...In the ancient world, religion was a vital part of society. Many deified rulers, built massive temples, and offered sacrifices. The world was predominantly polytheistic at this time. The number of deities worshiped decreased over time as larger nations formed and revised their pantheons. Around 30 CE, Jesus Christ began teaching. He would start a religion, or an expansion of an existing one, that would grow to be the largest in the world. Due to that growth, the role of religion in society changed dramatically after the rise of Christianity. In ancient Mesopotamia, the gods were very important. The people built massive Ziggurats to honor their respective deities. Due to their size and the relative flatness of the lands around them, they were visible for miles. Through those constructions we can see that the people valued their gods. The gods were so vital to them due to the instability of the rivers surrounding them. They offered many gifts and sacrifices to...
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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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...between ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia was the political organization in both civilizations. The tyrannical presence of ancient Egypt’s godly Pharaohs and the justified structure of Hammurabi’s code in ancient Mesopotamia were the distinct political differences. Political organization affected the ancient economy, that then affected social order, which in turn affected the kinds of religions practiced, which played a huge role in the development of these ancient societies. Egyptian Pharaohs took advantage of the geography surrounding them, and found the Nile River Valley to be rich in precious metals, including gold, copper, and iron. A large number of men took a chance and left their homes to go out and mine for these precious metals. While in Mesopotamia, Hammurabi established many laws which allowed for the stabilization of the economy. These laws established legitimate trade and commerce for the sharing and distributing of agriculture grown in the area. In both ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia their economies flourished with trade, this is because in order to establish a...
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...Choosing to live in Ancient India Ancient India had more aspect that was more desirable compared with other societies like Mesopotamia. Below are the reasons that configured me to choose Ancient India as my domicile. Strong religious Background Ancient India had stable religious background as it contains more regions such as Buddhism and Jainism. Hinduism is a large religion in ancient India, its interactions with other religions incorporated different cultures (Prabhu, 2013). Therefore, changing how people relate and live in the society. Political stability During ancient India, there were many republics which put in practice democracy. The republics were headed by king called Raja, who was the leader of executive, legislature and judiciary. The King was assisted by official members elected from the empire (Woods, 2011). Official was to give advisers to the king. Centralization in administration of power...
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...When examining the ancient cultures of Egypt and Mesopotamia, it is vital to observe the distinct similarities between their religious beliefs. Considering the geographic closeness of the two ancient civilizations, Mesopotamia occupying mainly modern day Iraq, centered around the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and Egypt which is still located in the region recognized as modern Egypt, centralized around the Nile River, and the overlapping time frame both of these societies occupied, it is not unexpected that Mesopotamia and Egypt would possess similar ideologies. Despite the fact that the political structure of these civilizations differed between Mesopotamia’s unstable collection of city-states and Egypt’s unified monarchy, both societies were comprised a polytheistic philosophy where the Gods reflected a larger, universal system. Furthermore, both ancient civilizations relied on the flooding of their adjacent rivers for survival and these floods manifested within their religious ideologies. Although, the annual flooding of the Nile gave the Egyptians a sense of comfort and satiability surrounding death and was the direct rational of the Egyptians belief that rebirth followed death, the inconsistent flooding of the Tigris and Euphrates left the Mesopotamian people uncertain of the continuity of lives, evident in their harsh God’s and lack of interpretation of what the after-life consists of. Nevertheless, the similarities between the two culture’s religious beliefs are far too comparable...
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...How Geography Effected Ancient Cultures Mesopotamia and Egypt in the ancient world were in modern day Iraq, and Egypt is still there today. Culture in theses societies, was loosely based on their natural surroundings. While geography in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt differed in stability and protection, they were similar in farming opportunities, with comparable sources of water giving them both the chance to excel in agriculture. The river flooding in Mesopotamia and Egypt differed in predictability; while rivers in Mesopotamia were sporadic in flood patterns, the Nile in Egypt was very predictable in its flooding. This caused the two civilizations to have opposing ideas of the power of their gods. In ancient Mesopotamia, the Tigris and Euphrates rivers were incredibly unpredictable, and when they flooded they caused frenzies in surrounding areas. This unpredictability was reflected in their religion, as they felt the flooding of the rivers was a punishment for something they did. In thinking they could never please the gods, the people of Mesopotamia believed one only had the underworld to look forward to after death. They viewed nature as something out to get them. This belief led to more selfishness in people, and as a result, people were generally less trusting. However, in Egypt, the Nile River and its yearly predictable flooding led to the creation of calendars to plan agriculture around flooding; therefore, the flooding would help, not hurt them. The predictability...
