Paper Example. Contrasting Civilization

Some of the ancient cultures include the Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations. Mesopotamian civilization began during the Paleolithic period when humans began settling along rivers to practice agriculture. Civilization began in Mesopotamia because of the river Tigris and river Euphrates and the fertile land which supported agriculture. Some of the cultures associated with the Mesopotamian civilization include the Sumerians, Babylonians, Akkadians, and Assyrians.

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Egyptian civilization is also another ancient civilization that began in an area close to Mesopotamia. The culture arose in Egypt along the river Nile because flooding of the river provided fertile soil that favoured agricultural activities. Egyptian civilization was characterized by a series of kingdoms that resulted from periods of instability. The domains include the old kingdom, the middle kingdom, and the new kingdom. Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilization being the ancient civilizations share a lot in common, especially like the rule and foundation.

One of the significant similarities between the two civilizations is that they were both promoted by agriculture activities. Mesopotamian civilization was promoted by the rich fertile land and the water supplied by river Tigris and Euphrates. Similarly, ancient Egypt was supported by water from the Nile and the fertile soil from the river. The agricultural activities in two regions helped the agriculture inventions such which further promoted agriculture.

One of the religious similarities between the two civilizations is that both were polytheists (Aling & Charles 271). The Egyptians believed in many gods for divine protection, and their religious practice was founded pharaoh, a divine ruler who acted as the link between the people and the gods. Similarly, Mesopotamians believed in several gods of the earth, water, sky, and other gods related to human nature. The ancestors strongly believed in the gods for good produce, and so widened their chance of survival.

Similarly, both of the civilizations in the discussion had the same social structure. The structure portrayed a pyramidal type. Only one ruler was attributed to the political and social aspects of civilization. Society was categorized into these groups following a top to down approach; the ruling class (king and pharaoh), Upper class comprising of the nobles, middle class, for instance, the wealthy merchants, then followed by lower class and slaves who worked for their sweat.

Egypt and Mesopotamia both grew into complex civilizations, too (Kitchen 97). They both had one ruler, a king ruled Mesopotamia, and a pharaoh ruled Egypt, but the former had a decentralized government had while the latter was more centralized. Similarly, the two civilizations practised a patriarchal form of ruling. However, women of Egypt were better recognized to the extent of obtaining many influential roles. In comparison, the Mesopotamians were stricter on their patriarchy. From this, we can stop to conclude that both civilizations were more similar to each other.

Both Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations have had a significant impact on various spheres of the modern world, such as technology, language, among others. For instance, the Sumerians invented the Sumerian writings, which continued to be part of the script that is used today. Another contribution of the Mesopotamian civilization is in the field of mathematics. Did you know the Pythagoras theorem applied today was known in 2000BC by the Sumerians? Well, know you know that algebraic-geometry came a long way. Egyptian civilization played a fundamental role in the now modern art of writing. Up until now, in the modern age, people express their thoughts in writing and conveying information. Indeed, Egypt and Mesopotamian civilization bear notable contributions to the modern-day age.

Works Cited

Aling, Charles F. Egypt and bible history: from earliest times to 1000 BC. Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2020.

Kitchen, Kenneth A. "Egypt, Egyptians." (2019).