Even though Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia were similar they also showed many differences. Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt in the period of antiquity shared their similarities and their differences. Despite war and trade they did not imitate each other much. While Egypt emphasized strong central authority, whereas Mesopotamian politics shifted more often over a substructure of regional city-states. Since Egypt emphasized a strong unified kingdom, Egypt had a large bureaucracy, run by pharaohs who were worshiped as gods.
The Roman Empire had territories governed by army generals and governors to help maintain regions in the Roman Empire, as well as senators to be in assistance to the citizens of the district. The Han Dynasty had a well-organized bureaucracy with set governors and bureaucrats running different regions of Asia just like the Roman Empire. Rome and Han had very comparable size and scale of their regions, but were different in which part of the land they had ruled, Rome had ruled lands all along the seacoast of the Mediterranean while the Han Dynasty ruled vast landmass and used their rivers for trade. Both the empires used violent conquest to unite their empire into one bigger empire. On the economic side both empires depended on agriculture as the bases of their economics.
Dunia Ibrahimi January 15, 2012 Period. 1 Compare and Contrast Essay Athens and Sparta were two of the most powerful and well known cities among all the Greek nations. Both Athens and Sparta had many similarities and differences whether it is culturally or politically. For instance the way that these cities were governed and their political procedures and functions are similar yet much different from each other. Although these two important cities located in Greek were very important in history they had differences but they also had many similarities whether it be cultural or political.
It is similar because of the extensive contacts and trade between Pre-Classical Greece and Mesopotamia. This impact of similar cultural values, are manifested in their mythology. There aren’t many documents of official trades between Greece and Mesopotamia, only a few depictions in cuneiform[1]; however, archaeologists know that the Ionian Greeks that had taken control of Western Anatolia had established a trade route with Mesopotamia leading through Lydia and Persia called “The Royal Road”, built by Darius in 5th century BCE. [2] Archaeologists also know that not just Ionians but the whole Greek empire had adapted the Babylonian sexigesmal system and were exchanging knowledge of philosophy for knowledge of mathematics. [3] The Greeks and the Mesopotamians had often met in Egypt and Anatolia and worked together with the Persians[4].
Other items found show the possibility of a trade relationship with Crete, such as Minoan-style seal stones and the shells of white snails which are a delicacy on Crete. Despite the evidence there is argument against this theory. Christos Doumas states that the art and architecture of Minoan style found on Thera may simply be a ‘superficial’ characteristic – nature-based pictorial motifs of Cycladic influence are favoured over the Minoan geometric style, supporting this argument. A popular argument on the society of Thera was that religion played an important part in the lives of Therans. Nanno Marinatos strongly believed that all Bronze Age Aegean frescoes were associated with religious or cult
Trade between India and Europe had begun long before the rise of the Roman Empire, but it extended during the first century when sailors figured out patterns of monsoon winds. Commerce between the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean was widespread and often lucrative. It resulted in the organization of quite a few small trading settlements along the Indian coast. Rome imported ivory, indigo, textiles, precious stones, and pepper from India and silk from China. The Romans occasionally paid cash for these items but also exported silver, wine, perfume, slaves, and glass and cloth from Egypt.
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.
The one common thing the two civilizations shared when it came to religion was the fact that they both practiced polytheism. They also both had a place where they worshiped the gods. But the distinction between the two religious views was large. The Egyptians believed in the idea of a death and resurrection for all people, or an afterlife. This was not so true in Mesopotamia.
Before this time, Egyptians worshipped many different gods but the primary god was Amun-Ra. During his reign, Akhenaten altered traditional Egyptian religion in one of his most controversial decisions as Pharaoh. Akhenaten changed the focus of Egyptian religion to one sole god, Aten. This is why Akhentan changed his name from Amenhotep IV to Akhenaten, as he took on the name of the god. As Angela P Thomas noted in her book Akhenaten’s Egypt, “Aten was given a titulary like the king and the god’s name was written in double cartouches.
It also led to a city that was the envy of many, Mark (2011) points out that “The aristocrats lived in palaces, the less affluent in modest but attractive homes”. The harbour at Carthage was said to be the largest of the time with over 200 docks, with ornate columns forming a semi circular port covered with sculptures from the region. This trading power, supported by slave labour and backed by military force allowed Carthage to expand its empire across the North Africa region, as well as into the Iberian Peninsula, which left to contact and friction with the two other great empires of the day – Greece and Rome. The power of Rome. According to Gill “At first, Rome was