Matthew Smith
Dr. Schaffer
HIST 10A TTh
September 15, 2010
Comparing Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamian Societies
Although the Egyptian and Mesopotamian societies were thriving at approximately the same
time period, between c.3000 BC and c.500 BC, there were numerous differences in the cultures
of the two empires including religion, their class systems, and the roles of their kings. Religion,
class systems, and kings played a vast role in the daily lives of these citizens, but both of the
empires came up with two different kinds of societies with various similarities.
In Mesopotamia the kings were “favored agents of the gods” (Civilization in the West
pg. 17) instead of the Egyptian kings being gods in mortal form. The Mesopotamian kings were
in charge of basically everything from dowries and contracts to professional standards for
physicians and architects. The Code of Hammurabi (r.1792-1750) has many laws that the
Mesopotamians were forced to follow. One of these laws stated that if a man walked in on his
wife having intercourse with another man both the man and the wife will be killed by being
drowned, but the husband could pardon the wife. The pharaohs in Egypt were a little more
tolerant about such crimes and didn’t involve capital punishment as much in their laws. Both
Mesopotamia and Egypt has one ruler over the entire society. Unlike Egypt, Mesopotamia had
city states controlled by priests and priestesses.
Egypt was the “gift of the Nile” and usually flourishing because the Nile River would
rarely surprise Egyptians with a drought. Egyptians had an encouraging and optimistic religion
with an emphasis on a positive afterlife. The most popular god, Osiris, was also the law giver as
well as the custodian of the world of the dead. In contrast, Mesopotamian religion was dreary
and depressing because ancient Mesopotamian prayers demonstrate the lack of relationships with
gods and...