MESOPOTAMIAN/EGYPTIAN ENVIRONM

A detailed Summary of MESOPOTAMIAN/EGYPTIAN ENVIRONM

This paper is about the comparison of two separate ways of looking at nature and man's relationship with nature, the Mesopotamian and Egyptian version alongside the Hebrew and Christian version. We will first examine the backgrounds of these three cultures, then we will try to judge the whys and wherefores of the differences between cultures.

Egyptian culture and religion were dominated by the Nile. The river was the springboard of life for the civilization, but unlike certain other rivers (as we will see in the next section) the Nile was quite predictable, flooding at regular times. This allowed the mighty river to be used by rulers as an example of their power, overreaching its banks only at their explicit command. Civilization in the West declares, "As divine incarnation, the king was obliged above all to care for his people. It was he who ensured the annual flooding of the Nile, which brought water to the parched land." This bit of trickery allowed transmutation of the river's power into one all powerful person, yet despite all his incantations the Nile (or basically nature itself to these people) was still ruler over all. The Egyptians had many gods of the river, which they regularly appeased with offerin

In short, this duality between Hebrew and Egyptian/Mesopotamian thought, and now the Western and Eastern iterations, was and is one of the most important concepts in philosophy. One of man's largest concerns is the way he treats his surroundings, and a study into why he treats his environment the way he does lends understanding to many other facets of a civilization.

gs of agricultural produce. Egyptians attitude toward nature and the river may be seen in this following passage from The Book of the Dead (circa 16th century B.C.) "I have not mistreated cattle... I have not cut down on the food in the temples... I have not damaged the bread of the gods... I have not snared the birds of the gods." These excerpts from this prayer emphasizes the Egyptians belief that agriculture was basically the god's property, and that they were merely the caretakers of this property.

Judaic Christian background is very far removed from the two cultures we have examined, in large part due to their background. Hebrews didn't start as river dwelling tribes, their origins were from a single patriarch, and they were submerged into other cultures several times during their history. Unlike the Egyptians and Mesopotamians they had only one God whose is not clearly traceable back to any natural element. The Hebrew's God was not tied to any particular physical phenomenon, was not saddled with any particular human frailties such as lusting after mortal women. The creation account is as follows in Genesis 1:26-29; "Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.' So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female he created them. Then God blessed them, and God said them, 'Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth." While Jehovah's people were certainly charged with not abusing the land, and expected to offer sacrifices, the nature worship facets of Egyptian and Mesopotamian cultures were not to be

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Approximate Word count = 1541
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History