Ancient Egypt and Mesoamerica

"We are like ignorant shepherds living on a site where civilizations once flourished.

The shepherds play with fragments that pop up to the surface, having no notion of the beautiful structures of which they were once a part. " Alan Bloom expresses how all should feel when looking back to civilizations before. The Ancient Egyptians and Mesoamericans were two civilizations that continue to influence life today. These had both similarities and differences. Although Egypt and Mesoamerica had similar intellectual accomplishments, they had very different religious beliefs and economic structure.When one looks closely at the intellectual accomplishments, religious beliefs and economic structures of both civilizations, this is easily seen.

There were many advancements in intellectual ideas and structures during the height of the Egyptian and Mesoamerican societies. First of all, both societies had calendar systems. Egypt based their calendar on the regular flooding of the Nile. Through this, they developed a 12 months calendar with five extra days a year.

This was called the civil calendar.The Maya calendar, which was the most prominent of Mesoamerican calendars, is actually a system of calendars. It consists of cycles of different lengths. A calendar round is the name for how long it takes for all the cycles the line up the same way again, and it is 18, 980 days. Second of all, they both built pyramid structures.

Egypt is very famous for it's pyramids that were used for burial. Mesoamerica is famous for their step pyramids that were used for temples in the center of ceremonial centers.Third of all, both had similar styles of writing. Egypt used hieroglyphics, which comes from the greek words meaning "Sacred Writing". They consisted of pictures representing letters or sounds. Mesoamerica used Maya glyphs which were also pictures representing letters or sounds.

Therefore, the intellectual accomplishments of Egypt and Mesoamerica were similar. Egypt and Mesoamerica had very different religious beliefs. First of all, they had different creation stories. Egyptians believed that they were created by Ra's tears.Mesoamericans believed that they were created with maize-corn dough. Second of all, they had different gods.

Egyptians had around 8700 gods that were all worshipped by sects of people. Mesoamericans only had around 237 gods. Lastly, they had very different burial systems. Egyptians mummified their dead by removing organs and wrapped in gauze or linen. Mesoamericans on the other hand, did not take out the organs, and wrapped their bodies in cotton instead. They also put maize placed in their mouth.

As one can see, Egypt and Mesoamerica differed greatly when it came to religion. There were many differences in the economies of Egypt and Mesoamerica. First of all, they used different forms of currency. Egypt used a system of bartering and trading. No coinage was used until the Greco-Roman era. Tender could also be made in gold and silver and many of the rare spices that were brought to Egypt by traders were literally worth their weight in gold.

Mesoamerica on the other hand, used cacao beans, the bean chocolate is made of. It was an easy way to trade.Second of all, they had different products that they bought and sold. In Egypt, they exported pottery, stone vases, linen, papyrus, gold vessels, ox hides, ropes, lentils, and dried fish.

They imported horses, cattle, small livestock, cedar wood, silver, copper, and valuable minerals. In Mesoamerica, they traded salt, turquoise, cacao, cotton, vanilla, quetzal feathers, and cinnabar. Last of all, they had different markets. Egypt traded with different continents far away, while mesoamericans only traded within mesoamerica for the most part.To sum up, Mesoamerica and Egypt were very different.

Mesoamerica and Ancient Egypt continue to impact our every day lives. Looking back can be mind blowing. Given evidence about intellectual accomplishments, religion, and economy, we see similarities and differences. The structures of Ancient Egypt and Mesoamerica had similar intellectual accomplishments, but different religious beliefs and economies. So perhaps humans are ignorant compared to older civilizations, but maybe they can draw from examples before.