Three Civilizations That Influenced The Mesopotamian Culture History Essay

The three civilizations that influenced the way we live today would have to be the Mesopotamian culture, the Egyptians, and the Greeks. These three civilizations were much alike in ways of ruling and culture but they still differed in many other ways as well. The people of this time all had several different ways of living, pass time fun, and the way they constructed burials. These three civilizations have greatly influenced us today in modern society in more ways than most people know. Now if I were to bring three visitors from back in time from Mesopotamia, Egypt and Greece and place them in the U.S.A. to live in modern society and see the way we live and do things and although they will find similarities from the way we live to that of theirs, the question would be, which one if any would stay? A lot of the way we do things today in modern society comes from several of the cultures that these visitors created back when they lived yet there are still a lot of differences in the way we live that would make some of the visitors either join in, or cringe with fear to change to a new way of living.

In ways ruling, the first two civilizations Mesopotamia and Egypt were quite alike. Rulers of Egypt were called Pharaohs, and Mesopotamia had a class system wherein the highest class was the rulers just like Egypt, and Greece. All of the civilizations each had their own Gods they answered and some were very similar to each other, although for Egypt, they believed that their Pharaoh was their God on earth. In Mesopotamia, besides the ruling families, the high class also included leading officials, and high priests. The small middle class had merchants, artisans, and lower priests. The majority of the people was at the bottom and was peasant farmers. In Greece, which was one of the most powerful civilizations of its time as well, had their government evolved from a monarchy into an aristocracy. A monarchy is when a King or Queen exercises central power. In Greece, the government was headed by a privileged minority or upper class, which ruled his or her own city-states. In Mesopotamia, which is one of the oldest civilizations in the world, it is very interesting that they had a started some sort of democracy. They solved all the rising questions and problems by public assemblies and voting unlike the Egyptians. In ancient Egypt, they had a different concept of political structure comparing to Mesopotamia. In Egypt it was all up to the pharaoh and there were no debates or public discussions. It was whatever the Pharaoh says goes. However, the social structure was similar to the Mesopotamian. On the very top was the pharaoh and on the very bottom of the social pyramid were soldiers, farmers and tomb builders. The civilization that I believe is the greatest though is the Greek. Greece was more similar to Mesopotamia than to Egypt in its political structure. Unlike the previous civilizations, the Greeks lived a more fun way of life because they were into theater and such.

In their ways of living, the daily life of Mesopotamians was very boring. They only worked and worshiped their gods. The main industry that people were engaged in was agriculture. The tools used to work in the field were made out of stone. This shows that not much progress in innovations had been made that would make their everyday life much easier unlike the Egyptians who found new ways to build using new tools like the catapult devise they had used to lift those huge heavy stones to form their pyramids. Agriculture was the main occupation for Egyptians just like for Mesopotamians. They were also great at building. The Egyptian pyramids were built throughout ages and still remain one of the wonders of the world and those pyramids were built for their Pharaohs for their burial sites when they die, whereas the Mesopotamians buried their dead in little huts they built out of mammoth bones. The Greeks also got a lot assembled in their culture from different cultures but not by building and they were not very well known for it unlike they were for the theater plays and their philosophy. By doing this though, they created the best known culture at that time. Less time was spent on building temples and more time was better used on their new form of pass time fun in the theater, and many theaters were built all over the Greek world. Also their main trend was philosophy at that time which was unique and in that it was never practiced before.

With all this being discussed concerning the way the Mesopotamians, Egyptians, and the Greeks ruled and lived life and now if I were to bring one person from each civilization to modern day society, I would first introduce them to our way of ruling which in some aspects is similar like how we live in a democracy and have the president rule over us but not in a harsh way, similar to that of the these civilizations but yet is still very different and the freedom in living life how we choose too and how we in modern society have the freedom to be anything we want to be. Then I will show them how we live and how they will have the choice to do whatever they want and not be a slave. Next, I would not just take them to one certain place in the USA but I would take them to several because it is not the same in every part of the country and everyone does things different depending on where they live and the climate and things of that nature. Even though a lot of the way we live comes from these older civilizations like art, theater, some burials, and some of the way we rule, it would still be difficult for them to see how we live today in modern society at just one location. So first, I would take the visitors to New York City where it is busy all the time and generally it is a lot colder than the visitors are used to because they all live out in the desert. Their they might not like the weather so much but I think they would get used to the idea of it being busy because they each used to work closely with each of their own civilizations in their own time. Then I would bring each the Mesopotamian, Egyptian, and Greek individuals to the south in Oklahoma where the climate is dry and hot and although it is not as busy as New York, it is still a little more than they are used to. Although in the south it is where they can still take up their farming and agriculture and get to use new age tools to do the work. Although they will not live by great bodies of water like they are accustomed to, they will get to see how and where we get our water from and how hopefully it will not run out. Now finally, I would take the Mesopotamian, Egyptian, and the Greek to California where it is sunny and warm but not dry and humid and they can hang out on the beach and go fishing in a boat and see how the Californians live their life and after I take the visitors to each of these locations and allow them to each stay in each place, then I would allow them to each stay in one of the three locations of their choice that they like the most and live there for a few months. After that I would assume that none of the three visitors would stay because although life would be better here and easier and they would have tons more opportunities to live and I’m sure that they would like the way we live and rule our country and the new age tools we have and use, I still think they would leave because for thousands of years they have lived the way they do and although there are some similarities in the way we live compared to theirs I still think it would be too much of a culture shock for the three visitors to adjust to.

The experiences of each of the Mesopotamian, the Egyptians, and the Greek were very different because of their locations of where each lived, the culture they were accustomed too and their ways of ruling, although very similar in many aspects, comparing to the places of where I took them in modern society. We have taken from many of the influences around us from past civilizations and ways of life from the other civilizations and improved it and made it our own. Yet with all that, it is clear that though our culture and ways of living are very similar to that of theirs, yet it just would not be enough for them to stay here in modern society because of our many differences in the way we today live compared to them.