...VALEN, Aira Geyle C. --- AC402 * Political System A political system in which government is controlled by a king or queen is called a monarchy. In Sumer and Babylon, the king was often the monarch and the high priest. The position of these so-called priest-kings was relatively unstable. If the god(s) didn't provide for welfare of the citizens, the people often held the king responsible, and deposed him. Ancient Mesopotamia was a region that contained several city-states, much like Italy during the Italian Renaissance period. Mesopotamia at this time did not have a centralized government but, instead, had many smaller regions with their own separate governments. The early kings ruled over only their own city-states. Lacking a centralized government and leader, the ancient region was prone to internal fighting among the kings for land and resources. The Mesopotamians believed their kings and queens were descended from the City of Gods, but, unlike the ancient Egyptians, they never believed their kings were real gods. Most kings named themselves “king of the universe” or “great king”. Another common name was “shepherd”, as kings had to look after their people. Sumerians: Gilgamesh (c. 2650 BC) - Gilgamesh was the 5th king of the Sumerian city of Uruk. He became known as a demigod with superhuman strength in later legends and tales such as the Epic of Gilgamesh. Akkadian Empire: Sargon the Great (reigned 2334 - 2279 BC) - or Sargon of Akkad, founded the world's 1st...
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...Mesopotamia, an ancient Greek term meaning “the land between rivers”, is considered to be the cradle of civilization because this is where we find the origins of agriculture, written language, and cities. It was known as the land between two rivers, the Tigris to the north and the Euphrates to the south. Rains were seasonal in this area, which meant that the land flooded in the winter and spring and water was scarce at other times. Farming in the region depended on irrigation from the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. In ancient times, many resources in Mesopotamia were scarce or absent, which stimulated trade within the region and beyond. Supported by lucrative trade with its neighbors, Mesopotamia grew to become a powerful empire. Life in Mesopotamia Prehistory The settlement of humans in the Near East began with the movement of Homo erectus off the African continent roughly 2 million years ago during the Paleolithic period. Over the course of several thousand years, Homo erectus spread rapidly throughout the Near East and then into Europe and Southeast Asia. The first three phases of the Paleolithic period (Lower, Middle, and Upper) extend from roughly 2.5 million years BC through 14,000 BC. Each phase is defined by changes in human habitat, stone tool technology, and diet. During most of that time, humans lived in open-air campsites and in small natural caves. They hunted wild animals and fished, gathered wild plants, and wandered over a large geographic area. During...
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...Michael Yost B. Berry History 140 07 Nov 2004 Egypt and Mesopotamia; the comparison and contrast of the ancient societies As we take a look at the Egyptian and Mesopotamian societies, there are several similarities. Although, each of the societies had some differences within them, they both borrowed technologies from other societies and were successful during their period in history. Evolving from the Paleolithic times where the people were in small tribes, they lived in whatever shelter that was found. There became a transition to a more stable style of living, known as the Neolithic time or New Stone age. It was a period of history where agriculture started to take hold. Both Egypt and Mesopotamia began to farm the land and settle into an area. Neolithic people began to settle around the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers; as well as, the Nile River roughly 8,000 B.C. River water provided the necessary irrigation needed to grow crops and a fertile land for farming. These people started to develop science of agriculture. By using agriculture, the Neolithic people move away from the traditional life as a nomad. These people were not always on the move to hunt or gather the food needed to survive. This was the first time for people to enjoy the benefits of not moving around all the time and to develop a large society in one area. Around 4000 B.C., the Egyptian and Mesopotamian cultures began to develop and flourish. With large groups of people within one area, they...
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...The civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt (between 2700 B.C.E. and 1000 B.C.E.) were religiously different, but similar in political and social factors. The Mesopotamians believed that the afterlife was a bad place, while the Egyptians believed that it was heavenly. Both civilizations used writing and storytelling for political gain. Mesopotamia and Egypt were prosperous societies. A list of Egyptian laws or a document about the destruction of an Egyptian city would have helped me with this assignment. A difference between Mesopotamian and Egyptian culture is their religious beliefs for after death. The people of Mesopotamia thought that the afterlife was a cold, dark, hungry place. It is depicted in the Epic of Gilgamesh, saying, “...people...
