Mesopotamia & Ancient Egypt
Mesopotamia & Ancient Egypt
Mesopotamia & Ancient Egypt
Natural Phenonmenon
Water receded to leave
sediments
Fertilizes the soil
Mesopotamia & Ancient Egypt
Mesopotamia & Ancient Egypt
Mesopotamia: a city state
• Each had their own king and
government
Mesopotamia & Ancient Egypt
• King received power from Gods
• Polytheist-believed in many Gods (supernatural and immortal)
• Shaped their destinies-tried to please them with prayers, rituals,
ceremonies and animal sacrifices
• Built sanctuaries and temples
• Ziggurats-part of the temples, dedicated to the divinity that protected
the city
Mesopotamia & Ancient Egypt
•World’s First Major Law
•Copies sent by scribes around the
kingdom
•282 articles
•The strong must not oppress the weak
•Can you name a few?
•Did they show social hierarchy?
Mesopotamia & Ancient Egypt
• Mesopotamians spread their culture
through trade
• They had an abundance of agriculture
• Lacked materials like wood and metal
• Set up trade network to obtain these
items
• First used barter
• Then gold and silver, later used coins
• Merchants travelled thousands of
kilometres
• Wheel made travel easier
Mesopotamia & Ancient Egypt
• Mesopotamian
AE
Mesopotamia & Ancient Egypt
•Pharaoh was considered the
king
•Viziers helped out the king in
administration
•Build the pyramids
•Egyptology emerged when the
Rosetta Stone was discovered
Mesopotamia & Ancient Egypt
Religion
•Belief in several Gods
•Gods represented different
aspects of life
•Deceased bodies were
mummified to prepare for the
afterlife
•Scale weighed the heart and a
feather
Mesopotamia & Ancient Egypt
Ancient Innovations
Mesopotamia
Ancient Egypt