Egypt & Mesopotamia Comparison

Egypt and Mesopotamia Comparison
In order to completely understand the relationship between two events, comparing and contrasting is necessary. Through comparing similarities and differences it is easier to analyze why things developed and occurred the way they did. For example, in comparing Egypt and Mesopotamia it will be easier to achieve understanding of major aspects of their culture, the way other cultures impacted them, and their influence on the future. In addition to the similarities between the two cultures, the differences are what make them unique. Although Egypt and Mesopotamia both left stable heritage in their respective regions, due to geographic location their influences on politics, economy, and social relations differ. The root of the differences between the Mesopotamian cultures lies within the politics. The two cultures operated very differently as Mesopotamia was ruled regionally while Egypt used a more centralized government. Kings in the Mesopotamian region formed city states ruled by leaders of their armies while they just oversaw what was going on via these mediums. On the other hand, Egyptian culture featured “god-kings” or pharaohs that controlled much larger expanses of land than Mesopotamian leaders did. Logically, it makes sense that this would occur because of the differences in influence for these two regions. For example, unification of Egypt was inspired by Sudan’s use of small kingdoms that governed the agriculture of the rulers. The Egyptians then faced competition which caused their small kingdoms to conquer neighboring kingdoms to the point where they controlled much larger territories. The notion of kings and pharaohs leads into another difference. Mesopotamian societies featured monarchies as they were led by kings while Egyptians had a theocracy as pharaohs were divine rulers. In Mesopotamia it is figured that their monarchs evolved from men making decisions on behalf of their whole