Ancient Civilization
| Subject: | ⛩️ Culture |
| Type: | Expository Essay |
| Pages: | 3 |
| Word count: | 916 |
| Topics: | 🗿 Cultural Diversity, Ancient Egypt, Buddhism, China, Geography, 👨🏼🔬 Anthropology |
essay ASAP?
The ancient geographical features in the old Mesopotamia comprised of rivers Euphrates and Tigris.It was between these two streams and commonly known as the land between the rivers. Ancient Mesopotamia consists of today’s Assyria, Akkad, and Summer. It had three major social groups in the Sumerian city-states. These groups composed of slaves, nobles and commoners. Over 90 percent of the people were farmers due to the fertile soil. Slaves worked in buildings and were owned by palace officials. In Mesopotamia, each city and town believed in God’s protection. The religious event was held in the temple, and later on, there was the development of priesthood. Summer had gods called dingir, and these gods and goddesses had supernatural powers. People in Mesopotamia looked to these gods for answers regarding life and death force of nature, good and bad. Their political system comprised of kings who were at the top position being leaders. Kings were a literal god who serves as head of the army. The Samaria states were ruled by a priest-king, who administered trade, judged disputes, lead the army in battles and was engaged in religious ceremonies (Behjati-Ardakani et al., 2016).
The ancient China was united as an empire which was ruled by kings .there were a bunch of lords who were under the kings and ruled individual farmers. The rulers collected taxes and passed some to the kings. Ancient Chinese society was composed of Fengjian structure of Circa. From this structure came the classification of Chinese people into four social classes. The Shi who were gentry’s scholars in Shang and Zhou dynasties, Nong Class that were peasant farmers, Gong Class the craftsmen and artisans, and Shang Class the lowermost class in the social hierarchy and formed by traders and merchants. Behjati-Ardakani et al. (2016) say that ancient China had diverse religious beliefs which comprised of Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism. Emphasis was given to the worship of sea, moon, land, stars, sun, and rivers since they believe prosperity came from factors beyond and above. Ancient china’s was separated from the rest of the world by desert and Pacific ocean, and impassable mountains. It had two rivers which flowed through central China; Yangtze River to the south and the Yellow River to the north. The rivers provided transportation, fresh water, fertile soils, and food.
The ancient India had the king who formed the empire, especially in the north. The king divided empire into many provinces headed by a governor. Ancient India was extended to west and northwest which consisted of some parts of modern Afghanistan and Pakistan. There were many rivers such as Saraswati but not noticeable today. Geographical, India was encompassed by forest, desert, mountain, and jungles. Ancient Indian people believed in Sikhism, Ayyavazhi, Buddhism and Jainism religion. Ancient India was influenced by division in the social class where some people were regarded superior to other. Social class was divided into four categories. Brahmins were respectful and prestigious and at the top the ancient Indian social hierarchy. Kshatriyas mean warriors and were the king from royal families. Vaisyas reared cattle and performed the productive labor, agriculture, trade and simple tasks. Shudras were the lowest class ancient in social hierarchy who worked as servants to other classes (Behjati-Ardakani et al., 2016).
The government of ancient Egypt composed of the pharaoh who appointed other officials. The highest official was answerable to the king. Pharaoh, the king, was the head and created stable government using massive workforces. Ancient Egypt was divided into two lands red and black. Black land was fertile on Nile banks which were used for growing crops. The red land was a desert which separated Egypt from inversion by neighboring armies.it was the source of semi-precious stones and precious metals. Ancient Egyptian religion was complex. The ritual and polytheistic beliefs were integral in the society.According to Okon (2012), religious practice centered on Egyptian king known as the pharaoh who believed to have descended from a god. He was the intermediary between people and god and offered ritual and offering to them. Ancient Egyptian society was like a pyramid where at the top were gods. They believed in the gods to control the universe and had a responsibility to keep them happy. Rulers were entrusted with various responsibilities by pharaohs. Farmers paid taxes in the form of grains which fed people during the famine and stored in pharaohs warehouse.
Comparing the religious beliefs of China and Egypt civilization
Egyptian life was guided by religion which was based on polytheism. They had many goddesses and gods such as Amun. Goddess had part of animal and human. For instance Horus, the sky god had the human body and head of the hawk. The gods dwelt in the Tempe and were everywhere in the city. The priest had a duty of caring for God and attending to their needs. They believe in rebirth after dying was vital in funeral practices. Priests recited prayers after the death of a person as an attempt to revive the deceased (Okon, 2012).The dead body was purified and washed and taken to Waber. On the other hand, China had multiple religions comprising of Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism. Confucian was the earliest religion supported by the majority which made culture more tolerable. Confucianism was not a real religion but offered philosophical and ethical values. Buddhism brought different cult and religion. Taoism had an influence on local culture regarding literature and traditional medicine and literature. The different prescription drug was created by many doctors and Sun Simiao.
- Behjati-Ardakani, Z., Akhondi, M. M., Mahmoodzadeh, H., & Hosseini, S. H. (2016). An evaluation of the historical importance of fertility and its reflection in ancient mythology. Journal of reproduction & infertility, 17 (1), 2.
- Okon, E. E. (2012). Religion and politics in Ancient Egypt. American Journal of Social and Management Sciences, 3 (3), 93-98.
Offered for reference purposes only.