Civilization involves high level developments on the cultural, political and social aspects of a region or a country. Mesopotamia and Egypt can be described as the two earliest civilizations which were located along the great river systems. Mesopotamia and Egypt had well established religion, art, architecture, education as well as political organizations. Both of them were very similar although there were some differences (Seignobos, 123-127).
Both of them were found along the east. However, Mesopotamia was found in the Middle East, and it is currently known as Iraq. It was located along the two major rivers, Euphrates and Tigris. The word Mesopotamia is a Greek word meaning between two rivers. Both of them had political organizations. However, Mesopotamia had various states while Egypt consisted of a centralized state.
During the early days in Mesopotamia, the cities were headed by priests. However, these priests abused their powers, which led to the rise of kings. Each state in Mesopotamia operated separately from each other with its own government and gods. On the other hand, Egypt was ruled by pharaoh who was the only powerful king.
During this time, Egyptians stayed along the river Nile (Seignobos, 123-127). They were not living in the cities as compared to those people living in Mesopotamia. Both of them used calendars to guide them on their daily lives and farming activities. The people of Mesopotamia used calendars in order to determine when the floods could occur along the Euphrates and Tigris rivers (Chadwick, 126-140).
However, the two calendars had some differences. For instance, the Mesopotamian calendar was shorter than the Egyptian calendar with eleven days. Both Mesopotamia and Egypt had similarities in terms of religion (Rollin, 225-228). Both of them worshipped more than one god. They also believed that the good people on earth will be granted an everlasting life in heaven. The Egyptians also believed that their kings were spiritual leaders (Chadwick, 137-151).
Mesopotamia and Egypt had architecture and art which were their major achievements. Ziggurat was used as a centre of conducting celebrations in Mesopotamia. The Egyptians started building using bricks instead of stones, and they were regarded as the greatest builders. They built their first pyramids using six large stone brick tombs. In Mesopotamia people were well educated as well as in Egypt. Mesopotamians and Egyptians attained science and mathematical skills such as algebra, geometry as well as addition and subtraction.
Most of the people in Mesopotamia were able to compute quadratic equations, and they were also very advanced in algebra and geometry (Chadwick, 157-160). The Egyptians used their mathematical skills in order to build great pyramids. Mesopotamians had a lot of mathematical skills as compared to the Egyptians. The Egyptians had a lot of developments in the field of architecture and art than the Mesopotamians.
Both of them had great rulers. In Mesopotamia, there were Sumerian rulers known as Lugal while the Egyptians were ruled by Pharaohs. The first government in Mesopotamia was formed by Akkadians who had an absolute power. Cyrus the great was a powerful ruler in Persia. He led the Persian to revolt against the Medes (Rollin, 324-328).Alexander the great was another powerful ruler in the history of civilization.
He conquered Egypt without facing any opposition. He respected the culture, religion, customs and the people of Egypt. The Egyptians liked him as he delivered them from Persia. He was considered as a god in Egypt .he introduced the Greek culture in this country and launched the city of Alexandria.
Works Cited
Chadwick, Robert. First Civilizations. Chicago: Equinox Publishing Limited, 2005.Print.
Rollin, Charles. The ancient history of the Egyptians,Cathaginians,Assyrians Medes and Persians. New York: FQ Books, 2010.Print.
Seignobos, Charles. History of ancient civilization. New York: Nabu Press, 2010.Print.