Comparison and Contrast of Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and India - Essay Example

A Comparison and Contrast between Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia and Ancient India There are several reasons why it is important and interesting to compare and contrast the various aspects of culture between ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia and India (using ancient Egyptian texts, such as: Hymn to the Nile, King’s Dream, The Coming of the Great Queen, Papyrus Lansing; Mesopotamian texts: Gilgamesh, Code of Hammurabi; and Indian texts: Laws of Manu, Ramayana). By objectively viewing their religious beliefs and practices, their governments and societies, the civilizations’ treatment of family and gender, as well as by marking the similarities and differences among them, various intriguing information can be learned. The ancient Mesopotamian civilization had interesting religious beliefs and practices that were the first to be recorder in history. The people believed that the world was flat and that on the heavens above dwelled a myriad of gods – their religion was polytheistic. Astrology was used as means to predict the Gods’ will, which had a large impact on politics and agriculture. Although most accepted that Anu was the chief of the gods, Enlil was the most powerful god in the Mesopotamian region. Other Gods, like Marduk (the God of Babylon) and Nabu (the God of writing) were also prominent, but, interestingly, they were never considered to embody the kings and queens of Mesopotamia. The Mesopotamians believed that their kings and queens were descendents from the Gods, unlike the ancient Egyptians who believed that their kings and queens were actual Gods. Besides claiming the title as rulers of the universe, the Mesopotamian kings and queens were also shepherds to their people, a role that signified caring for and looking after their people. At the same time, because of the location of Mesopotamia and its neighboring tribes, kings had to develop attitudes of expansionism and adaptability, which led to many wars. King Hammurabi created more than 200 laws for his citizens; one of the most important one was the law on commerce, which enabled fair-trading amongst the people. Also, Mesopotamians enjoyed the rights to private ownership and property – these and other deeds of property and laws were written on clay tablets. Obviously, the rights of private ownership and property could not apply to the slaves – the people who belonged to the lowest class of Mesopotamian society. They had small shelters in which to sleep and rest in when they were not working: their lives consisted of merely surviving, as they did not receive money for their work. The class above them belonged to the commoners, the merchants, craftsmen, laborers, farmers and teachers, people who made their living through hard and diligent work. Above them was obviously the noble class, composed of the educated and most powerful government officials, priests, scribes, soldiers, kings and queens. Mesopotamian society was patriarchal. Men had far more powers than women. They were generally considered to be wise and brave, whereas women were considered to be seductive and manipulative – usually they stayed at home and took care of the children. Polygamy was accepted and largely depended solely on the husband, but, contrastingly, adultery was punished by death. Schooling was generally available to children of scribers, priests, and government officials, i.e. children of the high class had the privilege to acquire an education. Boys of the middle class usually learned the trade of their fathers, whereas girls were taught housekeeping and cooking at home with their mothers. Although mothers had to stay at home, rear their children and take care of their husbands, they could have property rights and, when the case was strong, could divorce their husbands. Like the Mesopotamian, the ancient Egyptian religious system of belief was polytheistic, although its most visible aspect was that of identification: the pharaohs identified themselves as Gods, which was different from Mesopotamian kings, who only claimed to descend from their Gods. However, before the Egyptian Gods became unified into a single faith, they were divided into five groups whose ruling depended on which five of the religious groups of peoples’ king ruled ancient Egypt. With time, syncretism developed, which is an occurrence when two Gods become one (the God Amun-Ra comes from two Gods, Amun, and Ra). Unlike the Mesopotamian kings, Ancient Egyptian kings tended to centralize their rule (serving to uphold Ma’at’s principles of truth, justice and harmony) along the Nile valley, which had the most fertile lands in the entire ancient Near East region. There was no need to expand and seek out new resources – a fact that at times produced periods of a hundred years of peace, something that differed greatly from the multitude of Mesopotamian unrests and wars. Ancient Egyptian pharaohs generally had much easier and longer lives, unlike some of the Mesopotamian kings who died at the battlefields. The government of ancient Egypt functioned much like the symbol of the pyramid: the pharaoh enjoyed all of the powers, whereas other officials had diminished powers, according to their position on the scale. As the mediator between the Gods and the people, he had the final say on all policy matters. Second to the pharaoh came the viziers; they carried the orders of the pharaoh and acted like their representatives. After the viziers, next in line came the governors, who were followed by the