Egypt and Mesopotamia Compare and Contrast

To start with, this is Egypt and Mesopotamia compare and contrast essay where will be discussed the similarities and differences of geographical features between these two regions. We will start with the overview of Mesopotamia and then discuss Egypt. 

Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia comprised the land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. When the rivers flooded it created silt, which made very fertile soil, this allowed for plentlyful food supply; villages began to thrive, and cities were built. Silt provided great soil, but promoted flooding. This region was difficult to defend from outsiders; the lack of proper care and irrigation, saw people begin to leave.

The Sumerians who were thought to be the first civilization of Mesopotamia were Polytheistic which means that they worshipped more than one god, with each city-state had its own leading god. To honor these gods, temples that were usally pyramid shaped called ziggurats were built that contained alters. Offerings and tribrutes was thougt to please the gods in which it was believed the people would be well cared for. Priests were the only one who could be in contact with the gods, making them powerful to the Mesopotamians civilation.

Mesopotamia had a hereditary monarchy. The city-states were ruled by a king who had final authority, having their own set of rules; because the only fertile land was along the riverside, city-states were constantly at war amongsteach other

Mesopotamians are thought to had invented the wheel, forged bronze, and established the base 60 numeral system used today to keep time for seconds, minutes, and hours. They are also believed to had used cuneiform as their writing system, later believed to had evolved into the use of symbols. Furthermore, it is believed that Mesopotamia also had distinct social classes.

Egypt

The Nile river flows through Egypt and was calm and predictable, this allowed argriculture that included a variety of crops like wheat, barley, dates, grapes, and onions, tropical rains from the Etheopian mountains during the summers allowed forthe culviation of such crops. Having deserts on both sides of the Nile River Valley made for great defenses that prevented armies from invading Egypt. Egyptian civilization contained both uppper and lower Egypt.

Egyptians were Polytheistic. They worshipped many gods. The king had absolute rule as he was believed to embody the god Horus. Much of the communities shared the same hierarchy of gods but may felt their gods were more important. As cities grew, so did the preeminence among gods. Each community had their own lore and rites pertaining to their gods. The Pyramids built to commemorate the dead in the society as well pertained to religous beliefs also.

Egypt was governed by a sovereign monarchy. Both politics and religion influenced the king’s duties which included performing riturals thought to please the gods, and to assure the divine order of things.

The Egyptians were techonolgical innovators and skilled engineers. Their society included many social classes. They used a hieroglythic writing system, in which gylphs were created linked to both pictographs and sound symbols.

The Similarities and Differences

The similarities and differences of geographical features between Egypt and Mesopotamia is uncanny. Each civilization had their own major water sources, Egypt had the Nile River and Mesopotamia had the Euphrates and Tigris River. Through being located closely to water sources they both had fertile land which brought in an increase of population growth. The locations of both civilizations saw rivers creating silt, which was idea for agriculture and allowed for harvesting abundant crops as well as feeding citizens year around. June was the idea time of year in which both Egypt and Mesopotamia would do their irrigation each year. Likewise, each civilization would use stone hoes for plowing the ground through the power of either man or an animal. Over time, trade with other countries was only available through the use of water ways. Perhaps the most important similarities between both civilization is the rotection from floods entering their settlements.

Conclusion 

Although, each civilization has a lot of similarities with geographical features, geological locations saw key differences. In Mesopotamia it was often required to perform a drainage every year to recoup the land for farming, while in Egypt, it was not a requirement. Also, Egypt only had two cropping seasons, whereas Mesopotamia had four cropping seasons. In Mesopotamia only farmers harvested the crops; whereas in Egypt, it was a shared responsibility amongst all citizens to make a contribution to the harvesting.

References

• Acrobatiq. (2017). Survey of world history. 
• Johnson, Sarah (2014). The Similarities and Difference Between Egypt and Mesopotamia.