Mesopotamia and Egypt

Krishna Menon

Period 3

The river valley civilizations, Egypt and Mesopotamia, had similar aspects in technology and culture, but became 2 complete different societies. Although both Egypt and Mesopotamia had similar political structures, in which a ruler had a godlike status, they focused different types of science, such as Mesopotamia had astronomy and Egypt had mathematics, and gender equality, which Mesopotamia lacked.

Both Mesopotamia and Egypt had rulers who had a godlike status and was worshipped by the people. Both civilizations believed in an afterlife and created shrines for each ruler, so they can be buried properly and have a good time in the afterlife. Mesopotamia were organized city states and had a king, who claims divine authority, for each state, while Egypt was a unified state was ruled by a single pharaoh. Mesopotamia used their government to regulate religion and enforce its duties. Egypt, however, used their power to direct the economy as it was complex process to coordinate the irrigation along the Nile. This political structure were kept in Mesopotamia, because the kings were usually military leaders and acted as a function of defense and war. Egypt retained theirs, because as a unified state, they were less open to invasion and their economy needed to be government-directed.

Mesopotamia and Egypt focused on different types of science, as Mesopotamia focused more on astronomy and Egypt focused on mathematics. Since Mesopotamia was a complex agricultural society, the Sumerians decided to learn more about the movement of the sun and the stars. Astronomy helped define the calendar and the astrological forecasts for Mesopotamia, and they also created charts of major constellations that has been current and has matched with the efforts of India and Europe as well. Egyptian science, however, was not as complex as Mesopotamia. They were far more ahead in mathematics than Mesopotamia was, as they created the concept of a day being divided into 24 hours. They also developed a base 10 numeration system. Mesopotamia focused more on astronomy, because it would benefit their agriculture and help predict weather patterns. Egypt, however, chose mathematics because it was helpful to their architecture.

In Mesopotamia, there was no gender equality, unlike Egypt, who gave women more opportunities to rise in society. Although both societies had the