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...The people who lived in early Mesopotamia (the Sumerians) were more advanced than one may think a civilization from this time period would be. Located in a sweet spot between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, with access to the Persian Gulf, the Mesopotamia civilization enjoyed a luxury of soil that was “made fertile by the flooding of the two great rivers” (4). Living here brought a sophistication to farming that had not been practiced before. These settlers engineered levees, reservoirs, and irrigation canals to produce crop yields that are “comparable to that produced by American farms in the first half the 20th century” (4). Accomplishments in agriculture brought forth a truly organized civilization, which would develop an urban lifestyle with the growth of cities. The cities that developed were often built of brick and were surrounded by moats and fortifications for protection. Much of the cities were dirty, with no sewage systems or much clean water to drink. The cities were also littered with temples, built for the deities. With the rise of cities, greater amounts of labor were required to keep up with the increased demand for food. All of the...
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...Mesopotamian had a very interesting life. Mesopotamia is a time when they started having civilizations and they have rulers and gods and goddesses and they have social class. The women didn't have the same rights as the men, the religion was somewhat like today's christians but at the same time they are not. The kids have to go to school and get an education and they are taught by the moms. The marriage rules are different from ours today they have a lot different rules. The laws are very intense to there is a lot of death or an eye for an eye expression. The social class has taking its charge by now it is like today where there are about three classes. The conflict has made a big change too there is a lot more if it now . During mesopotamian...
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...Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia Egypt and Mesopotamia, two of the earliest civilizations, both established around river valleys. Although these civilizations were located in close proximity to each other, their differing geographical features such as rivers and environmental factors led to the development of two very different societies. Rivers in the Ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian societies played enormous roles in the growth of their civilizations. Egypt, located on both sides of the calm and predictable Nile River, agriculturally prospered from annual flooding that left behind rich, fertile soil known as silt. Flood waters would rise in July, slowly saturating the lands of the Nile River valley and recede in October leaving behind silt for farmers to cultivate and grow numerous crops. In contrast, Mesopotamia was located between the capricious and violent Tigris and Euphrates rivers in the valley known as the Fertile Crescent. While Mesopotamians relied on flooding for the fertile, silt rich soil as well, the unpredictability of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers caused unimaginable damages, some of which resulted in the destruction of entire villages. Environmental factors played a role in the creation of these civilizations, especially in their views of their gods. While Egypt experienced hot, dry, mild weather, Mesopotamia was subjected to, more destructive weather that included severe rainstorms, drought, hail, flooding...
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...Its strategic location and the abundance of raw materials, their technological advances and their code of laws were key factors that enabled this civilization to flourish and prosper. Although Mesopotamia was an ancient civilization, there are some similarities to the modern civilization of the present United States of America. While America is a relatively new civilization, it has incorporated similar ways of government that Mesopotamia used in the Hammurabi Code of Laws. ( Life in Sumer.) America, like Mesopotamia once was, is now the center of trade, agricultural, technological and educational advances and a powerful civilization. Both civilizations were highly sophisticated and developed and have made huge advances in each perspective's...
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...Mesopotamia is a region of land between the Euphrates River and the Tigris River covering land in current day Syria and Iraq. One of the earliest civilizations that inhabited this region was the Sumerians who occupied the area where the mouth of both rivers are located just short of the Persian Gulf in present day Iraq. This land is a valley set between two rivers and is an alluvial plain. This land was very fertile and provided enough food to sustain the people that settled there. The climate of this region ranged from desert to humid areas making it an ideal place for a civilization to thrive. The mud and clay from the rivers was excellent for making bricks used in building the cities in which the people lived. Reeds grew in abundance along...
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...civilizations began to grow in Mesopotamia between 4,000 and 3,000 B.C.E because of the Semitic and Indo-European groups coming into the region. The Mesopotamian were inventors, the Sumerians were advanced with technological. One of the most important thing the Sumerians did was that they learned to build levees. This helped to control the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. They now had a stable year-round water supply., making them wait no longer on the yearly floods. One of the other most important contributions was the first system of writing. Writing was developed so that records could be kept by the city-states....
