Topic > Commonalities in Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia

Advances in agricultural methods and technology played an important role in the growth of Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt, but ultimately the evolution of government structures was political and religious that have shaped the social positioning to strengthen these progress. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayAgriculture and Technology The climate of Mesopotamia was very hot and dry with very little rain, so agriculture in that era was not easy. So, therefore, the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers played an important role in moving water to their crops. But the change in the shape of rivers due to floods made life difficult, so to overcome the challenge they developed a way to direct the flow of water the way they wanted. The irrigation systems they built channeled water to their crops. They could also adjust the water to raise and lower the water level in all systems, but each farmer could only use a limited amount of water. But ultimately, the use of irrigation systems in Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt was one of the most important aspects for the development of those countries in that period. The Sumerians had given instructions on how to plant crops and how much. In Mesopotamia the main crops were barley and wheat. They had planted larger trees next to the smaller fruit trees to protect them from the conditions in the area. The most widely grown vegetable was the aubergine, but they also grew many other vegetables. Hunting was also an important part of their agricultural methods: both the Mesopotamians and the Egyptians used spears to catch fish and wild animals. And he also used slings, bow and arrows. People even began using crops as a form of currency. They didn't have enough capital to buy everything they needed, so they gave up their crops in exchange for other materials. So, in short, agriculture played an important role in all parts of development in both Egypt and Mesopotamia. Technology in both Mesopotamia and Egypt played a crucial role in development. The early settlements of Sumerians, Assyrians, and Babylonians have all given us examples of the earliest information of early technology. These included pottery skills, ability to mine and produce materials as diverse as metals, wood, and construction methods. And these inventions were established even before the Christian era. They were highly knowledgeable about astrological observations, mathematical sciences, and calendar making to have the knowledge of when to do what in terms of farming and agricultural information. They have initiated common media on what things weigh and are worth to maintain a sense of control over how things work in their settlements. Both communities were very well controlled and started trading with different places around them, including other countries and communities around them. So they basically started their own trade routes. Here are a couple of examples where technology has created that are still relevant in the 21st century: writing and different forms of the alphabet, sheets of papyrus which is the first form of paper used in the past, ink used for writing, made from plants and other materials, the calendar and how the days, years and months are shed and understood, clocks on how time flows during the day, police, surgical instruments including stitches and other small objects commonly used apparatus and toothpaste. Government Structures The first cities were nothing more than agricultural villages, agriculture brought food to eat and capital to earn and thatbegan the formation of larger villages. The gods were of very high importance to the people of Mesopotamia and Egypt and so the priests who worked completely for the gods became the main people in the area, and this is how the priests took over the government roles. The priests could not manage the continuing growth of cities on their own and sought assistance from temporal leaders who simply took over the role of the non-religious part of leadership in the cities to focus on labor distribution and organization. As small villages grew into large cities, secular leaders and priests worked together in managing the cities. “The secular leader was called Lugal, the strong man.” They were in control of the division of labor and the priests were tasked with keeping the gods happy and the Lugal with keeping the city up and running. As time passed the strongmen became the kings of the cities who now prevailed over everything and had to start participating in religious matters, and so the king had the duties of both sides. In both Egypt and Mesopotamia there was a very abnormal form of government which is in close correlation with one of the earliest forms of democracy. In this government structure there was a king, and then nobles who were in charge of making new laws and deciding whether to go to war and then how to deserve the gods. There were also wise men who were democratically elected and could prevail over the king and help him find better solutions and support the king in all situations and help him rule the city. Ancient Mesopotamia was a large area made up of several cities, Mesopotamia at that time not only had one government that ran the entire region, but they had smaller governments in charge of their own villages or cities. The kings, in the beginning, only ruled in their own areas. Without a single government in charge of the entire region it was vulnerable to wars between cities in the same area. The reason for these fights was for extra lands and resources. And so these kings were constantly involved in wars between surrounding cities to obtain or keep resources and everything they owned. The origin of religions in Mesopotamia is a result of weather conditions that were highly unpredictable in the region. They began to believe that the cause was the action of a god. To settle down they bowed before the gods instead of simply believing that time was normal. “The Mesopotamian gods were anthropomorphic” in saying that means the gods were in human form with many aspects the same as humans and had the same human needs but had more power than the average person in that era. Ancient Egypt was a very territorial state and not a city state, so the government had to control a very large area of ​​land located along the Nile River as that was the best place to build a city as it had access to water and possibilities for trade. The pharaoh ran a central organization and they were the high priest and were in charge of maintaining peace and happiness among all the cities or villages. These instructions of theirs were kept alive through managerial units. Egypt was divided into provinces and ruled by a single person. The Egyptian country was run with a very strong structure and divided into different levels of authority and responsibility. The whole scheme could be understood in the form of a pyramid structure. The pharaoh who was seen as gods in human form by the Egyptian people and was believed to have more power over the people around them. Since pharaohs were seen as gods, they were responsible for a number of different tasks. But since one person could not rule an entire country, he had to give orders to the people under him and that person was called “vizier” responsible for collecting taxes and.