Similarities Between Mesopotamia And China

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The early civilizations in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Cities on the Indus River, and the Dynasties in China possess many similarities and differences. All cities started on the same principles and similarities and laws. These all led up to creating the backbone for more modern civilizations and eventually countries as well as modern forms of government such as communism and democracy. Most civilizations were started near rivers, trade routes, or oceans and lakes. The reason for this was it made trade, and made for better soil for farming. Civilizations start in Mesopotamia and organize into separate city states. They were started near the Fertile Crescent which is a strip of land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Persian Gulf and had rich soil …show more content…
Mesopotamia city-states had gods which they worshipped at ziggurats with priests. Egypt created their own polytheistic religion with over 2000 gods including the Nile and also believed that the Pharaohs themselves were gods and built pyramids as tombs for them. They believed that your karma in this life affected where you ended up in the after-life. The most important gods were believed to be Ra, Isis, and Osiris. They also created a Book of the Dead and there is an excerpt from it which is called the Declaration of Innocence in which a person recited through the after-life in the hall of two truths where you were judged in front of Osiris. In which you would recite at the end ‘I am pure, I am pure, I am pure.’ The Indus River Valley worshipped gods such as Prithivi which is the Earth, Surya the sun god, and Apas the water god. They prayed to their gods in an attempt to control nature. Thus the gods they worshipped are all things that are part of nature such as Parjanya the rain god which they believed could control flooding. Ancient China’s religion is similar to Buddhism and Hinduism. A few of their gods were four Buddhist guardian gods, as well as Dizang, known to them as the ruler of ten hells. People of China also believed that ancestors had a part to play in fate and your karma in the afterlife. Most of the gods and religions in this time period were in an attempt to control nature and were used as a belief system for each