Egypt and Mesopotamia religions had both similarities and differences, but for the case of the differences, they are not much when compared to the similarities that exist between the two. The two had a belief of the afterlife, but the gap that existed in between the two was the degree in which they believed on the afterlife. Notably, the main difference is found in the type of the governances that existed in the two civilizations. The thin line of the difference between Egypt and Mesopotamia was that Egypt was characterized by Pharaohs forming the highest level and the priests taking the middles class (Glassman 428).
Governance for Egypt and Mesopotamia
The civilizations for the case of Egypt and Mesopotamia, religion was essential to live. The two were governed by theocracies characterized by the fact that kings had practiced ruling on the divine right (Glassman 428). Despite this similarity, the two systems differed concerning social and geographical features. For the case Mesopotamia there were God and priests and were treated as the supreme controllers of fertility, wealth, and law. It was the responsibility of the kings and priests to interpret the wishes of the gods (Stopler 485). The two were the parties that had access to the divine power. Gods were also treated like military leaders as well as protecting people. Later on, the gods had the responsibility of being guardians of establishing love and prosperity to the individuals.
Difference in cultures
The Egypt culture was different from that of Mesopotamia in the sense that its religious systems were reflecting an optimistic view of life and being orderly. It was work of the religious orders to furnish tombs. All this was the case, the differences in the perspectives of the role played by the religious believes have a thin line as the practices in both cases shared many similarities. The two civilizations were established on the elaborate temples whose purpose was to praise their gods. The fact of being polytheistic also characterized Egypt and Mesopotamia; that is, they had many gods that they served.
Pessimism and Optimism perspectives
All through the main argument in here has been there a slight difference I between the two civilizations, there is a difference in the way the two viewed life. Notably, Mesopotamia observed growth in the dimensions of pessimism. The reasoning that was applied by the Mesopotamia civilization was on the unpredictability of the environment (Glassman 428). This is the thinking that led to society to expect bad things in the future.
On the other hand, this was not the case with Egypt. Unlike Mesopotamia, Egypt was optimistic (Glassman 428). The reasoning behind was on river Nile. River Nile flooded their region now and then, and the flooding of the river was easily predicted using the stars.
Rulers, gods, and Priests differences
Another difference between the two gods of Egypt was less compared to the number of gods that were serving people of Mesopotamia. In addition to this, the rulers in Mesopotamia were spoken to the gods directly, but in the case of Egypt, the rulers were acting like the gods (Glassman 429). People treated the rulers as gods in all their undertakings.
The Mesopotamia people had a strong belief in the afterlife. The implication of this that the Mesopotamia people knew that there was life after death (Gahlin). This being the case, people in Mesopotamia mainly focused on the life they were living so that they could live better after death. This was not the case with the Egyptians. In Egypt civilizations, individuals only believed on the afterlife. All in all, Egyptians had a strong belief of afterlife than in the case of Mesopotamia. This is the reason why the Egyptians build tombs in the form of pyramids.
The relationship in between gods and people
Mesopotamia civilization saw humans as the servants of the gods that expected to be appeased by individuals to protect them. On the other hand, Egyptians had a belief that it was the responsibility of the gods to preserve humans without expecting them to be appeased (Surman). Egyptians had a belief that the gods were the creator of humans. For the case of the festivals, the new year festival was a significant event in Mesopotamia, whereas in the fact of Egypt Opet was the major festival. On the other hand, the gods of Egypt were considered to reflecting a positive religion with an emphasis on a positive afterlife (Brown). More specifically, religion in Mesopotamia was bleak and gloomy. Scholars have also found that the ancient Mesopotamia players were characterized by the ideology having a limited relationship with the god and the goddesses. The view that held by the players was that humans treated with suspicion by the gods and the goddesses.
Forces and the two Civilizations
Mesopotamia was also different from Egypt in the way it marked its religion. For instance, in Mesopotamia, the effects of nature were noted to be very chaotic. The implication of this is that the impact caused more catastrophes unlike in the case of the Egyptian troops (Stopler 485). An example is a catastrophe of flooding. During floods, people, animals, and plants are destroyed to a more significant measure and can lead to famine as food being destroyed. The result of this is that the gods were viewed as being not easy to predict and could only be controlled by the priests. The primary responsibility of the human beings was to ensure that the gods were kept happy all through. The meaning of this is that people were at the mercy of the gods (Stopler 485). For the case of Egypt, things were different; the natural forces did not cause minor catastrophes unlike in the case of the Mesopotamia. The gods were treated as being generous and being king. The gods of Egypt treated people better than the gods of Mesopotamia. In addition to this, the gods of Egypt were well-disposed towards humanity (Stopler 485). People of Egypt had a strong belief that gods created Egypt and that is the case; they were supposed to protect people in the land they built. Gods had established Egypt as a refuge for good for the world that was filled with disorders and chaos.
Role of kings, priests, and gods
In Mesopotamia, kings interpreted the divine laws and were highly respected by the rulers. For the case of Egypt, Pharaoh was treated as the god the people of Egypt and was the one that was responsible for the land fertility and as in the case of the prosperity of the nation (Arafa 467). The two approaches result from indifference in the way the people of the two civilizations viewed the gods to the needs of humanity. People of Egypt had the god within them, but people of Mesopotamia had no direct access to their gods and goddesses.
In Mesopotamia, the most upper quality was filled by the king and the priest. It is worth noting that the priests as in the case of the Egyptians were providing both legal and moral guidance to the people to the ruling Pharaoh in the nation at all the times (Glassman 430). For the example of Mesopotamia, monarchial governance was practiced and helps kings and the priests with the same amount of power concerning the most delicate issue of the government.
Conclusion
The religion had a significant effect on the Egyptian society as the nation had a theocracy government where the ruler was worshiped and taken as a god-like figure in the community. Hierarchy of deities was found only in Mesopotamia (Arafa 467). The difference comes in the way the hierarchies were looking like. For the case of Egypt, every god was considered important and was representing a given issue. There were four gods in the case of Mesopotamia that included earth, heaven, water, and air. The gods were held in high esteem than other gods that existed in Mesopotamia.