Mesopotamian and Egyptian Civilizations - Essay Example

MODULE 9 A Compare and contrast Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilization. Mesopotamian and Egypt share many things in common, but also differ in many aspects. Both Mesopotamia and Egypt developed in northeastern Africa, along the Nile River. But even in their regard of the Nile, they differ; Mesopotamians regarded it as a menacing cause of floods, while Egypt revered it as a source of bounty. Moreover, Egypt encouraged the building of monuments; thus, while Mesopotamian civilization was in many respects more important and richer in its heritage, more is known about Egyptian civilization because of these monuments and their inscriptions. In the development of their forms of government, Egypt went straight from pre-civilization to large government units, was more centralized and authority was concentrated in a divine Pharaoh. On the other hand, Mesopotamia passed through a city-state phase, authority was more dispersed and governance was exercised through councils and participatory institutions. In form of writing, both cultures developed complex forms of writing which was monopolized by the priestly class. However, Mesopotamia developed the cuneiform alphabet while Egypt had its hieroglyphics, a more pictorial form based on simplified pictures of objects abstracted to represent concepts or sounds. Mesopotamian writing material was comprised of clay tablets and animal skins, and produced an epic literary tradition. Egypt used the papyrus formed from reeds, but used it more for record keeping (Robert Guisepi, The Origins of Civilizations, 2007). In great part, Mesopotamia developed a more advance level of science and mathematics than Egypt, although Egyptians were first to determine the length of the solar year and developed a science of medicine. Egyptian civilization was not centered on science, however, but on religion, the worship of many gods, magical rituals, and obsession with life after death (Cornelius Petrus Tiele, Comparative History of the Egyptian and Mesopotamian Religions, 1882). While their early religions developed from an awareness of nature and the environment, their attitudes differed greatly. Egypt, prosperous and harmonious and consistent with its attribution as the “gift of the Nile,” regarded their gods positively with the promise of a joyous afterlife. Mesopotamian religion was gloomy and bleak, and their prayers reflected the absence of a personal relationship with their gods and goddesses who were suspicious of humans and frequently sent calamities to underscore their humanity – as in the message of the Gilgamesh epic (Michael Streich, Similarities and Differences in Near East Ancient Civilizations, 2009). Most importantly, both civilizations each left a vital heritage that until today influences in subtle ways our modern lifestyle and culture. B-2 Explain the differences between Athens and Sparta. How did they reveal different Greek values and how were women treated in each society? Athens and Sparta were both city-states in ancient Greece, and were within geographical proximity from each other. Their cultures, however, were widely diverse and embodied contrasting values. This partially stems from their lineage – Spartans sprang from the Dorian invaders, while Athenians descended from the Ionians. In form of government, Sparta was run as an oligarchy, and power was concentrated in five ephors and a 29-man council elected by citizens over 30 years old. Athens was a democracy where elections were held among the upper class male population to form a Council of 500. In Athens, the council met to create laws, in contrast to Sparta where the leaders met to decide punishment (Parul Solanki, Sparta vs. Athens, 2009). Sparta’s way of life was militaristic and driven by martial culture; their main occupation was the expansion of their power and conquest of other kingdoms. Athens was the seat of philosophy, art, and science in ancient Greece, a legacy that prevails until today (Anton Powell, Athens and Sparta: Constructing Greek Political and Social History from 478 B.C., 1988). Athens was largely dedicated to agriculture, infrastructure, culture, and other aspects of domestic life. A considerable amount of time was spent by Athenians in the study of literature, art and music, while Spartans were rigorously trained to be soldiers almost from birth (Victor Mobley, Athens and Sparta: Comparison of the Ancient Greek City States, 2008). It is believed that when a baby is born in Sparta, the elders would test its chances at becoming a good soldier, and failing this test, the baby would be tossed into a gorge. From the age of seven, the young men were compelled to learn toughness, discipline, endurance of pain, and survival skills. Women’s roles in the two city-states varied greatly from each other. In Athens, women were denied formal education, and were given informal instruction by their mothers. They learned to run a household, but were not allowed to join in sports events. Athenian women were forced to stay indoors at all times, controlled by their fathers in childhood and by their husbands after marriage. In contrast, women in Sparta lived free lifestyles, participating in sports events and owning business and property (Rit Nosotro, Athens and Sparta, 2009). They were required by the state to have both an academic and physical education. They were expected to produce healthy sons to become soldiers for the state. C-2 What were the characteristics of Hellenistic civilization? How was it similar and different to Hellenic civilization of classical Greece? The Hellenic civilization is usually taken to pertain to that period and culture referred to as Classical Greece. The word Hellenic is used by the Greeks to refer to themselves. The Hellenic period is generally regarded to have ended with the triumph of Alexander the Great and the building of his empire. On the other hand, the Hellenistic civilization is usually accepted to refer to that period in history and the civilization that flourished sometime between Classical Greece and Imperial Rome. That period is also characterized by its own cultural attributes (Francois Chamoux, Hellenistic Civilization, 2003). Generally, the