Mesopotamia & EgyptCompared

Block – World Civilizations

Mrs. Petras

Differences - Political

• Mesopotamia divided into city-states

• Egypt has a Bureaucracy • Egypt united into a kingdom Early

on 3100 BCE by King Narmer (31 dynasties)

Differences cont.

• Mesopotamian kings were considered to be representatives of the gods

• Egyptian kings were considered gods – pharaohs (gov’t was a theocracy)– Kings had eternal life force Ka

Sim - Political

• Empire building

• Standing Army

• Dynastic

• Religion played a role in politics

Economic Differences

• Egypt valued luxury items such as gold, spice, and incense

• Egypt traded corn, Wheat, cloth, Papyrus

• Mesopotamia needed day to day items – traded grain, oils and textiles for timber, precious metals and stones

Economic - Similarity

• Crops were barley, wheat and dates

• Both were agricultural

• Specialized labor

• Traded with surrounding areas

Economic Similarity

• Both needed Timber

• Taxes paid to the government

• Slavery

• Rivers used for trade and agriculture which caused cultural diffusion

Social Similarity

• Social Hierarchy – However, order was differentKings, queen, and royal family

Upper class – wealthy landowners, government officials, priests and army commanders

Social Similarities

• Next middle class – merchants and artisans

• Lowest class (majority of society) – peasant farmers and laborers

• Finally Slaves

Social Sim. Cont.

• In order to rise in society – Need to be able to read and write

• Patriarchal

• Women – could own and trade property

Social differences

• Women had more rights in Egypt– Female rulers – Queen Hatshepsut

– Could propose marriage

– Seek divorce

– If granted divorce, she would be entitled to one-third of the couple’s property

Cultural Similarity

• Both polytheistic– Re, the sun god, and Osiris, god of the

dead

– Isis – ideal wife and mother

• Buried in tombs with many of their possessions

Cultural Differences

• Egyptian view of life – positive

• Egyptians believed in afterlife

• Believed to be judged for their deeds

• Anubis, god and guide for the underworld

• Large tombs

• mummification

Cultural Differences

• Each city-state in Sumer had their own god that was worshiped by its people

• Unlike Egyptians did not think they had any control over their lives

Intellectual - Similarity

• Monumental architecture: Ziggurats and Pyramid

• Writing system: Cuneiform and Hieroglyphics

• Literature: Epic of Gilgamesh and Book of the Dead

• Calendar

Intellectual Similarity cont.

• Writing done on stone and clay

• 365 days– 12 months and 5 day of holiday

• Geometry

Intellectual Differences

• Later writing on papyrus

• Literature: Egypt happy (first love poems) and Mesopotamia gloomy

• 1st to use stone columns in homes, palaces and temples

• Advance medicine

Intellectual Differences Cont.

• Pulse checking

• Set broken bones

• Treatments for wounds and fevers

• Surgery

• Arts – Makeup

Environment Differences

• Mesopotamia: Open - invaded often

• Egypt: protected by sea and rivers

• Nile could be predicated but Tigris and Euphrates could not

• SAME: DESERT

• Settled by fertile waterways