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Egypt And Mesopotamia Compared
The Origins Of Civilizations
Edited By: Robert Guisepi
Read & annotate this essay. Use that information plus your notes, outlines and primary source
documents to complete the attached chart.
The development of two great early civilizations in the Middle East and North
Africa encourages a first effort at comparative analysis. Because of different
geography, different degrees of exposure to outside invasion and influence, and
different prior beliefs, Egypt and Mesopotamia were in contrast
to one another in many ways. Egypt emphasized strong central authority, while
Mesopotamian politics shifted more frequently over a substructure of regional citystates. Mesopotamian art focused on less monumental structures, while embracing a
pronounced literary element that Egyptian art lacked.
These cultural differences can be explained partly by geography: Mesopotamians
lacked access to the great stones that Egyptians could import for their monuments.
The differences also owed something to different politics, for Egyptian ability to
organize masses of laborers followed from its centralized government structures
and strong bureaucracy. The differences owed something, finally, to different
beliefs, for the Mesopotamians lacked the Egyptian concern for preparations for the
afterlife, which so motivated the great tombs and pyramids that have made Egypt
and some of the pharaohs live on in human memory.
Both societies traded extensively, but there was a difference in economic tone.
Mesopotamia was more productive of technological improvements, because their
environment was more difficult to manage than the Nile valley. Trade contacts were
more extensive, and the Mesopotamians gave attention to a merchant class and
commercial law.
Social differences were less obvious because it is difficult to obtain information on
daily life for early civilizations. It is probable, though, that the status of women was
greater in Egypt than in Mesopotamia (where women's position seems to have
deteriorated after Sumer). Egyptians paid great respect to women at least in the
upper classes, in part because marriage alliances were vital to the preservation and
stability of the monarchy. Also, Egyptian religion included more pronounced
deference to goddesses as sources of creativity.
Comparisons in politics, culture, economics, and society suggest civilizations that
varied substantially because of largely separate origins and environments. The
distinction in overall tone was striking, with Egypt being more stable and cheerful
than Mesopotamia not only in beliefs about gods and the afterlife but in the colorful
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and lively pictures the Egyptians emphasized in their decorative art. Also striking
was the distinction in internal history, with Egyptian civilization far less marked by
disruption than its Mesopotamian counterpart.
Comparison must also note important similarities, some of them characteristic of
early civilizations. Both Egypt and Mesopotamia emphasized social stratification,
with a noble, landowning class on top and masses of peasants and slaves at the
bottom. A powerful priestly group also figured in the elite. While specific
achievements in science differed, there was a common emphasis on astronomy and
related mathematics, which produced durable findings about units of time and
measurement. Both Mesopotamia and Egypt changed only slowly by the standards
of more modern societies.
Details of change have not been preserved, but it is true that having developed
successful political and economic systems there was a strong tendency toward
conservation. Change, when it came, was usually brought by outside forces natural disasters or invasions. Both civilizations demonstrated extraordinary
durability in the basics. Egyptian civilization and a fundamental Mesopotamian
culture lasted far longer than the civilizations that came later, in part because of
relative isolation within each respective region and because of the deliberate effort
to maintain what had been achieved, rather than experiment widely.
Both civilizations, finally, left an important heritage in their region and adjacent
territories. A number of smaller civilization centers were launched under the
impetus of Mesopotamia and Egypt, and some would produce important
innovations of their own by about 1000 B.C.
Name:
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Political
Social
Geography
Mesopotamia
Both
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Egypt
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Artistic & Intellectual
Economic
Religious
Mesopotamia
Both
Egypt