Contrasting Ancient Egypt and Sumerian.
In the Ancient world, Life began around rivers. Throughout this essay I will be comparing and contrasting two of the prominent ancient civilizations, the Egyptians and the Sumerians. They had many cultural and governmental differences between them. Below are some examples.
To start, each civilization began next to a river(s). In ancient times, you were unable to control the river, so if it flooded, people went along with it. Now Egyptians had the Nile. It flooded annually at about the same time of year, and was very predictable. It covered the land in silt. Ancient Sumerians, however, were located in between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. These often flooded unpredictably, and sometimes didn't flood at all and cause draughts. On the subject of geography, natural barriers are important. Egypt had many natural borders and was separated from their enemies for many years. Sumerians however, had no such luxury. They had no natural borders and were open to attack from nearly all sides.
In those times, religion was largely important to everyone. Egyptian government started as a theocracy and slowly changed to military leaders due to few attacking enemies. The ancient Sumerians, However, quickly moved past theocracy and used military leaders in their stead. Due to many attacks, they became excellent fighters. They had advanced weapons and wartime technology along with strategies.
In the past, writing was one of the greatest developments of civilization. Although in this timeline, writing was still pretty primitive compared to today. Ancient Egyptians used hieroglyphics. Hieroglyphics were a sort of pictogram that used symbols and ideas. The Sumerians, on the other hand, had cuneiform. Cuneiform was a type of writing that started out with basic symbols but evolved into wedge shaped symbols and figures. Both writings were very different from each other.
In those days, religion as I said played a big part.