Comparative Essay Sample: Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia

In about 3,000 B.C.E Mesopotamia was one of the first civilizations to develop along the Tigris, Euphrates, and Nile rivers. Not long after Ancient Egypt came along and developed along the same Rivers as Mesopotamia, because of this both civilizations evolved in many ways. Developing along Rivers Benefited both Civilizations in the way that they could use the rivers for transportation, trade, and water to drink and grow crops. Over time Both civilizations benefited from where they settled and became more evolved in the way they did things such as developing their  writing systems like hieroglyphics and cuneiform. Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt’s civilizations were similar in their religion and writing because they both developed along rivers and at the time both their religions were based on the belief of gods in human form. On the other hand, they were different in the way that they organized their public works systems.

Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia had many similarities in the way they controlled their religions. In Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, their religions were both polytheistic. Ancient Egyptians believed that their gods controlled natural events and that there was life after death. An example of how the Gods controlled natural events in Ancient Egypt is that the Egyptians believed that the Gods controlled the yearly flooding of the Nile river every year. This was an important belief since the Egyptians lived along the Nile which was a part of River Valleys so they needed the Niles flood water to grow crops and to drink so that they could survive. An example of life after death in Ancient Egypt is that Egyptians were mummified in a specific way that preserved their souls so that they could go off to the afterlife. In the afterlife, Ancient Egyptians believed their soul would go on to another world. The gods didn’t believe that Egyptians should go to the afterlife so they ignored them and only sent powerful people like pharaohs to the afterlife. In Mesopotamia, they were also polytheistic and believed that their gods were hostile but similar to the Egyptians they believed that gods controlled their natural events. Mesopotamians believed that Gods controlled their natural events in the way that Gods controlled how strong their floods were and how it would affect their crop season. If there weren’t any floods that year throughout the Euphrates and Tigris rivers the Mesopotamatians would believe that the Gods were angry at them since they left them with drought. Mesopotamians believed that their priests held a high power in society. The people of Mesopotamia worked to keep their gods pleased so that things like crops would continue to grow. Both Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt were theocracies which meant they both believed that gods controlled the way things in their governments were run. Both civilizations built temples and ziggurats to show their loyalty to the Gods. These pieces of information support how Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt were  similar in their ways of religion.

Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia had many similarities in the way they created their writing systems. In both civilizations, they had writing systems that were based on a system of symbols or characters. In Mesopotamia, the Mesopotamians had a writing system called cuneiform which was a system of symbols or characters carved into clay with wedge-shaped tools. In Ancient Egypt, their writing system was called Hieroglyphics which were symbols to represent objects, sounds, or ideas. Hieroglyphics were written on papyrus which was a type of paper made of a plant that grew along the Nile.  Egypt and Mesopotamia used their writing system for many things such as for writing Hammurabi’s code in Mesopotamia for the Babylonians. Both civilizations were also able to write down laws that were later found by archeologists and keep track of things like the growth of crops with their writing systems. In Mesopotamia, the Epic of Gilgamesh was one of the first pieces of literature written in Cuneiform which was a major piece of writing that shows examples of how Mesopotamians used their writing systems and the arts. This example connects to my 1st body paragraph in body 1 since Mesopotamians could have used Cuneiform to keep track of the flood seasons controlled by the Gods and how many crops had grown that year. If Mesopotamians kept track of their floods and crops with cuneiform it could be used as a primary source for how they lived during that time. This example also connects to the Sumerian afterlife since Sumerians were buried in tombs that had carvings in cuneiform and symbols that would show stories of the person who died. With these carvings, we could find out the stories behind these pharaohs and how they died. Also, in ancient Egypt, the Rosetta stone was found which was written in and used to translate hieroglyphics. In Ancient Egypt Scribes who wrote in Cuneiform had a high authority on the social Hierarchy. These pieces of information show how the writing systems in Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia were similar. 

In Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt, one difference between their civilizations was their public works systems. One way Mesopotamia organized its public works systems was by having city walls. These city walls protected them from invasion from other countries. This came along with living along River Valleys since Mesopopotamia was in between the Tigris and Euphrates River and where many other city-states were located so they needed their protection. Mesopotamia also had ziggurats where the people of Mesopotamia would go to pray to the gods, Ziggurats were paid for by the government in Mesopotamia and were located in the center of each city in Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia also had irrigation systems to prevent flooding during the flood seasons. However, in Ancient Egypt, they didn’t have city walls. So invaders could easily come in and destroy the civilizations in Ancient Egypt. At the same time, Egypt s geographical features had natural protection. This protection came from the Nile River since it blocked all the land around Egypt. Which Mesopotamia lacked since they had no natural barriers so they had to build their barriers out of the resources they had.  In Ancient Egypt, they had pyramids which were paid for by the government, in the pyramids pharaohs were buried and were buried with their belongings in the pyramids in hope that they would go on to the afterlife. Similar to Mesopotamia Egypt had irrigation systems. Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia were different in the way they created public works systems in different ways. 

Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia’s civilizations were very similar and different in many ways. In Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt they both had similar ways of how they followed religion, they were both theocracies and believed that the gods controlled their government. Both Egypt and Mesopotamia also had very similar writing systems based on symbols and characters. Which in Egypt were hieroglyphics and Mesopotamia was cuneiform. One difference that stood out between both civilizations was their public works systems since Mesopotamia had city walls to protect themselves from invasion and Ancient Egypt didn't.  Both civilizations became highly evolved and paved the way for other civilizations throughout history.