Four River Valley Religions

On the surface, the four river valleys may seem similar, but despite all prospering alongside a river bank, or two, life within the Chinese, Indian, Mesopotamian, and Egyptian civilizations were all unique experiences. Worshiping many gods appears to be the only similarity within the Chinese, Indian, Mesopotamian, and Egyptian religious practices and beliefs. The way in which they worship, the sophistication in their religious text, and how their religion defines their civilization all widely vary. Governing practices appear to equally fluctuate among the four river valley, with leaders’ importance ranging from god-like and to religion over shadowing them completely.
The Chinese civilization had a simplistic belief system. They frequently preformed ceremonious rituals, in which they roasted …show more content…
“when the exalted Anum king of the Annuaki (and) Illil lord of heaven and earth…allotted the divine lordship of the multitude of the people unto Marduk the first-born of Ea…at the time Anum and Illil for the prosperity of the people called me by name Hammurabi, the reverent God-fearing prince” (39). Here, in the first half, Hammurabi lists four different gods by name, Anum, Illil, Marduk, and Ea. In the second half, Hammurabi states the gods called him by name, which suggests he was of great importance, but not god-like as you see in Egyptian culture. That was merely the introduction to the Hammurabi Code, though.
The Hammurabi Code’s purpose was to establish a collection of laws to be followed by the Mesopotamians. This laws were not unlike many of laws used in modern day. For example, “If a man has committed robbery and is caught, that man shall be put to death” (40). This may sound extreme, but in many countries robbery is punishable by death. By today’s standards, most of the laws’ punishments are extreme, however, the laws themselves, for example, robbery being illegal, are globally