AP World History
Period:8
9/29/12
Comparing: Egypt and Mesopotamia
Although Mesopotamia and Egypt were similar in terms of their writing system, they differ with technology. The Mesopotamian’s both were one of the first civilizations to invent the writing system. Both places started with pictographs. On the other hand, the Mesopotamian’s invented more important things than the Egyptians, such as the wheel and the sailboat.
Mesopotamia and Egypt both had the same types of religions, including the same gods and goddesses. Both Egypt and Mesopotamia had supreme gods such as Ra, Amon and Osiris. Male gods had a female goddess as their wife. The gods and goddess of these two civilizations often had a human form and an animal form., sometimes the two forms were combined. For example, the god Horus can be shown as a hawk, or as a man with the head of a hawk.
Both Mesopotamia and Egypt were similar in their agriculture. They both had rivers such as the Nile River and the Euphrates and Tigris River provided silt to help their crops grow. They both had very fertile land, but neither of them received enough rain to grow the crops. During the year 3000 B.C, farmers came up with a way to help them with their crops; they invented the plow that the oxen could pull. During that same period of time, Mesopotamia and Egypt developed the world’s largest irrigation system.
In despite of Egypt and Mesopotamia believing that their rulers were gods, they differed in the type of ruling system, which later changed. Both civilizations became monarchies. Egypt had a Pharaoh, a position passed down from father to son, lasting a lifetime. Mesopotamia’s king did not operate on family legacy, the king would normally attack the lower standard areas of the city with his army.
These two civilizations were similar, because they were on of the first ones to start using the writing system. They differed with one another, because the Mesopotamian’s evolved faster with their technology. For example, inventing the wheel and the sailboat.
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