Civilizations I
Professor Pace
March 04, 2013 The ancient civilization of Mesopotamia was located west of the Iranian Plateau or what it’s known today as modern Iraq. Beside it, a second civilization began to establish in northeast Africa, along the Nile River. The Egyptians, a civilization with similar, yet distance cultural beliefs. Their geographical differences became a factor in shaping their cultures. Both civilizations benefited from their rivers because it satisfied their basic needs for living. It also provided them with the means of transportation, which facilitated the trading system in between cities. The Egyptians were geographically blessed; two desserts on each side enclosed its cities. Hence, the Egyptians didn’t have to worry about invasion from outsiders. With a river that ran from north to south, the Egyptians were able to relocate from one city to the next. This allowed the Egyptians to concentrate in itself; it gave them sufficient time to strengthen their cultural beliefs. They use to think of themselves as being blessed by the Gods. On the other hand, Mesopotamia had a rough time dealing with intruders. They also suffered from great floods where a lot of crops were damaged, reducing the farming count for that year. Egypt also had problems with floods, but unlike Mesopotamia’s, the Egyptians floods generated fertile soil that doubled the amount of crops.
Despite being the only two civilizations that had a form of government and literary system, Egyptian culture separated itself from Mesopotamia in a number of ways. They differ in politics, architecture, spiritual views, art, writing, and morals. Egyptian culture was heavily based on morality, and most Egyptians were extremely moral people. This was the result of their belief of an after life. This belief also shaped their monumental buildings. In Mesopotamia monumental buildings were design for humans to communicate with the divine. In Egypt, the monumental buildings were tombs that connected humans to the after life. Egyptians leaders were considered divine, they were chosen by Gods to govern. Unlike Mesopotamia, Egyptians didn’t have the right to elect leaders. Mesopotamia’s government was what we would refer to today as democracy. Each city had its own leader, and not one person