egypt and mesopotamian civilisation

Egypt and Mesopotamian Civilizations

   A Civilization can be defined as a great level of development of social, cultural and political aspects of a region. When one talks of civilization, the first thing that comes in mind are the two oldest civilizations, i.e., Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations. Both these civilizations occurred around at the same time and around river systems. There are a lot of differences between the two mighty regions but there are similarities as well. In both the civilizations, the credit for agricultural prosperity, political structures and religious formations are given to geography and the river valleys of both the regions, i.e., Nile in Egypt and Tigris and Euphrates in Mesopotamia.

    While the rise of Egypt due to Nile was predictable it was not the same with Mesopotamia. Tigris and Euphrates were the cause of inundating villages and cities, frequent floods which continued killing people and farm animals. Egypt had protection from external invasions through natural barriers while Mesopotamia had a huge open region. As rulers rose and failed, new empires were born which made the Ancient Near East an unending war field.

     Political Institutions of Mesopotamia and Egypt:

  For most of the time Egypt was reigned by a Pharoah, a Semi-deity king who was provided assistance by an army of officials and viziers. Powerful kings ensured the success and prosperity which was disturbed temporarily by civil contention and the rise of other kings at the end of Middle Kingdom.

    Mesopotamia, on the other side started as a self governing, antonymous city-state and there was a lot of completion for power. The Middle East was united after 2370 b.c.e under the rule of Sargon who introduced the first Semitic rule that could be known as an “Empire”. After the failure of Akkad one group of dynasty kept following another. The Amorites conquered it first, followed by the Hittites, the Kassites and then the Assyrians. Long term political unity was achieved when Cyrus reigned with the Persian Empire.

Religion differences in Egypt and Mesopotamia:

   In Ancient Egypt, religion was deeply associated with nature and environment.As Egypt was known as the “Gift of Nile” and as it was usually prosperous, Gods reflected a positive religion with a hope of a positive afterlife. But as the fortune of Egypt changed, the ideas of religion changed too. Osiris was the law maker and the Deity of the underworld.

    In contrast to this, Mesopotamian religion was pretty gloomy and dull. Mesopotamian prayers show the failure of relationship with Gods and Goddesses who continuously kept reminding the people of their humanity by causing calamities. Such kind of a message was found in the “Gilgamesh Epic”.

   The Hebrews were an exception. Their ideas of belief of existence of a single God (monotheism) was different from the neighboring regions.The Hebrew Deity could be ruthless but he also established the foundation of a treaty with his selected people providing emancipation and a vow of a Messiah who would make a kingdom on the base of justice. In Mesopotamia the high class and the ordinary people joined together in grand festivals like the New year’s festival which was held every Spring.  Cities created temples and expressed their devotion to the deities who protected the community. Scribes reflect graced this divine image with rituals that replicated the message of the Babylonian Creation Myth that mankind exists only for the service of Gods and  a  priest  would actually read  to the deities from that text.  Many ensuing actions in the temple reenacted the happenings of the myth. The Sumerian gods personified the forces of nature: Enlil as the air, Enki as the water, Utu as the sun, and Nanna as the moon. 

Mesopotamians temples were called ziggarets. There was a spread of belief in magic. People carried around amulets to keep away the evil. Following their belief that time moved in a circular pattern, through a cycle of birth, growth, maturity, and death, they hoped that through this tradition they can  persuade the gods to grant a renewal of time and life at winter’s end.

Egyptians, too, had faith in amulets and in miracles. Religion was state organized even here. The most vital difference between Mesopotamian and Egyptian belief is that the Egyptians believed in afterlife. They geared up for a safe passage and a comfortable existence in afterlife once they arrived. The Egyptian Book of the Dead which is present in many excavated tombs, consists of rituals and spells to protect them.

 Similarities of civilisation and culture:

     Mesopotamia and Egypt developed ways of writing that involved pictograms which were mainly used for keeping records. In both these civilizations young boys were trained to be scribes which was a very important part of the social structure (of both Mesopotamia and Egypt).Both the mighty civilisations were highly engaged in trade, promotion of growth of artisan and merchant classes and creating societies subjugated by rich aristocrats. As a part of necessary elements of a civilization all these can be argued as the characteristics of cultural development.

    The social differences were also large. Like the difference in social position of women in the Egypt and Mesopotamia. It is inferred that Egyptian women enjoyed more social status as compared to Mesopotamian women. To alleviate the Egyptian monarchy, women of the higher class were imperative and were treated with much care and respect which was not the case with Mesopotamia.

   Since both these civilisations grew up in similar surroundings, they had a symbiotic relationship with each other. Though there are doubts but Egyptian is undoubtedly older than Mesopotamian. Their origins are hugely different, and so is their way of working.

   Egypt was a more stable civilisation in camparison with Mesopotamia and also more full of life, glee and success.
Economically, perhaps Mesopotamia flourished much more than Egypt and in art and culture Egypt had an upper hand over Mesopotamia.

   Though a real comparison would involve a more vast study of the various ideas of the society, the Mesopotamia, civilisation had a very violent internal history. Historians often points out that wars within the civilization was the major cause of this downfall.

Work Cited:

www2.sunysuffolk.edu/westn/ancneareast.html

Rachaita Vyas