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Mesopotamia and Egypt Essay before 600 BC

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Mesopotamia and Egypt Essay before 600 BC
Mesopotamia and Egypt

Ancient civilizations across history have shown unique and incredible feats of mankind. Arguably, two of the most prominent ancient civilizations in the Middle East and even the world are the Mesopotamians (Beginning 5,000 B.C.) and Egyptians (Beginning 3,150 B.C). Even though these two civilizations peaked about 2,000 years apart, they share numerous similarities contributing to their success, and also show even more differences that distinguish how each had a unique culture and way of life. Both civilizations excelled at feeding and supporting large populations of people. This was done largely because both had techniques that allowed them to excel in farming and agriculture. Mesopotamia had fertile valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Despite receiving little rainfall, the Tigris and Euphrates brought large volumes of fresh water to the region through irrigation. Cultivators tapped these rivers, built reservoirs, and dug canals so they could irrigate fields of barley, wheat, and peas. Similarly, Egypt also had little rainfall. However, in the Nile river allowed farming to develop along its banks. The Egyptians took advantage and used this system to produce a viable and efficient agricultural region, with little reliability to the irrigation systems. In summary, one of the similarities Egypt and Mesopotamia both possessed was fertile land, but neither received enough rain to grow crops. A major difference of The two civilizations is the use of the rivers. Both used their rivers to provide fertile silt to help their crops grow. However, Mesopotamia used irrigation to further supply an abundant supply of food, while Egypt used only the fertile river banks.

Another similarity between the two civilizations was the social structure. They both had a caste system, with Kings, rulers, or Pharaohs at the top. With Merchants, Artisans, and Farmers made up the Middle Classes, and the Slaves made up the bottom. Major differences

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