Early Civilizations Table

Key Geographical Religious Beliefs Political Structures Social and/or

Features Cultural
Characteristics
Mesopotamia Mesopotamia was The people of There were many The Mesopotamian
located between two Mesopotamia were different city-states people were very
rivers, the Euphrates polytheistic which located in Mesopotamia. innovative in their
River and Tigris River. It means that they served The city-states were inventions. The invented
was a part of what is many gods. Each governed by kings. The the wheel in 3500 BCE
known as the “Fertile individual city-state had kings were responsible which allowed them to
Crescent” because of the their own leading god. for collecting taxes and have carts and chariots.
rich and fertile lands. (Acrobatiq, 2017) The dealing in goods. The In 4000 BCE, the
Mesopotamia was Mesopotamian built most popular law of that Mesopotamians started
known as the “Cradle of temples in honor and time was the Code of forging bronze to make
Civilization because the worship to their god. In Hammurabi. The Code of weapons, tools, and
Sumerians (one of the each temple, there was Hammurabi discussed farming instruments.
first societies) were a priest that would be in issues from marriage to Cuneiform was their
within its charge of the events, murder(Acrobatiq, 2017). writing system. They
borders(Acrobatiq, festivals, and sacrifices. also developed a
2017). The Hebraic people were sexagesimal numeral
monotheistic, which system which lead to the
means that they believe creation of the solar
in only one god. The calendar(Acrobatiq,
Sumerians believed in 2017).
the god of air, god of
water, and god of
heaven. The Babylonians
believe in the god of the
Early Civilizations Table

sun, god of the mood,

and goddess of war and
love.
Egypt Egypt is located along Egypt was very There were two The Egyptians built
the Mediterranean Sea polytheistic. Egyptians kingdoms located in pyramids to
and the Nile River. Many communities shared Egypt. There was Upper commemorate the dead.
farmers gravitated to the common gods, but each Egypt and Lower Egypt. The complex
Nile River because it was individual community The main issue between architecture of the
predictable. Crops were promoted their local these two kingdoms was pyramid shows that the
able to be consistently gods as well (Acrobatiq, who would control the Egyptians were advanced
produced for the people. 2017). Some of the main Nile. Religion and politics in technology and
Egypt became a fortress gods were Re, Amun, were very intertwined in engineering. Religion was
because it is surrounded and Ptah. The king of Egypt. The king was all- thoroughly ingrained
by many deserts that Egypt was seen to be a powerful in the decisions into Egyptian culture
their enemies did not physical manifestation of of the land. The main from their ruler to the
want to cross(Acrobatiq, a god and was directly responsibility of the king common people.
2017). connected to the chief was to perform rituals to (Acrobatiq, 2017)The
god, Horus. There was appease the gods. In the Egyptian people thrived
no set system of religion Proto-Dynastic Period of with the creation of their
when it came to their Egypt, the ruler of Upper irrigation systems. They
gods. Each community Egypt, King Namar, took full advantage of
made their own stories politically united Egypt by the predictability of the
and rites about their conquering Lower flooding of the Nile.
gods. Mummification Egypt(Acrobatiq, 2017). Because they were so
was a common burial skilled in the
ritual in Egypt. Kings measurement of
built pyramids to gain farmlands, it is believed
favor from other kings that geometry was
Early Civilizations Table

and to also ensure their birthed there.

rich afterlife. Hieroglyphics was the
writing system of the
Egyptians.
India India is a peninsula that India was also very In India, a caste system The streets of many of
is recognized due to the polytheistic. Indra is was established. There the civilizations in India
presence of the Indus their main god who were five categories were grid-like unlike
and Ganges rivers. The guides them while in within the caste system. other civilizations. In
Indus river was essential battle. Good and bad The caste was hereditary cities, there were public
for irrigation and actions would result in and was passed down bathing pools for bathing
livestock care. Although one going to either from generation to and ritual washing. The
very helpful, the Indus heaven called the World generation(Acrobatiq, Harappans were the first
river could also be very of the Fathers, or hell 2017).. It is believed to to find a more durable
devastating with its called the House of be at first an ethnic way to build with baked
unpredictable flooding. Clay(Acrobatiq, 2017). division because the bricks instead of sun-
India was also a part of Hinduism and Buddhism higher caste members dried bricks(Acrobatiq,
the “Fertile Crescent.” also emerged from India were of lighter 2017). There was a
(Acrobatiq, 2017). and is still practiced complexion and the decline in a lot of
today. lower caste members civilizations in India due
where of darker to natural disasters like
complexion. The people earthquakes. A lot about
that did not participate in the early civilizations is
the caste system were unknown due to the
responsible for the care inability to decide the
of the kingdom. written works. Most of
what we know current is
from the drawing and
infrastructure.
Early Civilizations Table

China China is located by two There was a Mandate of Kings ruled in the early Oracle bone was the
rivers, the Yellow River Heaven that was placed dynasties, but they did early writing system that
and the Yangtze River. on the emperors. not have the same was first used as
There are dense forests, (Acrobatiq, 2017). This amount of power like the communication with
mountains, and oceans mandate was said to be kings did in Egypt. China gods but later became
between China and a divine force that had a feudal system. The the language that we
India(Acrobatiq, 2017). allowed the kings to rue. emperor or king ruled know as Mandarin
This helped calm a lot of from the capital city but Chinese(Acrobatiq,
the strife that was in the only with the permission 2017). The different
society. The and support from the dynasties of China
development of China’s prominent brought about different
written language was landowners(Acrobatiq, developments. The
first used as 2017). These landowners Shang Dynasty expanded
communication with the were known as feudal China south below the
gods. lords. The feudal lords Yellow and Yangtze
payed the kingdom a River. Bronze metallurgy
percentage from their was started in the Xia
harvest. This system Dynasty but was later
caused a lot of greed and mastered in the Shang
strife that disrupted the Dynasty. Iron Casting
society. was introduced to China
in the Zhou Dynasty.

Egypt and Mesopotamia have many different similarities in their religious beliefs. Both Egypt and Mesopotamia both

are polytheistic. They both worship many gods, and both have main or common gods that the people mainly worship.

Mesopotamians believe in the god of heaven, the god of the sun, the god of the moon and many different others. The Egyptians
Early Civilizations Table

worship Horus, the chief god and have the main god of Re, Amun, and Ptah(Acrobatiq, 2017). In Mesopotamia, each city-state

had their own leading god along with the main ones. In Egypt, each community promoted their local gods along with the main

gods.

The method of worship is very different in each of these early civilizations. In Mesopotamia, there were temples that

built in to honor the gods. Priests were responsible for sacrifices and festivals. In Egypt, the pharaoh was seen as a physical

manifestation of a god and was directly connected to their chief god, Horus(Acrobatiq, 2017). Mesopotamia had different

groups of people that were polytheistic and some that were monotheistic(Acrobatiq, 2017). In Egypt, the people were all

polytheistic, but they made their own origin stories and myths to go along with the gods that they worshipped.

References:
Please include any resources that you referenced while making this table. You do not need to include in-text citations, but you
should include at least one reference in APA format to indicate a resource used to gather the required information.
Early Civilizations Table
Acrobatiq (2017). Survey of World History. Retrieved from https://wgunx.acrobatiq.com/courseware/contents/wh_apr14