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...The ancient Mesopotamians lived in a polytheistic environment, meaning they worshipped many different gods and goddesses. They believed that their gods heavily influenced everything that happened within their lives. The meaning of life back then was to actually live in harmony or become one with the gods. In ancient Mesopotamia, each city had their own god or goddess. At the center, a large temple stood which was dedicated to that certain god or goddess. It is said that they looked like steep pyramids with a flat top. To the sides, there would be small shrines that were dedicated to the other gods. It started out with the Sumerians which, in time, heavily influenced the Babylonian and Assyrian religion. In an ancient Mesopotamian myth, called Enuma Elish, it is said that life began after much confrontation between the elder and younger gods. Before creation began, the salt and fresh water was mixed together. These waters separated the...
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...Religion is defined by Emile Durkheim as a “unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden”. In the ancient world the religion a society believed was unified and worked with their lifestyle and situations. a lot of times gods & goddesses were directly related to the weather and wars. There would be a god of rain who would bring good crops which kept a society functioning. The ritual of religion is an important part of these societies, it gave people a purpose and made sense of the world even if it was really just a functional way to build an prosperous kingdom for the elite rulers. I am going to explain the rituals & religions of five ancient civilizations; Mespotamia, Egypt,...
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...Zeph Geyer Ancient World History Rough Draft 11/8/2014 In most civilizations in the ancient world, there were vast differences between the lives of men and women. For example, women could not serve in the Roman Senate, own property in ancient Greece, or ask for divorce. All of these rules existed while men had the ability to do all of these things. The life of a woman in the ancient world was in no way equal to men in most societies. The Egyptians believed that joy and happiness were of the utmost importance in life, and regarded the home and family as a major source of happiness. This meant that the Egyptian’s thought better of women who did not work, and took care of the home and family. All other ancient civilizations had one thing in common. Mesopotamia, Rome, Greece, and Israel were all surrounded by other sets of people. This meant that these other civilizations had to be warlike societies, and this meant women would have less of a role because men believed women could not fight as well in battle. Egypt developed under unique circumstances. The Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea separated the Egyptians from everyone else in the ancient world. In other words, the Egyptians did not have a warlike society because training like that was unnecessary. Since there was no need for a warlike society in Egypt, women had a more established role in society. Women’s rights in Egypt were more equal to men than other civilizations because of the unique circumstances under which...
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...Mesopotamia (from the Ancient Greek: Μεσοποταμία: "[land] between rivers"; Arabic: بلاد الرافدين (bilād al-rāfidayn); Syriac: ܒܝܬ ܢܗܪܝܢ(Beth Nahrain): "land of rivers") is a name for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, corresponding to modern-day Iraq, the north eastern section of Syria and to a much lesser extent southeastern Turkey, smaller parts of south western Iran and Kuwait . A cylinder seal is a small round cylinder, typically about one inch in length, engraved with written characters or figurative scenes or both, used in ancient times to roll an impression onto a two-dimensional surface, generally wet clay. Cylinder seals were invented around 3500 BC in the Near East, at the contemporary sites of Susa in south-western Iran and Uruk in southern Mesopotamia Ishtar was the goddess of love, war, fertility, and sexuality. Ishtar was the daughter of Ninurta.[2] She was particularly worshipped in northern Mesopotamia, at the Assyrian cities of Nineveh, Ashur and Arbela (Erbil).[2] Besides the lions on her gate, her symbol is an eight-pointed star.[3] The history of the ancient Near East spans more than two millennia, from the Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age, in the region now known as the Middle East, centered around the Fertile Crescent. There was much cultural contact, so that it is justified to summarize the whole region under a single term, but that does not mean, of course, that each historical period and each region should not be looked at individually...