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...ANCIENT RELIGIONS Religions of Ancient Mesopotamia George Pauls 10K Ms. Delalande (Note: Ms Delanlande instructed that essay format was permitted and an extension was granted in regards to my absence.) George Pauls 10K Year 10 Religious Education Assessment Task Ancient Religions – Religions of Ancient Mesopotamia Many religions around the world in modern time are still believed and followed by a large portion of the world’s population with the predominant religions being Christianity, Islam and Buddhism. Many Religions have simply come to a halt and ceased to be believed and followed such as the religions in Ancient Egypt and Ancients Greece. One of the lesser known and arguably the oldest ancient religion of our world was the ancient religion on Mesopotamia, which did follow some key concepts from the other foreign ancient religions in which there were multiple gods, goddesses and other deities and supreme beings. It is believed to have originated over fifty centuries ago. Mesopotamia is known more commonly known as Iraq, situated within the Middle East. The religion of Ancient Mesopotamia consists of numerous components. The God Anu (Below) The God Anu (Below) The Mesopotamian religion was followed by Sumerians and Akkadians (Assyrians/Babylonians) who lived in Mesopotamia. Mesopotamian religion was basically perceived as a form of paganism with over 2100 deities which associated with a specific region, city or state within Mesopotamia. The main deities worshipped within...
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...Comparison of the Civilizations of Mesopotamia and Harappa Mesopotamia and Harappa were both early river valley civilizations that boasted power and progress in their peaks. Beginning around 3000 BCE, Mesopotamia flourished between the Tigris and and Euphrates Rivers and the Harappa developed along the Indus River in South Asia. While Mesopotamia and Harappa were similarly geographically positioned on water sources, there are significant differences and similarities in the respective societies’ cultural developments in terms of architecture and technology. Mesopotamia and Harappa were both able to make advancements in architecture as evidenced by the construction of the architectural forms. Similarly, most of the buildings and homes of Mesopotamia and Harappa were comprised of mud bricks. Due to the civilizations’ locations near rivers, mud, which could be dried into uniform bricks, was an abundant resource. Architecture between the civilizations have differentiations as evidenced by their cities and their construction. In Mesopotamia, cities were built around temples, or ziggurats, dedicated to a god/goddess in order for the city to receive the protection from that deity. Ziggurats were multi-staged pyramids dominated and represented Mesopotamian architecture, indicating the emphasis and importance of the polytheistic religion in Mesopotamian culture. In Harappa, similar religious structures to the ziggurats were not present. Rather, the noteworthy dominating...
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...Mesopotamia has two rivers flow from the mountains of what is now Turkey, down through Syria and Iraq and finally to the Persian Gulf. The rivers framing Mesopotamia are the Tigris and Euphrates. They flow southeastward to the Persian Gulf. The Tigris and Euphrates rivers flooded Mesopotamia at least once a year. The Mesopotamian government consists of kings and nobles who made the law and declared war and they decided how to honor the gods. The advancements made by the civilization in science and technology was very important to Mesopotamia. Historians believed that Sumerians invented the wheel, the sail and the plow and that they were among the first to use bronze. Arithmetic and geometry helped to erect city walls and buildings, plan irrigation systems and survey...
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...Between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers lies a land called Mesopotamia. Around 3300 B.C., the world’s first civilization developed in Mesopotamia’s southeastern region. Since one of the basic features of a civilization is a complex religion, one can imagine that the first civilization had many religious and moral beliefs. Their beliefs shaped the way that Mesopotamians lived their every day lives. These religious and moral beliefs included practicing polytheism, believing in afterlife, and favoring justice. The ancient Mesopotamians were polytheistic, which means they worshipped and believed in more than one god. They believed that the gods and goddesses controlled all aspects of life. The people liked to appeal to the major gods and the gods of natural forces. Mesopotamians also thought that it was their job to make the gods happy, and in return, the gods would protect their city-state. To ensure this protection the people would build temples, make sacrifices, and perform rituals for the gods. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh prayed and made sacrifices to many different gods. Before Gilgamesh and Enkidu left on their adventure, they gave offerings to...
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...The word Mesopotamia means "the land between rivers". Today this land is located mostly in what we know now, Iraq. Ancient Mesopotamia is included in a part of the world that was called "the fertile crescent". Civilizations gathered there because it was easy to grow food. With the easy food supply, people settled down in place, population grew, and towns and cities were built. Mesopotamia lied between two rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates. In Mesopotamia, the land is very fertile. In the Northern part of Mesopotamia, there are rivers and streams that are fed from the mountains. Early settlers in Mesopotamia started to gather in small villages and towns. As they learned how to irrigate land and grow crops on large farms, the towns grew bigger. Eventually these towns became large cities. New inventions such as government and writing were formed to help keep order in the cities. The first human civilization was formed. The Sumerians were the first to form a civilazation. The Ancient Sumerians worshipped many different gods. They thought that the gods influenced much of what happened to them in their lives. The Sumerians heavily influenced Babylonian and Assyrian religion. Some of the Sumerian gods and goddesses included Nanna, Inanna, Utu, Enki and Anu....
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