Compare And Contrast Mesopotamia And Indus River Valley

Mesopotamia and the Indus River Valley were two successful and productive empires. These two societies had distinct cultures but have certain likeness to them . These traits are useful in explaining the differences and similarities in these two cultures. Mesopotamian civilization was split into various city states, meaning having a political unit made up of a city and the surrounding lands. With the city-state, Mesopotamia each had its own laws and priest/kings, however, the people had no power. Mesopotamia’s city-states were always at war because of the fertile land it had produced due to the Euphrates River. The king or a hierarchy wanted an abundant amount of supplies of tools and materials that were becoming scarce in their part of the city. In the Indus River Valley …show more content…
As a result to all these wars, many men became soldiers in order to defend their city. Furthermore, Mesopotamia’s politics was less centered on religion and more on the social hierarchy. The social structure of the Mesopotamian civilization, is based upon the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi. This code of the ancient civilizations was a foundation to the first written laws in history. Their social hierarchy from top to bottom includes: Brahmans, which are the highest on the hierarchy, are priests and scholars. The second highest in the hierarchy are the Kshatryas, which are soldiers and warriors. The third highest were the Vaisyas, which were merchants, landowners and professionals. The second lowest in the social hierarchy were the Sudras, which were servants,farm workers and laborers. The lowest in the social hierarchy were the Untouchables, which were the outcasts and street