A Comparison: Mesopotamia & Egypt

2012Janet Pareja, Signature School, Evansville, IN

Geography of Mesopotamia

Open Farm Land… Invitation to Invasion

Egypt

Geography of EgyptSurrounded by

Uninhabitable Desert!

• Low Desert: – Could not be farmed- too dry.

Hunting: antelope, hare, lions. Cemeteries here.

• High Desert: – Barren area crossed later only

by trade caravans & organized groups in search of stone and minerals such as calcite, gold, copper, amethyst, carnelian, diorite for black obelisks.

• Some oases:– cultivated to grow grapes,

dates; Also housed exiled prisoners.

River to Desert….in a few steps!

Historiography : Comparison

Egypt - Stability

• Isolated from Invasion – Desert surrounds & protects

• Excellent Alluvial Soil w/ PREDICTABLE flooding, rare droughts

• Nile promoted unity of culture; Civilization remained centered along the Nile.

Mesopotamia – Unpredictability

• Open to Frequent Invasions from mountains, arid region

• Excellent Alluvial Soil w/ UNPREDICTABLE, sometime horrific flooding or drought

• City State structure did not encourage unity; later progression of empires shared culture mix Spread of Civilization in the region.

Migration?• No - “Foreigners”

were suspicious, looked & acted different

• Most foreigners were slaves, often due to conquest

“Melting Pot”• Nomads periodically

came to trade… Abraham of Ur.

• Others came for opportunity - Newcomers did most difficult work, such as building…

Judaism

• Covenant (Contract) • Abraham – Patriarch, pastoral

nomadic tribe• One abstract, formless, all-powerful,

nameless God.• “Chosen People”

Political & Social Systems

Pharaoh – Hereditary

Absolute Ruler• Divine or semi-

divine• Owned the land

King – HereditaryAbsolute Ruler

• Not divine• Did not own the

land, but charged tax

Comparison: Government

Menes/Narmer - Unified Egypt for

3,000 years – Old, Middle, New

Kingdoms• Ramses II 1278-

1237 bce • Akhenaton -1381

- 1379bce• Tutenkhamen

1361-1352 bce• height- 1400 bce• Hatsepsut – 1482

bce

• Series of Invaders, Kings & Empires: – Sumerians– Akkadians - Sargon of

Akkad, – Babylonians -

Hammurabi, 1792-1750 bce

– Assyrians – Neo-Babylonians –

Nebuchadnezzar, 605-562 bce

Monotheism

Akhenaten• First called Amenhotep IV (r. 1353 BCE-1336 BCE) , tried to compel

monotheistic worship of Aten (disc of the sun). • Egypt in decline – may have been way to give total power to the pharaoh, and

side-step the priests who were very powerful. He closed the doors of the temples to Amun at Thebes, Memphis, Heliopolis, took over their revenue. Built Amarna where his family lived out in the desert, and brought the royal court there without the priests of Amun.

• Reigned 16 or 38 years. Royal Queen - Nefertiti. Also of course had lesser wives & concubines

• May have had Marfan’s Syndrome - Symptoms include, short torso, long head, neck, arms, hand and feet, pronounced collarbones, pot belly, heavy thighs, and poor muscle tone. Those who inherit it are often unusually tall and are likely to have weakened hearts and can die at an early age. His daughters are shown with similar symptoms. He had six daughters; no son is ever shown.

• People did not understand new abstract god – Missed the many gods they had grown up with. At his death, his city was abandoned and people moved back to Thebes and took up the old religion again. His “son,” King Tut came to power.

http://www.crystalinks.com/akhenaten.html

Akhenaten

Social Structure: Pyramidal, of

course!• Pharaoh - Divine• Priests- funerals, rituals• Nobles• Artisans, incl. Physicians, Architects

• SCRIBES to Pharaoh, Royal Artisans, Priests.

