The word Mesopotamia means "The Land between the Rivers" . Today this area is mostly in Iraq and parts of Turkey . The Mesopotamian Civilization seems to have developed earlier than that of the Egyptians . About 9,000 B. C. the inhabitants of the Zagros foothills began the domestication of plants and animals .This took place in Egypt about 5000 to 4000 B. C.
In Mesopotamia the Sumerians had developed Cuneiform a wedge shaped form of writing by about 3,500 B. C. In Egypt , Hieroglyphics were not developed until about 3,100 B. C.
Egypt was also unified at this time, which is another contrast with Mesopotamia , which was never a unified country.
About 2700 -2600 B. C. was the beginning of the Old Kingdom in Egypt , which is considered the Pyramid Building Era . In Mesopotamia a ruler named Gil-Gamesh was the ruling monarch and also the Royal Cemetery was established . This left a treasure trove for Archaeologists later to discover .
About 2,500 B. C. Egypt entered the middle Kingdom . In Mesopotamia Ur-namu had just established the Third Dynasty of Ur.
About 1800 Hammurabi , the great law giver, had taken the throne and Egypt was was still in the Middle Kingdom .
About 1600 Mesopotamia was invaded by the Hittites ending Hammurabi's Dynasty , and Egypt entered the New Kingdom . Hammurabi is known for his codes of law which are considered some of the first set of legal rules for things such as litigation .
Both civilizations depended heavily on their rivers. But the Nile was a much more "dependable river" than the Tigris and Euphrates in the Iraq area today .
The Egyptians Seemed to have a more Positive view of things as shown in their art. There also was more cultural stability in Egypt Because of the annual harvest.
Irrigation of the rivers was very important in both cultures.
Because of construction needs a large work force was needed to be established to work on the aqueduct's giving rise to a self-sustaining bureaucracy .
Also the stable food supply from this enabled the population to grow.
Egypt was very isolated from the other cultures and had few major outside invasions.
Mesopotamia on the other hand was constantly being invaded and so had more outside contact .
Egypt also had little elaborate trade with the outside world , where as Mesopotamia had extensive trade dealings .
Egypt's trade was also controlled by the government . Mesopotamia's trade was on a more independent level.
Egypt was ruled by a person thought to be a god . Because of this the Egyptians seemed to feel no need for a set of written laws . The Pharaoh's word was law.
The Egyptian view of afterlife is also different , being based on the quality of a man's earthly life and behavior .
Also there was no ridged class structure in Egypt . There seemed to be only the royal family and their advisers. The rest of the population were considered commoners.
By
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Kenneth Lafler
Bibliography -
Early Man - Chester A. Star - excellent source of information on the Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations ,and other Cultures and Civilizations
They wrote on Clay - Another excellent source of information .
Everyday Life in Babylonia - Describes the day to day existence of the Sumerian's and Babylonian's
The Medieval Mind - College level reading - In depth Look at the way people thought during that period of time .
The History Channel
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