Egypt And Mesopotamia

389 Words2 Pages
Egypt and Mesopotamia can easily be compared to socially, economically and politically. Socially both civilizations had similar social statuses for women and men, but distinctions in social classes in Mesopotamia were much greater than in Egypt. Economically both societies had important irrigation sources for example the Nile, Tigris and Euphrates, although Egypt traded within a closer range than Mesopotamia. Politically Mesopotamia used a strict law code where as Egypt had no type of impersonal law code, but kingship was the dominant political form. There are many similarities socially, economically and politically. Socially both civilizations gave limited rights to women, but were not equal to men. In Mesopotamia and Egypt, the two civilizations, both allowed their women to have some rights. For examples, women could own property in both societies as well as inherit and own dowry. Although men still ruled the political world and dominated the household. Economically both societies had important irrigation sources that led to irrigation canals for their agricultural needs. The Nile provided rich fertile soil for Egypt and water for crops as the Euphrates and Tigris provided water for Mesopotamia’s agricultural needs. Politically kingship was the dominant political form in both societies. The kings lavished themselves in the countries’ wealth and power. They were head of ritual and the kings’ power grew as the temples did. As many similarities there are the differences by far outweigh them socially, economically and politically. Socially the Egyptian social classes were not as noticeable as the Mesopotamian classes. For example in Egypt slaves could be freed so there was no distinctive class for slaves. Mesopotamia had an obvious variation in privileges of different groups and status. This is also shown in Law code of Hammurabi where slaves get harsher punishment
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