History

Ancient Near East (Mesopotamia)
    The Ancient Near EastMesopotamia was located between River Euphrates and Tigris River. This land had marshland surrounding it and extensive flat plains. Mesopotamia was a land of sufficient rain in the uplands although the soils there were poor.  Contrary, the southland experienced little rains but the soil was much better. A common phenomenon in Mesopotamia was strong winds and storms. The only significant natural resource in Ancient Near East was clay with no other minerals like metals or good stone.

    The fact that Mesopotamia was flanked by river Euphrates and Tigris posed the risk of unpredictable flooding which could cause massive losses like wiping out houses and people. The rivers were also not favorable for transport and communication due to their shallow beds. The shallowness of the rivers also meant that trade and navy was unfavorable. People built their houses with clay made bricks which would easily fall apart making them keep on rebuilding them. The fact that the south was fertile despite receiving little rains called for irrigation for agricultural purposes. Wheat and barley was therefore the crop of choice in this land used to make bread and beer. With irrigation came the need for a government leading to establishment of the theocratic government whereby a god was the highest in the dynasty. The government was also necessary to institute defense considering that Mesopotamia never had natural boundaries and therefore they would suffer constant invasions leaving them at a loss. To relieve people from this worry, the city of Jericho was built surrounded by a huge defensive wall. On the same note the city of Catal Huyuk was also built.

   The people of Mesopotamia exalted their gods by sacrificing to animals such as goats, camel and sheep. Sumerian was the formalized city of religion. The relationship between man and god was such that kings were viewed as gods. Once a person died, the Mesopotamians would make sun-dried bricks and make mountains out of them referred to as ziggurats (EAWC, 2010).

    Mesopotamia had developed writing specifically cuneiform where Sumerians used reeds to write on clay plates in picture form. Writing created a sense of identity and could be used to represent value of the people such as was the Epic of Gilgamesh. The written law code was the Hummarabi Code whereby eye for an eye would be used. Whatever you did to the other person, the same would be done to you.

Ancient Egypt
    Ancient Egypt was traversed by the river Nile which runs from the north to the south. Ancient Egypt was surrounded by deserts. The land of Ancient Egypt was divided into southupper Egypt and lowernorth Egypt. The Nile would flood constantly and this was valued for it left the land more fertile. Furthermore, the Nile provided the Egyptians with constant water source. River Nile was more of a gift to Egypt as it also formed a means of trade and communication with the Pharaohs using it to send messages. In addition, it made Egyptians be more unified. The windy deserts around Egypt safeguarded them from invasion. In fact it would take a time span of 90 years before experiencing an invasion. Egyptians upheld the East side as a land of the living since they believed that it was where the sun was born. Consequently, they built their temples in the East. The West was a land of the dead where the sun would die s it set. This led to the establishment of tombs in the west (Silverman, 1997).

    The pharaohs were the equivalent to gods and were the rulers. The Pharaonic line would run through families through a female called Maat.  The Egyptians would mummify their dead and from this they learnt human anatomy quite a lot. Ancient Egyptians valued architecture such that they would stack Mastabas leading to the building of pyramids. The Giza pyramids were for instance built around 2500 BC. Writing in Egypt started from use of pictograms and then advanced to use of papyrus as paper. Theirs was hieroglyphic system of writing containing logography as well as alphabets used to write religious materials. Papyrus was popular due to its abundance such that it would be used by the poor to built houses and boats. The developments in Egypt were so successful for they went uninterrupted for about three hundred years. In fact, Egypt never had slavery not until the new age (Silverman, 1997).