River Valley Civilizations?

Question

Compare and contrast the main features of Egyptian & Mesopotamian civilizations.

What did the two civilizations have in common as early civilizations?

What were the main differences in values and organization?

Answer 1

My duties for this question are to compare and contrast Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations. While its true that both civilizations originated approximately around the same time they do hold many differences which will be outline in the paragraphs below to the best of my ability. However vast, the difference may be, both civilizations also hold some similarities that will also be outline in the following paragraphs.

The Mesopotamian civilization was the beginning of all civilized life within Southwest Asia. I will try to profile some of both cultures and civilizations achievements while also conveying how the both civilizations may have interacted, assimilated or otherwise been dissimilar from the other civilization.

Now, Mesopotamian civilization transformed around the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, while the Egyptian civilization transformed mainly around the Nile River, the Nile being the world longest rivers. Both civilizations relied on these rivers as a source of food, transportation, and even a means of communication amongst themselves.

Mesopotamia was a rather dry, however fertile floodplain that the aforementioned rivers created boundaries for. These rivers were boundaries for Mesopotamian civilization, but the boundaries stretched across a vast expanse of land. The Mesopotamian civilization strived and expanded because these rivers became a meeting place for the populous to share ideas, to trade goods and to communicate amongst themselves.

Mesopotamian civilization had a distinction from Egyptian civilization in that they, the villages within their boundaries held and transformed differently, having a difference within building styles and art customs. The Egyptian civilization was fairly constant within those particular subjects having mimicked some values and traits developed from the latter part of the Mesopotamian civilization's villages when they began to interchange their own values and become more uniform within themselves.

Both civilizations began from hunter and gatherers, as they learned to have their land and surroundings provide for them.  The two civilizations had quite a distance between especially for that period in time. Both civilizations created their own form of religion and political structure.

Mesopotamian civilizations accomplishments were of exponential value for all human kind having advanced the agricultural and textile industries in leaps and bounds. The use of the potter's wheel for textiles and wheel/wagon for agriculture were of utmost importance.

Both civilizations created a form a dictation to transcribe their own histories, laws and theories. The Mesopotamian composition method was cuneiform whereas the Egyptian wrote in hieroglyphics; cuneiform was an arrangement of wedge shaped letters and hieroglyphics were of a pictorial nature to represent sounds and words.

Egyptian civilization, like I said was created around and amongst the Nile River. The Nile River was plentiful with fish, waterfowl, and animals that used the river for drinking. This made it ideal to create a civilization – to have the land and surroundings provide for an easier life.

Egyptian civilization’s intricate afterlife customs are perhaps, the most elaborate and intriguing customs, I know of. These customs provide an insight into the civilization, in that it elaborates on their diverse religious and political schemes. The mummy came to pass because they believe that the spirits, which resided within the body, could not survive with the decay of the body. The experiments to preserve the body would lead to modern day embalming practices.

Egyptian civilizations obsession with the afterlife also, brings about another abnormality, that even we today cannot explain, although we understand the nature of it. The pyramids were built as tombs, to keep bodies preserved and to sustain a monument to the dead person’s wealth, social status and deeds done. Political figures received some of the most elaborate of tombs, many of which were booby-trapped to prevent thieves and transgressors.

The political structure of the Egyptian civilization was more advanced then the Mesopotamians, as they truly had a governing body, that being the Pharaoh, whereas Mesopotamian’s government revolved around city state base. While Mesopotamian’s were more interested in protecting individual city-state’s property, I believe that Egyptian’s were more about protecting the continuity of the whole.

While I believe that the Egyptian civilization was a more ideal and prosperous because of its location, I know that to create a civilization, like business location is key and that you will do the best you can do with the resources that are within your boundaries. I feel that Egypt and the Nile, and the locations therein provided for a more reliable and extensive avenue to transport goods and communicate with a more diversified range of civilizations and cultures.

I am agnostic in my beliefs, so I’m also very fascinated by the religious attributes that this region as given, from this time period to now from the mummification of corpses to the eventual birth of Christianity and that many of our own customs take root in customs that originated here.