term “Hellenistic” is misconstrued as an aberration or corruption – a cheap imitation – of what was the Golden Age of Greece. Hellenistic culture has many attributes, however, that are unique and underived from the Hellenic. During the Hellenic period, the city states were independent and their individual cultures kept distinct from each other. The Hellenistic period, however, was more a combination not only of the cultures of the different city-states which had become united under the Alexandrian empire, but also the conquered territories (Marvin Perry, Margaret Jacob, Myrna Chase, James Jacob, and Theodore H. Von Laue, Western Civilization: Ideas, Politics and Society, 2009). While Hellenic culture tended to be passive, retrospective and some say gloomy and pessimistic, Hellenistic culture was optimistic, active and outward-looking. Hellenic literature focused on public affairs and private lives, while Hellenistic culture focused on the inner lives of individuals rather than the public world. Hellenic literature relegates women to a subordinate role, while Hellenistic writing gives women a larger place in society. According to some experts, there are other aspects of Hellenistic culture that diversified the classical Greed traditions, but in a superficial way, and contributed no new development, such as in the fields of sculpture and architecture. The result appeared more as artificialities rather than refinements (Gerhard Rempel, Hellenistic Civilization, 2007). One development, though, was in theater that appealed to the masses. This was the mime, at best a quasi-literary device that was popular but contributed no profound lasting significance. D-2 Discuss the contributions of Roman civilization to Western civilization in law and government. What arguments can be made for Rome as the greatest civilization in the ancient world? Roman civilization is regarded as the birth of contemporary Western civilization, because of the many contributions it made that became the foundations for modern-day life and culture. Firstly, our structure of government is largely based upon Roman principles that include: the Social Contract (that government exists as the product of a voluntary agreement among citizens and the State); the doctrine of popular sovereignty (that ultimate power resides with the people collectively); and the principle that Law constitutes the basis for government. While the concept of democracy originated from the Greeks, this concept was passed onto succeeding generations by the Romans with a corresponding refinement (Jackson J. Spielvogel, Western Civilization: To 1715, 2008). Rome is also the source of many of our modern legal precepts. The codification of the law was transmitted to Italy, France, Scotland, Spain, and from there onto other countries. To this day, many legal maxims are expressed in Latin, the language of the Roman scholars and legislators. Roman legacy covers other aspects such as engineering and architecture. The construction of roads and bridges, the public buildings and aqueducts (a system for conveying water over long distances to the cities), the dams and reservoirs, and the stone arches the comprise barrel vaults and cross vaults, are all handed down to us by ancient Rome (Robert Edwin Herzstein & Wallace Klippert Ferguson, Western Civilization: From the origins through the seventeenth century, 1975). Modern-day culture, literature and arts also trace much of their beginnings to Roman civilization. Roman sculpture was characterized by a distinctive realism that was secular and individualistic, much different from the stylized depictions of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. The skilled production of mosaics, frescoes and reliefs are also credited to the Romans (Edrene S. McKay, Western Civilization from Prehistory to 1650, 2009). Latin prose and poetry in the works of Cicero and Virgil, respectively, remain acclaimed literary pieces to the present. E-3 Discuss the shifting nature of Christian-Roman relationships from the time of Jesus to 284 AD. Officially, Christianity began as a religion after the death of Jesus, during the Feast of the Pentecost. However, even during the time of Jesus, he and his small band of followers were merely perceived as a sect of the Jews, and the Jews were but one of the conquered tribes of the Roman Empire. To the Romans, the early Christians (and Jews, for that matter) were seen as “atheistic” because of their monotheistic beliefs, which is a rejection of the nature of the Greco-Roman religion (Will Durant, Caesar and Christ: A History of Roman Civilization and of Christianity, 1944). Contrary to common misconceptions, early Rome did not constantly persecute the Christians. There were, on occasion, some emperors who did pursue this included Nero and Diocletian. But generally, for the first two centuries of Christianity the routine policy of the Roman bureaucracy and elite was not suppression or persecution, but tolerance and accommodation. This is far from saying that the Roman leadership was liberal to the practice of Christianity, because monotheistic Christianity and polytheistic traditional Roman beliefs were directly in conflict with each other and could not coexist, and Christians openly proclaimed their faith with seeming abandon, provoking even the most lax of governors to respond. Thus, most Christian communities lived at peace with pagan friends and neighbors for decades without incident. By the third century AD, the Christians have grown in numbers and distinguished themselves as a separate community with its own social and religious identity and hierarchical organization, and thus a force to be reckoned with. Romans perceived this as a threat, and conducted a systematic persecution of the leadership of the Christians, because they set an example of ignoring the deities of pagan Rome (Albert Henry Newman, A Manual of Church History, 1906). By the fourth century, the structure and organization of the Roman empire changed drastically, with the ascendancy of Constantine. This signaled the end of paganism and a new era for Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire (Thomas H. Greer & Gavin Lewis, A Brief History of the Western World, 2004). Read More