Western Civilizations: Mesopotamia, Egypt, Rome,Greece Essay

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Updated: Mar 6th, 2024

Mesopotamia

The term Mesopotamia means the land between two rivers. Mesopotamia was therefore the land between the Tigris and the Euphrates, which is located in the Middle East. This was the site where the first famous cities were founded. Also, the civilizations of Sumer and Babylon were initially founded there. Mesopotamia had a very hot climate and the two rivers could not provide much because most of the time, they usually flooded. Mesopotamia encountered foreign powers and sometimes they were ruled by Rashidun Umayyad, ottoman and Seleucid empires.

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The history of Mesopotamia traces back to the emergence of the urban centers in the Middle East in the 4th millennium. The history extends to the 4th century BC (the time when Alexander the great arrived) Mesopotamia’s history was so much cherished because it consisted of the most ancient states with a highly developed lifestyle. It was also one of the regions when history was initially invented.

Religious system

Mesopotamians have a belief that the world was flat and was modeled into the shape of a disc. This disc was believed to have been surrounded by huge space and above it, there was heaven. They also had a belief that water is located everywhere around the world and that this water led to the development of the universe. Also, Mesopotamians had diverse beliefs as far as the gods were concerned. For example, the god of the sky in the Sumerian religion was Anu and was married to Ki. In other Mesopotamian religions, they believed that he had a wife called Uras. The most powerful god according to Mesopotamians was Enlil but he was later replaced by Marduk and thereafter Anhui. The principal god of Babylon was Marduk and that of Assyrians was Ashur.

Ideas of the Individual relationship to his/her (gods)

Mesopotamians had different types of gods and goddesses. There was Enki who was the god of rain, Gula (in Sumerian), and Shamash (in Akkadian) was the god of justice, Inanna was the goddess of sex and also war, Nabu was the writing god. Erra was the god of drought and Adad the god of storm Pazuzu was the god of evil. All these gods held a position where each one of them was praised according to the contents of the prayer on what an individual wanted (Maisels, 2001).

Teaching on the Purpose of human life

Mesopotamians viewed themselves as servants to their gods and believed that their work to implement the gods’ arbitrary decisions. There were severe penalties accorded to individuals and these penalties were varied depending on the wealth of an individual. There were three classes, an upper-class (consisting of government officials, priests, and warriors) the freeman class (professionals, Christians, and weakly farmers), and a lower class of slaves. The offense of the upper-class member was punished with higher severity than that of the low class.

The Egyptians

The chain of independent city-states along the Nile River united to form one long country which was ruled by a king or pharaoh. This was almost 5000 years ago. Almost at the same time another different culture developed as land for almost 30 centuries, Egypt remained as the leading nation in the Mediterranean region. But in 332 BC, Egyptians way of life changed due to the arrival of Alexander the Great

Religious systems

There were almost 2000 gods and goddesses who were worshiped by the Egyptians. Some were for religious purposes others for political power and others were just living creatures that were chosen by the Egyptians to be their gods. Temples were considered sacred places where only priests and priestesses could be allowed in. Though ordinary people could be allowed in on special occasions.

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Ideas of the individual’s relationship to his/her (gods)

The Egyptian prayers were conducted by the priest and priestesses. Sometimes it was even conducted by the magicians. The animals which were worshiped represented all those animals that were indigenous to Africa. The gods and goddesses were worshiped according to the events e.g whenever rain has required the god of rain was worshipped.

Purpose of human life

Human life was so much cherished and the presence of 2000 gods and goddesses in the Egyptian culture demonstrated that humans had a purpose in ancient Egypt. They also believed in life after death and people used to be buried with food and other personal items.

Greeks

Greek began to emerge in the 8th century BC after the fall of the Mycenaean civilization. The Greeks then adopted the Phoenician alphabet and modified it to the Greek alphabet. Written records then started appearing in the 9th century BC and Greece was divided into many small communities. The cities in ancient Greek were mainly monarchies. In the 6th century BC, many cities started to emerge and dominated Greek affairs. These cities were Athens, Sparta, Thebes, and Corinth (Thornton, 2000)

Religious system

Greeks did not have any term to describe their religion but believed that the gods have authority over all human beings and demand respect from them. The Greek people recognized 13 gods and all these gods have different histories in different gods. Each city had its temples and conducted its worships.

Ideas to individual relationship to his/her (gods)

The individuals had freedom when they were dealing with gods. They were free to declare any place sacred and also they could give a new meaning to the title of the existing gods.

Purpose of human life

They believe that individuals who were successful during their lifetime would receive a lot of honor when they die. Also, successful people could be given hire respect and even sometimes appointed as generals in times of war. Traditional healers could be called to conduct rituals to cleans different cities from disasters. Such rituals were conducted with the belief that it was not against God’s will.

Based upon this description I would say that, all these societies were optimistic about the way they viewed life because all their societies were built in an orderly manner.

