Certainly these changes were massive, quite abrupt and differed drastically from the norm; however that does not necessarily make them bad. Except, that is how they are viewed by many historians today. The historian N.Reeves believes Akhenaten was unsuccessful, but more in his religion reforms. 'For ordinary folk, there is little doubt that Akhenaten's actions as king over time inflicted the greatest misery: the people were confused by the man's religious vision, frightened by the ruthless manner in which it was imposed and quite likely appalled by his personal behaviour.' Reeves believe that the changes would have confusing and scary for the common people.
The Shang believed in Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism, while the Egyptian religion was centered on the ruler and the eternity of the soul. The two civilizations possessed political differences, too. For instance, Shang military officials had more power than the governors did in Egypt. Shang was also a little more organized. However, Shang had human sacrifices, usually prisoners of war, as a way of honoring the gods.
It was believed that the kings were the gods’ representatives on earth; the kings had special privileges and special tasks that they had to accomplish. For example the kings ruled by special divinity and were set apart/ away from all other people including the priests. Kings also had to respect and glorify the gods through offerings just as the rest of the people the only thing that was different was that the kings had a greater commitment than the rest because their power was greater than the peoples or priests. The Ubaid people created central locations for places of adoration, and the buildings were used for economic and administrative purposes. Uruk, was a more urbanized version of the Ubaid
Mesopotamia was also divided into city-states. The religions of the Nile River Valley and the Tigris and Euphrates River valley were very different. The Egyptians worshiped their gods and thought that they brought them good things while the Mesopotamians feared their gods and thought that they caused storms when they were angry. The Nile River Valley and the Tigris and Euphrates River valley both had similar governments and ways to divide their country but when it came to religion they both had very different approaches. Both of the river valley civilizations had an absolute monarch but the Nile had a Theocracy while the Mesopotamians had a Monarchy.
Therefore, Egyptians were able to build sturdier buildings than in Mesopotamia. Also, Egypt bordered on the side of a massive sea and on another side by an impenetrable desert. This made it very difficult to invade or conquer Egypt. Mesopotamia on the other hand, was much more vulnerable because it was open to attack on almost all sides. The one common thing the two civilizations shared when it came to religion was the fact that they both practiced polytheism.
Compare/Contrast the systems of governments that developed in Mesopotamia and Egypt between 3000-700 BCE Thesis: Although Mesopotamia and Egypt were both ruled like city states, grew up in river valleys and were ruled like a theocracy and monarchy, Mesopotamia believed gods weren’t on the human’s side while Egyptians worshipped their pharaoh, a human god. Also, Mesopotamia constantly was conquered by different groups while Egypt stayed fairly undisrupted. Paragraph 1: Mesopotamia and Egypt both had leaders who ruled the people “through the power of god.” * People of Egypt believed in the Pharaoh and he had the power to make the rivers swell up and had the ability to make the sun rise every day during the old kingdom (2800-2200 BCE) * Ruler of Sumerian state in Mesopotamia
One thing they had in comen was that they both had natural barriers separating them from other meager civilizations. Another major similarity was that religion played a big role in leaders staying in power because in china the Zhou claimed that gods gave them the through as long as they guided the people wisely and called their rule “mandate of the havens” and in Egypt it was believed that the pharah was a god on earth and he was son of Re. Finally another similarity is that they both depended on annual floods for the grouth of there crops. Differences: even doe Egypt and china have many things in common they also differ a lot. A way they differ is that Egypt has more of a dry flat land and china is mostly raised wet land.
Throughout all of these changes, the first civilizations of mankind were born. At that time, the two major civilizations were Mesopotamia and Egypt. They were similar and different in numerous ways. Egypt developed a unified state while Mesopotamia had many competing states, Egypt produced more wheat while Mesopotamia produced more barely, and similarly, the two civilizations lived near river valleys. Both Mesopotamia and Egypt had important rivers that benefited them.
Politically, because they were geographically open to envision, Mesopotamia culture created compact self-governing political units- the city-states. By the third millennium B.C.E. the concept of king developed, quite possibly because of increased quarrels over resources. The power of religious leaders decreased as the power of kings increased. And although the kings took over control of temples, Mesopotamian kings did not claim divine power.
Though Mesopotamia and Egypt were alike there were some differences between the two. With Mesopotamia gaining all the wealth from agriculture and with a few natural defenses, this made the people susceptible to have more invasions and to have internal conflicts. Egypt on the other had didn’t have as many interruptions as Mesopotamia, because of the high mountains and deserts helped to protect the Nile Valley. In Egypt their main focus was the funerary practices. The rulers devoted their time to the design and decoration of extensive funerary complexes, as well as the pyramids and subterranean tombs.