumes. Egyptians were polytheistic, meaning they believed in a variety of gods and the Sumerians did as well, but only the Egyptians believed that there was anything after death. Sumerians believed that in the beginning, humans were made from clay and the blood of a god called We-ilu. They figured that when they died, they should be buried into the ground and return to being clay, nothing more. The Egyptians believed that if you were worthy, you could enter eternal paradise, and Pharaohs could continue to reign from paradise even after death.

Life and Technology

In the middle of the Sahara desert, on the banks of the Nile River, a vast civilization arose in around 3100 BC. This civilization, called Egypt, used the Nile as a vital source of fresh water, and, due to its predictable yearly flooding that covered the land with water and deposited rich black soil that was full of minerals (called silt), it was also an important source for agricultural land. It was called "The Gift of The Nile" because it was all thanks to the Nile that Egypt ever existed. Egypt was a very powerful empire for a very long time, and its culture (and preserved Pharaohs) have lasted and influenced us even today.

Both Sumer and Egypt developed a form of writing, unique and suited to fit their culture. Sumer invented a wedge-shaped form of writing called Cuneiform, and it was written on clay tablets using reeds cut into a wedge shape that was pressed into the clay. Egyptians developed hieroglyphics, a form of writing where each symbol represented an object or idea. They wrote their symbols on pieces of papyrus that had been flattened to form a sort of paper, and they too used reeds as pens. Most people didn't know how to write or read, but those who did were called scribes. Most people were farmers, but in Egypt it was common for there to be a lot of slaves, either captured from war or citizens who had to work off their taxes. Also in Egypt, it was common for rich people to wear black makeup, called kohl, and the more of it you wore the richer you were. Sumerians had no such thing. Both civilizations eventually developed a calendar system, and Egypt was very advanced in its medical practices. Sumer invented the sailboat and plow before Egypt, but Egypt invented them independently from Sumer.

Farming and the Wheel

Bibliography

Now we've got a basic idea about Egypt and Sumer, let's start going deeper to really examine the details and discover the similarities and differences between the two.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwjS8bCe0djPAhWj0FQKHfI4BzoQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Flimedition.co%2Fsumerian-city-states-mesopotamia.html&psig=AFQjCNHJ0TVaLjC-_kbCEk08q4pu1zMWYw&ust=1476477444274072

Both Sumer and Egypt relied on a river(s) and its flooding in order to get its farming done. Both used irrigation systems to control this flooding. Egypt invented a calendar based off the regularity of the floods, but Sumer couldn't. Sumer invented the wheel to make the daily tasks easier like transporting goods and sowing fields, but Egypt didn't have that technology until roughly 1800 B.C, when it was introduced as chariots that brought over the Hyksos when they invaded Egypt. The pyramids in Egypt, massive mountains of limestone or quartz that served as permanent resting places for deceased Pharaohs, were built without the help of the wheel.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwjFv7240djPAhVowlQKHbQYCZQQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fexplorethemed.com%2FEgypt.asp%3Fc%3D1&psig=AFQjCNHioCsTdFZCfBwwVdwPccKNXUBr5Q&ust=1476477488050495

http://www.ancient-egypt-online.com/ancient-egypt-government.html

http://www.ancientegypt.co.uk/geography/home.html

http://www.mummies2pyramids.info/geography-cities/lower-upper-egypt.htm

http://www.ancient.eu/article/623/

http://sumerians-r-us.weebly.com/geography.html

http://www.crystalinks.com/sumersocialsystem.html

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwiy-dCE19jPAhXljVQKHaZaARQQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.unmuseum.org%2Fkpyramid.htm&psig=AFQjCNFRkzYdSjFr0QV1sjWRmVYlAymk-w&ust=1476478991748080

http://www.ancient-egypt-online.com/ancient-egypt-social-structure.html

And that's my comparison between Sumer and Egypt. Both civilizations were very similar, but there were some key differences that really set them apart.

Thank you for looking at my Prezi.

The Great Pyramids of Giza