Mesopotamia, which means "the land between the two rivers", was exactly that; an area of land between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers. Many civilizations were created and destroyed on this land because of its lack of natural boundaries, leaving it quite vulnerable to attack. The area between the rivers was a stringent plain of horrible weather. The rivers on either side of the land would rise and fall and flood unpredictably throughout the year. Mesopotamia had an unruly clement, which included rains and drought, torrent wind and hail. .
Like other cultures, Mesopotamia, had a polytheistic religion. Probably due to the environment, the gods that were created were created cruel and sadistic, much like their weather patterns. With the creation of gods comes the belief of immortality, which is well described in the world's first epic poem called "Gilgamesh". In the Epic of Gilgamesh human mortality is a major factor and there is much uncertainty about life after death.
Mesopotamia was a collection of city states without a central ruler. Upon the second attempt to organize these city states, the Babylonians, led by King Hammurabi united the city states and created a set of laws, which were recorded in Hammurabi's Code. Much of the code depicts women as slaves and inferior to men. Something else that is widely depicted in Hammurabi's Code is social status. People were treated differently by the code according to their status. .
The Babylonians built temples shaped like pyramids called ziggurats which were intended to bring priests and priestesses closer to heaven. Tablets containing the written language of the Mesopotamia, cuneiform, were kept atop of these ziggurats. .
The Egyptian civilization was better well recorded due to the milder climate and the impermeable natural defenses. Much like Mesopotamia, Egypt had a polytheistic belief system but in contrast the gods were kinder and represented natural phenomena.