Egypt & Mesopotamia Essay

Although both Egypt and Mesopotamia had 3 social classes, same gender roles, and an economy was based on agriculture, they differ in many ways such as the political structure, where Egypt was ruled by pharaohs, and Mesopotamia was ruled by an emperor. In this essay, I will start with the similarities between the two civilizations, and then state the differences between the two civilizations. I will be focusing mainly on the economy, social structure, and gender roles for similarity, and religion and political structure/philosophy, for differences. Egypt was a civilization that relied on the Nile River for agriculture, like Mesopotamia did with the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Since agriculture was such a big part of life, it was also the economic basis in these civilizations. There was some trading in the civilizations, but it was not the base of the economy. There was craftsmanship in the civilizations, but it was very little.. There are 3 social classes in Egypt and Mesopotamia, but in Egypt, they were less pronounced than in Mesopotamia. We know the classes as Upper-class, Middle-class, and Lower-class. In Egypt, Pharaohs, Nobles and Priests would be in the Upper-class, similar to the Upper-class in Mesopotamia which included Government Officials, Priests, and Wealthy Merchants. The Middle-class in Egypt would consist of Farmers, Scribes, Craftsmen and unskilled workers. In Mesopotamia, Middle-class included Farmers, Fishermen, Scribes and Potters. The Lower-class in both cultures consisted of slaves and prisoners. In both cultures, Men would be the ones who would go out and work in jobs such as the ones stated above, while the women mainly did housework. Women were not as respected back then, as some people in both cultures thought their only use was to make babies. Egypt and Mesopotamia differed in things such as Religion and Political Structure. While both civilizations’ rivers flooded, Egypt’s was basically on a schedule, so people knew when it would