• Peasants – – worked land & generated most of the kingdom’s wealth: – Over half of produce to Kingdom, as Pharaoh – Shopkeepers, laborers

• King

• Priests– Advised people on ritual – Performed rituals, ceremonies– Collected taxes, rents, – Owned most of the land

• Nobles

• SCRIBES – To king, priests, merchants, surveyors, tax collectors…

• Merchants– Worked for themselves; kept entire profit

• Artisans

• Peasants – Farmers mostly – paid percent to

government & priests– Shopkeepers, laborers

Slavery

Egyptian Slaves • Fewer than peasants

– POW & descendants; – Captured pastoralists

& families– Not much worse than

being a peasant– Building & irrigation

projects; – Sometimes appointed

to trusted positions in government or in palaces

Mesopotamian Slaves

– One could sell oneself or family members into slavery to work off debts

– POW– Criminals

Can you label the classes in Mesopotamia?

Egyptian & Mesopotamian Religions

• Priestly class: – rituals, with Pharaoh – NOT

WITH EGYPTIAN PEOPLE.– State/ city celebrations– Mummification & funerary – Served & supported Pharaoh;

VERY POWERFUL – advised and sometimes CONTROLLED.

• Polytheism: – Pantheon of gods, w/ godly &

human-like qualities – – ordered & organized, – punished at end of life if heart

weighed too heavy

• Pyramids- Burial rites– Pharaohs, then wealthy, then…

• Priestly class:– in charge of rituals, offerings

from people & rulers– worship, celebrations with

leaders, advised leaders– helped people deal with

frequent crises of life

• Polytheism, Animism- – 3,000 gods – took offense

easily & punished often

• Ziggurats – temples (sometimes priests lived there)– Collected Taxes, Rents &

Offerings– Supported Kings

• House of Clay or House of Song

• Weighing of the Heart – Feather of Ma’at• Ba; Anubis (2); Amit; Thoth; Jury/Witnesses; Horus;

Osirus in Judgment; Amentet and Isis behind Osirus.

Egyptian Art

Egyptian Art

Who were the

Egyptians?

Mesopotamian Art

Who were the Mesopotamians?

Great Ziggurat of Ur

Great Pyramid of Giza

Monumental ArchitectureWHY?

Technology

• Astronomy,

• Mummification

• Astrology,

• Fertilizer, • Glass, • Potter’s wheel, • Sail boats…

IRRIGATION, POTTERY, WHEEL, BOATS, MATH, GEOMETRY, CALENDAR…

Writing – Bye, bye “Pre-History”

• Hieroglyphs – word & letter pictures on walls, papyrus

• Formal Scribe schools Career with government, priests, upon graduation.

• Class of Scribes

• Cuneiform – stylus in clay tablet

• Formal scribe schools Career with government, priests, merchants upon graduation.

Class of Scribes

Role of Women in Ancient Societies: Clues in Art

What do we know?

How do we know it?

What difference does it make?

Earliest HorticultureWOMEN

Nomadic Pastoralists

Patriarchs

Patriarchy

• Patriarchal

• Patrilineal

• Patrilocal

The Plow

Irrigation

PATRIARCHY

Mesopotamian Women• Serve husband / father.

• Contract law: marriage, divorce, inheritance…

FEW CHOICES for Women

in Ancient Societies

Egyptian Women• First female ruler in history:

Hatshepsut – ruled 22 yrs.

• More choices than Mesopotamian women– Buy & sell property– Inherit– Choose to whom to will

property– Right to dissolve marriages– Still subservient to men;

valued most when bore children

– Young girls not as educated as boys

DeclineEGYPT

• Assyrian & Persian Empires conquered parts.

• Greeks occupied later.

• Romans absorbed Egypt into their Empire, though Egypt kept its flavor & much of its culture

Mesopotamia• Series of constant

invasions until Persians conquered…

• Usually, Conquerors adopted & adapted customs & culture of Mesopotamia

Ozymandias

Percy Bysshe Shelly, 1818

I met a traveller from an antique land Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stoneStand in the desert…

Near them on the

sand,Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frownAnd wrinkled lip and sneer of cold commandTell that its sculptor well those passions readWhich yet survive,

stamped on these lifeless things,The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.

And on the pedestal these words appear:`My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!'

Nothing beside remains.

Round the decayOf that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,

The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Thesis? CONCLUSION?

Continuing the Comparisons…Early Civilization…

Let’s talk about the Indus Valley

Civilization and China.

Neo Babylonian “Ishtar Gate, “ the eighth gate to the city of Babylon, 575 BCE, now in

Pergamon Museum, Berlin