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Governmental systems

Egyptian of the new kingdom

In the new kingdom, Egypt was led by pharaohs who had unimaginable wealth. This wealth was mostly used up when they were worshiping by sacrificing it to gods. Thebes was used as a cultural and religious center while Dynasty 19 had an administrative capital in the delta.

Advantages

  • They emphasized a lot on worshiping. This is seen by the number of gods they worshipped.
  • They were led by a king who commanded respect and everyone had to obey him.

Disadvantages

  • He misused the kingdom’s resources.
  • His leadership was dictatorial.

Athens during its Golden Age

This is the period when Athens was led by 10 generals elected every year by citizens. These citizens were the representatives of the 10 clans. The generals were responsible for any military operations, receiving visitors from other states, and conducting all the political affairs.

Advantages

  • The leaders (general) were elected.
  • They were led by ten general and therefore no one could turn into a dictator.

Disadvantages

  • The generals could collide whenever they were making decisions.
  • Leaders were being exchanged and no one could be countable for the wrong doings.

Romans under Augustus Caesar

Augustus possessed lots of powers that were granted to him for life. These powers were granted by the senate and included those of tribune, consul, and censor. The enormous powers he had, originated from the finance and resources he got in the conquest, the loyalty he got from the soldiers the respect and the powers he got from the senate, and also the respect from the citizens. Augustus then introduced an army that protected him whenever he went against the senate thus making the senate powerless.

Advantages

  • Their leaders were controlled by the senate.
  • The senate stated the roles of the leader.

Disadvantages

  • Augustus Caesar turned into a dictator.
  • A leader once appointed would lead for life.

The Greek peninsula engaged in the independence war. This war was mainly to win the leadership of the Ottoman Empire in Greece. Therefore after a long struggle and fights, independence was later accorded to the Greeks in 1821. This war was started by the Greeks themselves.

The war of the roman republic was mainly between Cleopatra and Octavian. But Antony who was Cleopatra’s lover and native of Rome betrayed Rome and went to assist Cleopatra who was the Egyptian queen. The war later turned into a civil war between Antony and Octavian. Octavian later won.

The Romans empire war was mainly caused by the Augustan. His leadership was dictatorial in that he had no rule on the ways emperors were being succeeded. This led to constant civil wars. (Potter, 2004).

The Roman Republic was the most aggressive because despite being having an ally of Antony in their native land they were able to win the war.

Daily life of the Roman Republic

There was much interaction between Romans and Greeks. There was much sharing of ideas and also the cultural beliefs. The Latin alphabet was also influenced by the Greek alphabet and the Latin language contained many words which were from Greeks.

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Religion

Romans worshiped many gods. The religious functions on behalf of the Roman state were mainly done in special priests’ offices under the leadership of the pontiffs. In earlier days most gods were imported specially from Greece.

Governmental system

Their government was mainly based on three elements, the consuls, senate and plebians.

Art and culture

The interaction between the Greek and the Romans made Romans to gain access on the Greek culture literature and architecture.

Daily life in Ancient Egypt

People dependent mostly on natural and human resources. This was characterized by the mineral mining, irrigation, trade between the surrounding communities. Mainly in the eastern and central Africa.

Religion

Egyptians had almost 2000 gods and goddesses who were worshiped. The worshipping of these gods and goddesses dependent entirely on the nature of the occasion. Egyptian temples were considered to a most sacred place and were only allowed to priests and priestesses.

Government system

Ancient Egypt was divided into districts for easier administrative purposes. These districts were referred to as nomes. The government of Ancient Egypt imposed taxes on different goods and services. Taxes were paid according to the service an individual is offering. These taxes were paid to inform of grains. Each person was also required to pay some tax by doing a given job for the government.

Art and culture

The acts of ancient Egypt include great pyramids, temples at Thebes among others. These structures were funded by the state to showcase the power and the continuity of the Pharaoh.

Techniques used to maintain law and order in Ancient Egypt

  • Gods and goddesses were worshiped in order to protect people.
  • The military was used to stop any skirmishes that might arise.
  • There was laws which were made by the government in order to protect its people. (Rosalie, 2000)
  • Techniques used to maintain law and order in Roman empire
  • Gods and goddesses were also worshipped to provide peace to the people.
  • Military were used to ensure that laws are followed accordingly.

Techniques used to maintain law and order in Roman – Republic

  • Laws were made in the assemblies to ensure that people follow rules.
  • The magistrates were to deal with any cases of law breaking.
  • The presence of the military ensured that there was no external attack on people.

References

Rosalie, David,. The Experience of Ancient Egypt. London. Routledge, 2000.

Maisels, Charles K. Early Civilization of the Old World: The Formative Histories of Egypt, the Levant, Mesopotamia, India, and china.London.Routeledge, 2001.

Potter, David. The Roman Empire at Bay. London Routledge, 2004.

Thornton , Bruce. How the Greeks created western civilization. San Francisco. Encounter Books, 2000.

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