mayors, and so forth. Like in Mesopotamia, the economy was centralized and strictly controlled. Also like in Mesopotamia, ancient Egyptians had slaves that did a lot of the hard work while not being able to own property. What is rather unusual is that although farmers had more or less the same social status of both civilizations, craftsmen and artists had a higher status than farmers in ancient Egypt. Officials and scribes composed the high class of Egyptian society, significantly showcasing their social status in the arts and literature, and stratified just below the nobility were the priests, physicians and engineers. In a stark contrast from Mesopotamian culture, men and women in ancient Egypt were considered to be completely equal under the law, regardless of the class they belonged to (except slaves). Man and women equally had the right to own property, to make contracts with government officials, to get married and divorced, as well as the right to inherit goods and property. This is because the nuclear family was the core of ancient Egyptian societal life. Not only the people, but also the Gods were also arranged in such a way. Still, ancient Egyptian women did not take a part in official roles in the administration and were not as likely to be educated as men. However, it is interesting to note that premarital sex was not considered a crime – the same cannot be said for other civilizations. The ancient Indian religion of Hinduism differed from the polytheistic religions of Mesopotamia and Egypt in fascinating ways. Developed from the concepts of the early Aryan tribes that populated and in many ways, politically and socially, classified the Hindu valley, although there are many Gods in Hinduism (logically making it a polytheistic religion), the central theme of the religion was unity – it can be argued that Hinduism is, in fact, monotheistic. Another peculiar aspect of Hinduism is that, as a religion, it does not feel threatened by other religions – thus, other religions, such as Buddhism, were allowed to develop in the Hindus valley. Aspects such as these could simply not be allowed to have developed in ancient Egypt or Mesopotamia, where deities were not only worshiped, but also admired in a similar fashion as traditions were admired. Like in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, hereditary monarchies were established in ancient India. However, the distinguishing difference was that there were many monarchies for a very long time – until they became unified into one. When the unification occurred, the concept of a singular king appeared. Due to the large population of ancient India, the organizational structure of the government was firm and strict, but at the same time, very simple. An executive, a judiciary and a legislative branch were developed. Also, due to the large population of the region and in order to be timely informed of changes, the King had spies that roamed the valley. Ancient India’s caste system was perhaps the most complex system of social classification amongst the three civilizations. Mandated by the belief in Dharma, the Aryan invaders saw the caste system as a means of maintaining their own superior positions in the society: upward social mobility was not possible. Generally, the system was divided into four categories. The highest caste belonged to the Brahmas. They were the only members of the ancient Indian society who could read the sacred texts and spread knowledge across the civilization, and who outranked the kings themselves. Below them came the Ksatriyas, who generally filled the governmental positions. Below the Ksatriyas came the Vaisyas, the artisans, skilled workers, and merchants. Last were the Sudras, whose task was simply to serve the three classes above them. The most interesting distinction is that the slaves came next, as a class further down when compared to the slaves of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. Life and marriage in ancient India was highly patriarchal and polygamous, respectively. The rights of men far outweighed the rights of women. Men could have one wife from the same class and other wives from lower classes, but not from the class of the Sudras. If a divorce between a husband and a wife occurred, the woman was severely punished by not being able to remarry or cohabit with men, and sometimes could be punished by death. This was not very helpful to women, as their marriages were usually prearranged. Actually, not only did women have to be perfect housewives and child-bearers, but also under all circumstances they had to obey and worship their husbands. In conclusion, the civilizations of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia and India were similar but also different in many ways. All three ancient civilizations were monarchies, had a caste or class system and a king as the supreme rules. However, they also differed somewhat. The Mesopotamians believed that their kings are descendants from the Gods, whereas the Egyptians thought that their rulers were the Gods. In both Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt, women could own property, whereas in ancient India such was not the case; in fact, women in ancient India had almost no power whatsoever, as their marriages were prearranged and their failures to successfully obey and satisfy their husbands highly differed from the women of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. Works cited Johnson, A. Oliver and Halverson, James. Sources of world Civilization, Volume I: a Diversity of Traditions, Third Edition. Pretence Hall, Lebanon, Indiana. 2003. Read More