Essay On The Differences Between Egypt And Mesopotamia

The religious differences between the people of Mesopotamia and the people of Egypt are astounding. While the Egyptians had kinder, and giving gods, the Mesopotamian gods were harsh, unjust, and cruel. Looking at the geography of these regions many key differences can be spotted that would influence the way the different peoples would perceive their religion.
While the Nile river in Egypt was worshipped and even seen as a symbol of immortality, the Euphrates and Tigris rivers were seen mainly as symbols of the inconsistencies of living in Mesopotamia. The Nile river was the center of life in Egypt, it provided consistent flooding which greatly aided crop growth, and helped shape how the Egyptians perceived their gods. The Nile river was so important to the ancient Egyptians that they even based their calendar off of it. Having predictable flooding gave Egyptians the idea that their gods were looking out for them. The rivers found in Mesopotamia, the …show more content…
Ancient Egyptians believed that the afterlife was wonderful and that when a person died they took all their possessions with them to the afterlife. Egyptians had the idea that if someone had done something horrible on earth that they would be punished for their crimes, instead of going to the afterlife. People living in Mesopotamia believed that there was only “The House of Dust.” The House of Dust was the opposite of the afterlife, it was a cruel and violent place. There was no “heaven” in Mesopotamian religion, only “hell.” In Mesopotamia it didn’t matter if someone was an amazing or horrible person, after death everyone went to the same place.The harsh geography in Mesopotamia would reflect in their people’s beliefs about life after death. The after death experiences between these two groups of people are vastly different and the differences can be blamed on the geography of the two