1. Compare/Contrast Ancient Civilizations

2. Climate/Geography Egypt River--Nile River Longest in the World Hot
Desert
Small amount rain
Mesopotamia
Plains/Plateaus
Rivers
Tigris & Euphrates
* ( Rich Farmland)
Desert
Hot
Small amount rain

3. Culture Egypt Farming Community Extensive Tomb Paintings
Social Class System
Pharaohs
Mesopotamia
Small City States
Market Place
Social Class System

4. Religious Beliefs Egypt Polytheistic( Many Gods )
Pharaoh- God and King
Mummification
Elaborate Tombs
Mesopotamia
Polytheistic (Many Gods)
Ruled by priest -kings
Burial under homes
Pyramid_and_Sphinx.JPG

5. Writing Egypt Hieroglyphics Picture Writings 800 signs
Cut into rock or stone-on papyrus paper
Mesopotamia
Cuneiform
Wedge-shape marks on clay tablets

6. Economy Egypt Based on Farming Flooding of the Nile Expanded Trade
Mesopotamia
Based on Farming
Wheat
Barley
Used plow first time

7. Government Egypt Pharaoh – great house
Theocracy - religious leader and king
Scribes – recorded government business
Mesopotamia
Theocracy - religious leader and king
Absolute power
Hammurabi's code

8. Achievements Egypt Great pyramid of Khufu
Engineering and building skills
Papyrus paper
Rosetta stone – decoded hieroglyphics
Cultural borrowing – technologies including horse drawn chariots
Embalming
Mesopotamia
12 month calendar based on phases of the moon
Code of Laws – Hammurabi’s Code
Babylonians – math system based on 60
Phoenicians – Alphabet – Hebrew, Greek and Latin alphabets of today

9. Fun Facts Egypt Cairo capital on Nile Pyramids Sphinx Rosetta Stone
Mesopotamia
First discovered civilization
First to develop a calendar
Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey