The history of the Mesopotamian people began in the fertile lands among the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. This civilization's culture had a great impact on the Hebrew religion. Myths and traditions were filtered and refashioned to fit the needs of the Jewish religion (Monroe 135). It is believed that many stories and myths that formed part of this civilization's culture gave shape and influenced som

For example, he shows his belief in Greek philosophy Dualism by talking about the here-and-now and the here-and-after world. He gives more importance to the enrichment of our mind and spiritual world than to the material world. This philosophy of life will be seen later in Christianity were people seeks to enrich their souls and spirits so they can go to Heaven. Augustine also wrote "Confessions" as an analysis of his spiritual and intellectual development from his youth until he became a Christian (Cunningham-Reich 226). In this writing we see the Platonic influence again by giving first place to spirit and intellect.

The earliest known law code in existence was made in Mesopotamia. "Hammurabi's Law Code" is a collection of economic, moral, social and political laws. The code tells us a lot about the Mesopotamian society. The laws are inscribed on a stone slab and at the top, the King Hammurabi is shown receiving laws from the Mesopotamian sun god, Shamash (Britannica). I think all this is very similar to some laws on the Hebrew bible and to the Hebrew's Ten Commandments.

The story of the creation of man has been an issue since first human civilizations; "Enuma Elish" is a Mesopotamian creation myth that reassembles the Hebrew's Genesis or story of creation. Enuma Elish is written in seven tables relating the beginning of the gods and the creation of the universe and mankind. The Hebrew story of creation talks about one only God that creates humans and universe in 7 days; "...and the sixth generation were the gods who created humans..."(Enuma Elish), "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground..." (Genesis).

Roman civilization played an important role in the development of Christianity. I would say that the Romans were the most influencing of all cultures, maybe because it was at the Roman Empire where Christianity began as a single religion. Christianity was illegal in the Roman Empire for a long time and the people in the Empire were only allowed to adore Roman pagan gods. By that time Rome was full of different pagan cults or "mystery cults" that with time influenced some of the beliefs of the Christian people. Mithraism was a mystery cult brought from Persia to the Roman Empire in which Mithra, its god, was a dying and reborn god. Mithra was associated with the sun, his cult had a kind of baptism and a ceremonial meal; the birthday of Mithra was celebrated on December 25th. All these characteristics could have influenced Christianity beliefs, in fact, Mithraism was the strongest competitor of Christianity, and maybe that's why Christians adopted December 25th as Jesus' birthday.

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Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)