Ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, India and China

Ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, India and China

Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, and China are similar in that they all started as a river valley society. They each originally had a polytheistic religion and a class system. Egypt was different from the other civilizations in that it was isolated many centuries before having outside influences. Their king was also considered divine. China was different from the rest because trade was very important and they utilized paper for written communication. India is different in that religion, not government, held the people together to make them a nation. Mesopotamians believed that humans were slaves of their gods and the gods were cruel.

Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq) is located between two rivers; the Euphrates and the Tigris. Both rivers originate in present day Turkey and run four hundred miles parallel to each other before meeting to dump into the Persian Gulf. Mesopotamia was very well protected by natural barriers. To the west is the Syrian Dessert and in the southwest the Arabian Dessert. To the northeast are the Zagros Mountains and to the northwest are the Taurus Mountains.1 Then to the Southeast is the Persian Gulf. The main crops for Mesopotamia were wheat, barley, millet, and rice.2 They developed the first large cities, sophisticated writing system, sun baked clay bricks, designed the first gravity irrigation system, and were the first to use the plow. Some of the most influential cities were Sumer, Assyria, Akkad, and Babylon. The Sumerians were influential because they developed the first city states (around 5000 BCE) and would later influence many civilizations. The Assyrians were a dependent of the Babylonians and later became a major power in Mesopotamia (around 14th century BCE).3 The Acadians were very influential when Sargon the Great conquered Mesopotamia and united the city states under one rule (about 2300 BCE).4 Babylon (settled around 4000 BCE) was the capital of the area for so long that the term Babylonia refers to this entire culture developed in this area.5

The government in Mesopotamia can be divided into two distinct types: theocracy and the kingdom empires of their successors. The cities were ruled by a king with the assistance of noble officials and priests. One major king was Sargon the Great who conquered most of Mesopotamia and is said to be the founder of military tradition in Mesopotamia.6 After Sargon, Hammurabi conquered the plains and introduced the Hammurabi CodeÐ'--the first laws. The Mesopotamians had three classes of people. The first class consisted of priest and landlords. The priest were the prophets of the gods and the deities of earth, sky, fire, fresh water, salt water, and storm. The Second class was the freeman which was the most numerous of the classes. Freeman did the city's work and trade, and owned and worked the outlying farms. The third class was the slaves who often possessed a considerable skill and were given some responsible positions. In most cases slavery occurred due to debt that one could not pay otherwise, or being on the losing side of a war. Slaves for the most part were treated decently and only a few were mistreated.

The written language developed in Mesopotamia (around 4000-3000 BCE). The written language was written on clay tablets and was at first in the form of pictography. Pictography could not convey the meaning of abstractions and couldn't communicate verb tenses. To solve this problem the Sumerians invented conventional signs which later evolved into phonetic written language. The Mesopotamians were polytheism and each god had a rank. The gods and deities were both male and females and had all the weaknesses of a human. The Mesopotamians built large temples called ziggurats where the priests would ritually worship the gods on behalf of the city. The gods were often thought to be cruel to the humans and were very unpredictable. Humans were the slaves of their gods and were meant to do the jobs the gods didn't wish to perform. The gods punished the humans not for sin, but out of spite and for being unworthy. Religion had no concept of the afterlife or who, if anyone could enjoy immortality. Much of what we know about the Mesopotamians religion comes from myths from western civilizations. One story is the flood of the Garden of Eden. The other became the first epic poem in world literature. The Epic of Gilgamesh is about the king of a city state who desires the secret of immortality and is defeated.

Egypt

Egypt is located in the valley of the Nile. The Nile River flows from south to north. To the north of Egypt is the Mediterranean Sea. To the west of Egypt is the Sahara Dessert and to the east is the Nubian Dessert. To the south there are rapids which protect Egypt from invasion by river. Egypt is so protected by its natural barriers that it was the only civilization to flourish without any outside influences. The major crops of Egypt were wheat and barley.7 The most important cities were Memphis and Thebes. Memphis was the capital of the old kingdom (2575-2130 BCE).8 Thebes was the capital of Egypt at its height of power (21st century BCE).

About 3100 BCE, Egypt was united by one ruler. The first ruler Menes was a pharaoh. A pharaoh was considered not like a god, but rather was a god. This god was Horus. Therefore, the pharaohs will was law and his knowledge was all knowing. The pharaoh ruled through a group of officials. These officials were mainly noble landlords who were granted great local powers. Traders and merchants which are the second class distributed and exchanged goods made by other people.9 The third class was the craftsmen and artisans.10 These craftsmen and artisans made specialized goods and were poor11. The slaves were usually people of war or debt12. These slaves were the builders of the pyramids. When talking about Egypt you really have to separate it into three kingdoms. The Old Kingdom (3100-2200 BCE) had the first two dynasties. This era was the beginning of centralization (2700 BCE) and religious beliefs. The pharaohs were unchallenged and this was the most successful and most fertile time. Middle Kingdom (2100-1650 BCE) was the period of political stability and Egypt's borders extended south. This era brought about the emergence of a middle class and Thebes became the capital. It was also when the emergence of Amon-Re and the nobles gained power. The New Kingdom (1550-700 BCE) began with the defeat of Hyksos. Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt became separate estates. Upper Egypt was ruled by the priest and Lower Egypt was ruled by the pharaoh.

The Egyptians writing system utilized hieroglyphics. These hieroglyphics were written on stone and painted on temples. The religion