Is Mesopotamia and Egypt the same?

No, it is not. There are two great civilizations that have occurred in human history, they are Mesopotamia and Egypt and, often, they are confused by people because there are many similarities that exist between they. But there are also big differences and, therefore, below in this lesson from a TEACHER we offer you a brief summary with all those similarities and dissimilarities to clarify the doubts that are had about them. Keep reading and you will discover the answer to your question about whether Mesopotamia and Egypt are the same.

Let's stop to understand the political and social situation from both cultures to see the differences and similarities that existed on a day-to-day basis. We begin by talking about the political term:

• Similarities: Both Egypt and Mesopotamia were civilizations that had empires and had royal officials who were the in charge of ensuring that all regulations are met regarding the collection of taxes, control of crops and justice.
• Differences:
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  The social organizations in both civilizations varied, since while Egypt was divided into empires, Mesopotamia did so in city-states (Ur, Uruk, Eridu ...) Regarding the highest authorities of these, in Egypt it was the pharaoh, a position that was inherited from father to son and in Mesopotamia the king, who instead of being a hereditary position when a king of some city - state was overthrown ascended to the throne who among the invading forces was choose.

The social groups that were in both civilizations were also different. Here we analyze it in detail:

• Similarities: both were similar in the fact of having a hierarchical society in social groups.
• Difference: lay in the way in which they were hierarchical, in the case of Mesopotamia, they were divided into the awilum, to which the king, the nobles, priests and officials and the muskhenun, who was the vast majority of the population, that is, peasants, artisans and merchants. Finally, there were the slaves who did not belong to any social class because you were people who depended on others. In Egypt, social groups were divided into the non-producers, who was the king (lord of all lands), the nobles, the priests and the scribes, the other group was the producers who, as in Mesopotamia were merchants, artisans and peasants, they also had slaves.

As we can see, Mesopotamia and Egypt are NOT the same in territorial, political and social organization. But neither was it in other aspects that are more related to society itself. Next we will analyze the cultural, religious and artistic situation:

Culture in Egypt and Mesopotamia

• Similarities: Mesopotamia and Egypt had in common the advances in writing, the calendar, astronomy and calculation.
• Differences: Based on the writing in Mesopotamia, a type of writing was used that took the shape of a wedge, called cuneiform and were made on clay tablets. In Egypt the writing was hieroglyphic and as a support they had the paper that they themselves made from the papyrus reeds that grew on the banks of the Nile River. As for the calendars, Mesopotamia carried out it to control agricultural activities like Egypt, the difference It is found that the Mesopotamian calendar was a lunar calendar, and the Egyptian calendar was a solar calendar, however, both civilizations had great advances in astronomy and to elaborate these calendars they were based on the observation of the stars.

Religion

• Similarities: it is that they both had a polytheistic religion. They also often made offerings to the gods who were inside the temples, especially in the face of natural disasters. to protect their crops, they also shared some other beliefs related to the vision they had of life after the death.
• Differences: within that polytheism the gods they worshiped were different.

Art in Mesopotamia and Egypt

The Mesopotamians They lacked stone so most of the constructions were made of brick and adobe, very few resistant materials, hence there are very few buildings that have been preserved in this epoch. Among the most important buildings we highlight the ziggurat, a temple whose supporting elements were the arches and vaults.

The egyptiansUnlike the Mesopotamians, they did have large quarries, so the stone was widely used in this civilization. Among the most important buildings in this case we highlight the pyramids, whose supporting elements, unlike the Mesopotamian ones, were the lintel and the columns.