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Lesson 1 Assignment

Christian Ibarra

CCP

HIST 121: World History: Distant Past

Dr. Todd Zimmerman

September 7, 2024
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Lesson 1 Assignment

Q.1

What were the main differences between the Mesopotamian and Egyptian outlook or

mentality?

Ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt had many similarities, yet they were not the same.

These civilizations were different societies, and they made important contributions to

humankind. Mesopotamia was the first civilization, with Egypt following suit shortly later

(Judge, 2021). Both cultures invented writing, the Mesopotamians with cuneiform and the

Egyptians with hieroglyphics. Mesopotamia was situated in modern-day Iraq, whilst Egypt was

located southwest in northern Africa. While geographically close, they were in distinct regions,

the rivers they lived adjacent flooded differently, their linguistic systems worked in distinct

ways, and Egyptians had far more social standing than Mesopotamians. Moreover, Egyptians

highly revered their gods than Mesopotamians. Egyptians also wore light clothing compared to

Mesopotamians who wore more clothes.

What environmental, political, and religious factors contributed to these differences?

Environmental Factors

The ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations were all located in different

sections of the earth, which influenced their development. The Egyptians, for example, were

surrounded by desert, forcing them to rely on the Nile River for water. The Mesopotamians, on

the other hand, were situated in a fertile region between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers,

allowing them to develop a more complex agricultural system (Judge, 2021). Besides, the ancient

Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations had distinct climates that influenced their manner of

life. For example, the Egyptians experienced a hot, dry climate, so they wore light clothing and
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built their homes out of mudbrick. The Mesopotamians, on the other hand, lived in a hot, humid

climate that caused them to wear more clothes and build their homes out of baked bricks.

Political Factors

Ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations had different types of government that

reflected their respective cultures and values. Egypt, for example, had a centralized monarchy,

but Mesopotamian included both priests and kings at the top of their social structure. In

Mesopotamia, it was important to include the priests at the top since they acted as intermediaries

between the kings and their gods. The kings also became priests in an effort to appease the gods,

and prevent any catastrophe from occurring.

Religious Factors

Nature's forces were more chaotic in Mesopotamia, making disasters like devastating

flooding more frequent. Priests were considered as unpredictable individuals with great power

who needed to be kept happy (Van De Mieroop, 2024). People were at mercy of their gods, thus

humanity's role was to execute out their wishes to make them happy. In Egypt, where

environment or nature proved less detrimental, the gods were portrayed as benign, giving, and

generally friendly to humans. Egyptians thought that the gods had established Egypt to serve as a

haven of goodness, stability, and order in a chaotic world.

Q.2

From your perspective, how does the law code of Hammurabi relate to established

principles of law in the Western world today?

In many respects, I believe the law code of Hammurabi was harsher than the established

principles of law in today’s Western world, and less concerned with accurately attributing guilt.

Hammurabi's code admittedly founded on previous laws, is a collection of rulings or casebooks

on clay tablets that were eventually replicated on a stele put in Babylon's Marduk temple

(Kovačević, 2022). Based on modern Western principles and the norms of most nations,

Hammurabi's regulations were clearly unjust. The most egregious injustice is that these rules

impose various punishments depending on whether the target is female or male, aristocrat or

commoner, slave or non-slave. For instance, if one was responsible for a slave's death, the

perpetrator was required to compensate the owner. However, if an offender was responsible for

the killing of a noble, the punishment was execution by torture. The majority of the

consequences for disobeying the law or causing harm to another person were based on eye for

eye morality.

How do you think the code would deal with current legal issues and problems?

The Hammurabi Code would not effectively deal with current legal issues and problems.

The code has had little influence on any of the world's existing legal systems, despite the fact that

they all incorporate portions of it through shoehorned interpretation. Roman law has served as

the primary influence for almost all current legal issues and problems across the world. The

Hammurabi Code is simply a small deviation from the broader corpus of Roman law. The

Hammurabi Code is not a codified collection of legislation; instead, it is caselaw, or a brief

summary of King Hammurabi's and his predecessors' judicial rulings. The Hammurabi Code

reflects what the judicial world called the law of retaliation, which practically all governments

and civilizations see as harsh and vindictive, and antagonistic to justice and fairness.
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Q.3

Compare the different religious views that existed in ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, and

Israel?

The primary distinction between historical Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Israel's religions is

the transition from polytheism to monotheism. Ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt worshiped

several gods who were frequently associated with natural events and viewed the divine as

capricious (Letellier, 2023). Conversely, ancient Israel finally embraced a monotheistic religious

system centered on a single, righteous, and forgiving deity, Yahweh. The Hebrew faith was

based on the adoration of a single deity who cared about individual deeds and morals, as well as

the fate of the chosen ones.

To what do you attribute these differences?

First, the several male gods of Mesopotamian faiths were seen as irrational and frequently

involved in the same pointless disputes as mankind; natural and social catastrophes were blamed

on these disputes.The unpredictability of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and the hard living

circumstances they provided further reinforced the belief in ruthless and capricious gods, whose

favor was necessary to survive (Brisch, 2020). In contrast, the Egyptians worshiped a wide

variety of deities and believed in a cosmic order that was closely related to the natural world and

the harmony of life, death, and the afterlife. Natural forces were under the direction of deities

including Re, Isis, and Osiris, who also contributed to the interpretation of natural events like the

floods in the Nile. The religion of ancient Israel, however, arose under Moses, the prophet, and

claimed a unique connection with Yahweh, who was kind as well as just. According to Hebrew

belief, Yahweh punishes only those who really deserve it and holds everyone accountable, from
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peasants to kings. The story of the Exodus cemented the Israelites' adherence to monotheistic

religion and laid the foundation for the subsequent Abrahamic faiths.

Israel's empire lasts for a very short period, so why is its culture durable?

Despite Israeli’s empire lasting for a very short period, its culture is durable since it is

strongly linked to Jewish culture and has its roots in the Zionist movement and Jewish history of

the diaspora. Arab culture, the history, and customs of the Arab Israeli people as well as those of

other ethnic minorities who call Israel home, such as the Druze, the Circassians, the Armenians,

and others, have also had an impact on strengthening the Israeli culture (Lewis, 2020). Their

belief in one supernatural being, which is a Jewish culture, has made Israeli religion dominant

and durable.
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References

Brisch, N. (2020). Ancient Mesopotamian Religion. A Companion to the Ancient Near East, 321-

337.

Judge, Edward H. (2021). Connections: A World History Volume 1, Third Edition

Kovačević, D. (2022). A Historical–Legal Review of Hammurabi’s Code. Pravo teorija i praksa,

39(1), 71-82.

Letellier, R. I. (2023). The Bible and the Religions of Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia and Greece.

Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Lewis, T. J. (2020). The origin and character of God: Ancient Israelite religion through the lens

of divinity. Oxford University Press, USA.

Van De Mieroop, M. (2024). A history of the ancient Near East ca. 3000-323 BC. John Wiley &

Sons.