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Professor Phelan
HIST 1311 01
January 24, 2021
Civilization Essay
The civilization in Mesopotamia and Egypt had several similar characteristics: their
leaders, developing communication through writing, and religious places where they worshiped.
Egypt and Mesopotamia adopted culture, which resulted in significant economic, social, and
political growth. Mesopotamia was known to have the earliest civilization known, and they both
experienced several similar characteristics. They invented similar technologies that are still
essential even today. Both Egypt and Mesopotamia shared several factors in their civilizations
and the structure of their culture.
The main characteristics in both Egypt and Mesopotamia included their strong political
power. Their leaders were responsible for the control of all the activities and especially religion
and politics. Their leaders were responsible for passing their country's ruling laws and were in
charge of the army created to enhance his resources protection. Their leaders had several civil
servants who helped him manage the possessions, and most times, he was responsible for sharing
the religious functions (Waddell, 2017). Their leaders magnified their power through art, and it
was highly encouraged in both Egypt and Mesopotamia.
In Mesopotamia, an aristocracy leadership consisted of their King, family, and nobleman
who owned significant land portions. The priests were responsible for leading the religious
rituals, and they lived in the ziggurats and possessed part of craft workshops and land. The
priests were also cooperative with the government (Rasool, 2019). The scribes were among the
civil servants, and they were from noble families, which was greatly powerful. The scribes were
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assigned several roles, such as being managers, advisers among others. The rest of the population
were slaves treated as objects or free people with rights. The free people included the craftsmen,
the peasants, and the women are known to be men's properties.
In Egypt, a pharaoh had all power and possessed most of the lands. The Pharaoh was
responsible for the supervision of the trade and also leading the army into war. He was also in
charge of regaining the country and even passing the laws that governed the country. The
Pharaoh was considered a god in Egypt and could not be looked at in the eye or touched.
Egyptians were supposed to kneel whenever the Pharaoh passed near them since he was thought
to be the divinity and believed to have magical powers. The priests and noblemen were in charge
of Egypt's most critical jobs, and they were members of the Pharaoh's family (Woodard, 2017).
The priests led the religious rites, and they had large herds and many pieces of land, which made
them wealthy, with many servants serving them. The scribes could write, read and count, leading
to great character and an ideal economic situation. The scribes were responsible for writing
documents that were official and keeping royal taxes accounts. Many peasants in Egypt were
indigent and living along the river Nile in small mud-brick houses. All the family members were
required to participate in farming activities, and the peasants had to build pyramids and other
public buildings. The slaves were war prisoners, and they had no rights, with the largest owned
by Pharaoh. There were also sailors, craftsmen, soldiers, and merchants.
Civilization in both Mesopotamia and Egypt had significant similarities, and as a result,
leadership, religion, and communication resulted in economic, social, and political growth. The
two areas' structures resulted in a significant increase in the economy due to trade and wellstructured social roles and responsibilities. The kings enhanced a well-enabled leadership by
protecting the boundaries and embraced economic development, primarily through agriculture.
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References
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Rasool, A. A. (2019). Comparative study of goddesses' function in Mesopotamian civilizations,
Elam, Iran, India, Greece, and Egypt. Journal of Process Management. New Technologies, 7(2),
24-34.
Waddell, A. (2017). Art style and representation in Mesopotamia and Egypt in the period
around 3000 BC.
Woodard, R. D. (2017). From Drawing to Lettering: The Differential Persistence of Pictography
in Mesopotamian and Egyptian Scripts and Some Implications., (8), 211-257.