What if government today in the United States was based off of one

religion? Well, in lots of ancient civilizations, this was a reality. Religion was a

large factor to the ways of life. This is why religion had the biggest impact on

ancient civilizations. Religion affects many of the major aspects of life,

including government, art, architecture, and technology.

One example of a civilization that was largely influenced by religion

was Ancient Egypt. Their government was a theocracy, and many of the

principles tied into their religion. Their Pharaoh was seen as a god on earth,

and they worshiped him. The Pharaoh was the ruler of all. Another example

of religious influence was in their architecture. This architecture was related

to the death of a Pharaoh. When the Pharaoh died, the citizens would build a

pyramid. Inside the pyramid would be a tomb, and this was where their

deceased Pharaoh would lay to rest. Then, people called embalmers would

mummify the Pharaoh. This was a procedure that would preserve the

Pharaohs’ for eternity. The chief embalmer would wear a mask during this

procedure, to represent the god Anubis. The Pharaoh would lie with all of his

gold and other jewelry, because their religion believed that afterlife would be

wonderful, and that the Pharaoh would be able to keep all of his belongings.

Inside of the pyramids and tombs, hieroglyphics would be inscribed on the

walls. This was a sacred language that the Egyptians used to tell stories and

record important information. It was a system of symbols and pictures that

could relate to words of sounds. As you can see, religion was a very big

influence to the people of ancient Egypt. If religion would have been

irrelevant to the Egyptians’, lots of the famous structures and artifacts we

study today would not exist. Religion was the one thing that gave the

Egyptians the drive to create all the amazing pyramids and tombs. In a way,

religion forced certain development and advancements in Egypt’s’ society.

Another civilization that was largely inspired by their religion was the

city of Ur, in ancient Sumer. Sumer functioned under a theocratic

government. This meant that their government was led by a group of priests.

The priests led everything, and were in charge of all religious and cultural

affairs. This included trying to keep the gods happy. Lots of the Sumerians

time and money was spent trying to do this. The priests were said to have to

only line of communication to the gods, so whatever the priests said was

what the citizens did. The citizens feared that if they didn’t do everything to

make the gods happy, they would be punished. The priests said that the

gods wanted the citizens to worship them in large temples. These were

called Ziggurats, and they were the primary structure for religious praise. It

was also the central nervous system for all cultural and political duties. Over

the years, many of these large temples were built. They were large,

expensive, and took time to build. Sumerians written language was also

related to their religion. This script was called cuneiform, and its primary use

was as a record keeping tool. This included documents related to tax

collection, laws, and storage of grain. However, later in the dynastic period, it

was also used for temple praise hymns. Overall, I would say that religion had

a good impact on the development of their civilization. If not for the written

language derived from their religion, they would not have been able to keep

record of all of their business. This was a system of organization that some

civilizations did not have. The ziggurats created a place for the priests to

conduct their political business, and this helped them create a strong

government. Religion forced this shaping and advancement in their

architecture and art. If not for religion, the development in Sumer would

have been much slower. All these things became a very large part of their

civilization.

Religion shaped ancient architecture by creating religious temples,

tombs, and more. It formed the foundation of their government. Their written

language was very important, because it could tell stories, and keep records.

Religion served as a structure for how everything in a society functioned.

That is why religion had the biggest impact on ancient civilizations.