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...Ancient Egypt vs. Mesopotamia The decision to write this Paper came about as soon as I read the subject. I am in love with Ancient Cultures. It is very interesting to me to study and learn new things about the style of life peoples of ancient times lead, the type of housing and furniture ancient peoples possessed, the foods and resources they had at hand, as well as the religious and other daily values which ancient peoples believed in. To compare the Ancient Egyptian civilization to the civilization of Ancient Mesopotamia is surely going to be a task which will not be easy, especially since it is my personal believe that both of these grandiose civilizations cannot be compared to one another. Comparing the Ancient Mesopotamian Civilization to the Civilization of Ancient Egypt is not really possible once you think about the difference of years between the beginnings of each of these Civilizations. Mesopotamia is considered to be at the least 5000 years older than Ancient Egypt. The earliest civilized form of Human development in Mesopotamia is known to Historians to have occurred between 10500-3500 BC (Mayan Archeology), whilst Historians believe the Ancient Egyptian Civilization to have started between the years of approx. 5500- 3100 BC, which is what is considered the Pre-dynastic Period. (Experience ancient) While Ancient Egypt started to develop Mesopotamia already made big progress in forms of Farming, building the first settlements...
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...Taylor P Ancient Architecture Functions of Ancient Monuments Ancient monuments have been discovered to be a prominent feature of many different ancient civilizations throughout history. The most elaborate and well known ancient buildings are the pyramids and the ziggurats of Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Mesoamerica. The construction of these massive monuments began sometime during the fourth millennium BC and to this day many can still be seen. Although believed by most to serve a particular religious function, historians are still trying to discover the exact purpose of these breathtaking feats of architecture. However, through the vast studies of archaeology, enough information has been acquired to make some valid theories. The first civilization to construct a massive architectural project was the Egyptians with their construction of the pyramids. It is believed that the Egyptian civilization began around 5500 BC and then began to flourish as a result of new innovations in agriculture and the abundance of natural resources around the Nile. Over time, Egyptians made great achievements in mathematics, writing, astronomy, medicine, engineering, and architecture. This played a huge part in the progression of Egypt into a powerful and influential civilization. In addition to these achievements, the significance of religion was another extremely important factor that allowed the Egyptian civilization to thrive. Egyptians practiced polytheism. In their religion, not only were...
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...Ancient Babylon History of Babylonia The city of Babylon was the capital of the ancient land of Babylonia in southern Mesopotamia. It was situated on the Euphrates River about 50 miles south of modern Baghdad, just north of what is now the modern Iraqi town of al-Hillah. The tremendous wealth and power of this city, along with its monumental size and appearance, were certainly considered a Biblical myth, that is, until its foundations were unearthed and its riches substantiated during the 19th century. Archaeologists stood in awe as their discoveries revealed that certain stories in the Bible were an actual situation that had happened in time. The Tower of Babel The Bible reveals that all false systems of religion began in the land of Babylon and will have their consummation from the spirit of Babylon in the last days. It is interesting to note that every organized system of religion in the world today has traces of ancient Babylon. The Bible records in Genesis 10:10, that, after the great flood, all men spoke one common language and a man named Nimrod built a city and established a common religion. Nimrod was a descendant of Noah’s son, Ham. Genesis 11:1-9 describes the building of the city and its famous tower"whose top may reach unto heaven." It also records how God came down and punished the people’s arrogance by creating a confusion of different languages and possibly their racial distinctions. This way man would be forced to obey God’s original command to "be fruitful...
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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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...Book Review Summary of Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament by John H. Walton Chapter 1 Chapter 1 is Walton’s introduction to the discussion concerning the congruence of the Old Testament with the world surrounding it. This chapter discusses the history, methodology, and reasoning behind comparative Old Testament studies. It then concludes with the principles and goals each student should possess as he or she studies the Old Testament. His synopsis of comparative Old Testament studies begins with the resurgence of Egyptian and Mesopotamian archaeological studies during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.[1] He then moves on to discuss the impact of Friedrich Delitzsch’s lectures concerning how the writers of the Old Testament borrowed from extrabiblical sources set the stage for many secular ideologies removing the special revelation aspect from the Bible. This allowed two things to take place. First, it brought out the comparative study of the Bible into a critical realm; and second, it made Assyriology, Egyptology, and Hittitology serious academic disciplines which have greatly enhanced modern man’s understanding of these ancient cultures. While Walton discusses several forms of Old Testament study, his opinion favors comparative studies. He starts with explaining the reasoning for sound methodological comparative study and moves on to answer the “why” it should be performed over other studies. In his view, it expands...
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