The most important factor in the rise of ancient Egypt was the political unification of Lower and Upper Egypt under King Menes. Ancient Egypt was made up of a civilization centered along the river Nile (Kemp, 2006). The provision of clean water by the Nile river was thus the biggest contributor to the civilization of ancient Egypt. Ancient Egyptians were also unified by their religion and powerful rulers such as Alexander the great (Kem p , 2006). On the other hand, Mesopotamia was an ancient region located in the Eastern part of Mediterranean . It lay between the Zagros Mountains and the Arabian plateau, which is the current day Iraq (Oppenheim, 2013). The name Mesopotamia is derived from the fact that Mesopotamia was located between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris (Oppenheim , 2013). Thus, the name means ‘between two rivers,' and The presence of the endless supply of water by the Nile river in Egypt and the presence of the fertile s oils and water in Mesopotamia drove the growth of independent civilizations in these regions. This essay will highlight the similarities between ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, and why civilization began there . It will also explore the importance of agriculture, the key aspects of the Egyptian religion, and the position of the code of Hammurabi regarding Mesopotamian society .
One of the main similarity between ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia is that both of these civilizations were located between river valleys . A s a result , there was the availability of clean water and fertile soils which led to the a doption of agriculture in th e two regions. Agriculture was carried out along the banks of river Nile in ancient Egypt and between river Euphrates and Tigris in Mesopotamia ( CrashCourse , 2012). Adoption of agriculture was crucial to the development of these two civilizations because it enabled them to embrace a settled way of life. Agriculture was undoubtedly the biggest similarity among the two civilizations. The s ettled lifestyle led to the emergence of social structures that eventually resulted in the growth of powerful kingdoms. Moreover, it influenced growth in t rade which mainly involved exchange and sale of agricultural produce and precious items such as gold.
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Religiously, b oth Mesopotamians and ancient Egyptians were polytheistic. Subsequently, t hey believed in the existence of many gods . Such gods included the gods of the sky, sun, underworld, earth, freshwater, and gods dedicated to human feelings. It was essential to maintain a friendly kinship with these gods so as to ensure that harvests were optimal and calamities were kept at bay. Mesopotamians feared their gods because they believed that the gods were malicious, capricious and easily angered, especially due to the frequent and random cases of flooding. Conversely, a ncient Egyptians loved their gods and considered religion an integral part of their culture. Their religion was a vast and variegating set of practices and beliefs. They interacted with their gods freely and also believed in the existence of many deities . These played crucial roles in the world and included the gods Osiris, Anubis, and Horus . They also believed in minor deities who had minor functions. Ancient Egyptian religion was also characterized by the belief in association among deities , cosmology, afterlife, rituals and prayers, temples, a divine Pharaoh, magic, oracles, and funeral practices ( CrashCourse , 2012).
These two ancient civilizations also had very similar social stratification or social classes. The labor class was made up of slaves and was the lowest class . T he lower class , on the other hand, consisted of farmers, brewers, merchants, musicians, and bakers . The middle class was placed above the lower class and constituted mainly of the scribes, architects, and wealthier merchants. T he upper class was composed of the nobles and the clergy. The topmost class in these civilizations was the ruling class which was made up of kings in the case of Mesopotamia and Pharaohs in ancient Egypt and their families ( CrashCourse , 2012).
Another main similarity between ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamians was that they both invented their wa ys of writing. The w riting was invented to record weather variations, seasons and occurrence of events such as flooding, especially in Mesopotamia. The Mesopotamians invented a form of writing known as Cuneiform . Cuneiform was an evolution of signs that they were using to record daily events, trade, and astronomy. On the other hand, ancient Egyptians invented a writing script that was referred to as hieroglyphics to record religion and governance ( CrashCourse , 2012). The other significant similarity was the presence of powerful rulers who had strong armies to protect and rule over the people. The Pharaoh was the ancient Egyptian ruler who was an absolute monarch whereas a king ruled Mesopotamia . These rulers controlled trade, religion, and were the overseers of civil matters ( CrashCourse , 2012).
Ancient civilizations in Egypt and Mesopotamia began along the Nile valley and in the Arabian plateau . This was mainly because of the availability of clean water provided river Nile , and Euphrates and Tigris respectively . Likewise, it influenced by the presence of fertile soils in the two regions ( CrashCourse , 2012). The s ilt deposited by th e rivers was rich in nutrients, and that is why agriculture was adopted. Agriculture led to the establishment of settled lifestyles and increased trade. Therefore, agriculture is attributed to the growth of commerce as well as the development and growth of kingdoms in both areas.
Both Egypt and Mesopotamia had rulers who also made the laws of the land. Hammurabi, a king of Mesopotamia, is widely recognized for the laws he wrote for the Mesopotamia n society. The code of Hammurabi is a script that contains 282 laws written by King Hammurabi himself in 1754 BC (Hughes, 2015). Th e code aided in governance and comprised of laws touching on civil matters, family matters, slave matters, marriage and sexual matters, property and inheritance matters , crime, liability and insurance concepts (Hughes, 2015).
References
CrashCourse (2012). Mesopotamia: Crash Course World History #3. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch ? v =sohXPx_XZ6Y&feature=youtu.be
CrashCourse (2012). Ancient Egypt: Crash Course World History #4. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch ? v =Z3Wvw6BivVI&feature=youtu.be
Hughes, K (2015). Hammurabi’s Code Explained: World History Review. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch ? v =BsPbqmYwxso&feature=youtu.be
Kemp, B. J. (2006). Ancient Egypt: anatomy of a civilization . Psychology Press.
Oppenheim, A. L. (2013). Ancient Mesopotamia: portrait of a dead civilization . University of Chicago Press.
