The Civilizations of Ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt

Here is another of Virgil's recent school essays. Admittedly not his best, it was written in something of a hurry; critiques are welcome.

Ancient times are fascinating in their many-faceted rivets of unknown, thus unrecorded history. What is recorded must be carefully studied in an attempt to understand the past. Two cultures – ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt, are especially interesting, and quite comparable. That is to say, both share several similarities, whilst varying in their differences. This paper will attempt to compare their political, social, and economic differences and similarities, and should allow the reader to draw what conclusions they might.
The political aspects of ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt will be first compared. To begin, war was constant in ancient Mesopotamia – it was centrally located, and quite exposed, urging itself to battle, it may seem. Thus, the fortunes of its city-states were ever changing over time: primarily there were the Sumerians, who developed much of the original Mesopotamian culture; then in 2340 BCE, an Arcadian leader took precedence for a time, losing the power quickly, and Mesopotamia reverted to another period of warring city-states. At length, by 1792 BCE, a new empire was established under Hammurabi. Egypt, however, had natural barriers that protected it from war, and the culture was one of very little change; these barriers included deserts, rapids, and the Mediterranean Sea. Now, in Mesopotamia, larger cities were constructed, with government-observed irrigation; in Egypt, many small populations existed along the Nile, but also employing irrigation, a similarity. The two had a set of laws which they would follow (though Mesopotamia's was in its latter half –) that was Hammurabi's Code, and for Egypt, Ma'at. And to employ these laws were kings in either culture: these rulers, Mesopotamian and Egyptian, were seen as divine in nature, or concerning natural order. Priests and priestesses also held much power in Mesopotamia.
Next, social aspects of life for the Mesopotamians and Egyptians will be compared. The first culture of Mesopotamian society was the Sumerians, who established several city-states, and set many traditions for future Mesopotamians. The other periods of Mesopotamia had innovations of their own, as well. Egypt, like Mesopotamia, can be split into different time periods – the Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms. The Old, akin to its Sumerian equivalent, developed many of Egypt's traditions and its basis of technology. Literal social groups will now be tried. Sumerian city-states contained three major social groups: nobles, who were royal and priestly officials and their families; commoners, nobles' clients, who worked for the palace and temple estates, and also other free citizens who worked as farmers, merchants, fishers, and craftspeople; and slaves, who belonged to palace officials, using them in building projects, belonged to temple officials, who used mostly female slaves to weave cloth and grind grain, and were the property of rich landowners who used them for farming and domestic work. Egypt's social structure deviated slightly from this: it was organized along hierarchical lines with the god-king at the top. The king, then, was surrounded by an upper class of nobles and priests – this ruling class ran the government and managed its own landed estates, which provided much of their wealth. Below the upper classes were merchants and artisans, but by far the largest number of people in Egypt simply worked the land (the king apparently owned all land but granted out portions of it to his subjects; large sections were in the possession of nobles and the temple complexes). Most of the lower classes were surfs or common people, bound to the land; they cultivated estates, and lived in small villages or towns, providing military service and forced labor for building projects.
And now, the economic portions of the two familiarized cultures should be compared. Of course, taking into account the positions of these two civilizations, within river-valleys, that is, it seems natural to state that both were heavily based on farming. In fact, it was Egypt's immense surpluses of food that brought it some portion of its success. Both civilizations also used systems of irrigation, a near necessity for any farming culture. The Sumerians, like the Egyptians, traded over great distances, the Egyptians up and down the Nile and in markets; in fact, evidence has been found of bartering relationships between Mesopotamia and Egypt themselves. The Mesopotamians imported copper, tin, and timber in exchange for dried fish, wool, barley, wheat, and goods of metal; they largely produced wooden textiles, pottery, and the metalwork for which they were especially well-known. The Egyptians, however, traveled great distances for ivory, incense, and spices, as well as wood and other products; artisans made an incredible variety of well-built and beautiful goods: stone dishes, painted boxes made of clay, wooden furniture, gold, silver, and copper tools and containers, paper and rope made of papyrus, and linen clothing.
From this, it is clear that the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt are indeed comparable in their political, social, and economic qualities. Both were wildly successful cultures and made deep impacts as civilizations; it seems traditions and rites are upheld still, in the present day, whose origins can be found to be rooted within these; and though similar in this respect, both were quite varied amongst each other. Indeed, they compare well.

Virgil's New Blog

Here's the link:

http://www.thelifeofvirgil.blogspot.com/

Not that you are required to read it, but if interested in the daily musings of Virgil, you should be sufficed here.

The Standing Rose

As an attempt at creativity, Virgil has written a poem with several personalities, inspired by a poem of Poe's, 'The Bells'.

Life is vibrant,
a rose flowering before you,
the sky clean and blue -
Go on, then: sniff it,
may your nose and its fresh scent engage.
Your eyes alight, a smile spreads about your face;
The chorous rejoices - a melodious drone,
and as it fades, the drone asserts its prominence:
it fills your ears, louder, louder,
eardrums pounding - eyes crossing:
as the hundred stings of a bee's angry mob come upon you.
And black overcomes.

Life is depleted.
Your skin is littered with rounded red sores,
punctured with small needles,
and the swarm lay dead about you.
You peer at the rose, far above the mortified mob.
Its petals are the red of blood,
its stamen in the wind sway,
concealing thier deceit with a mask of innocense.
Clouds shift in the sky's dull blue, the gay orb of above hidden.
And you itch, you bleed.
Blood and its red unite.
The rose soaks it in -
its xylum and floam drinking the liquid of life itself.
And sleep overcomes.

Life is no longer.
Your lids part, and see the sky:
lifeless, leaden.
The air is heavy. Rain falls.
It stings your wonds. They itch.
You scratch, you violently scratch,
the dots swell, and bleed.
You see the dead rose, lying amongst the bees.
You reach for it, pick it up -
but the rose rejects you: pricking your finger, blood welling.
The rose falls to the ground, drops of blood beside it.
The ground soaks in the red juices greedily.
And sprouts a new rose.

Very Vertiable Values

Here is a school paper's rough draft in which Virgil (speaking the first person) discusses ideals central in his life. Virgil invites openly critiques or any mistakes (or found contractions) in the paper, and would thank you heartily for your time in reading.

Looking within oneself, and carefully selecting a brief list of accepted values about life and humanity and the people populating the Earth is a rather daunting task, for what limited number can describe a creation of such infinite possibilities? I suppose this manifests in different values for a diverse people. Nevertheless, the values that I have come to accept, to cherish and myself attempt to emulate in the forming of my person are intelligence, diligence, courtesy, and independence. These four values, I like to think, describe me, my ideal self – a goal to which I take aim to become. And so, reader, I invite you to delve far into my mind, into what has made Virgil himself: read on.
Intelligence, by definition, is mental acuteness. Surely of each of the principles presented here, this one ranks highest, but too, was the first I recall hanging upon my Wall of Accepted Values. My founding of intelligence began when I first visited the greatest of my friends at his house during the second grade. He was called Jeff Kolodner. The first I observed at his house, around his family, was that each of the Kolodners were brilliant, in my sight, each in their own ways. Jeff’s father was an assistant minister at my church, who, whenever he might speak, would draw attention in. His mother was musical – I can still hear the ringing of her harmonious piano playing. His brother was an artist in his own right – pencil drawings, without color, so lifelike and accurate, expressed more to me at the time then than did any of Picasso’s works. And Jeff: an appeasing blend of each of these unique traits. I felt so small intellectually, and wanted to be just like Jeff. He taught me to play chess, and gave me my first lessons in basic strategy. He taught me to use my brain, and to not allow others to do the thinking for me, in everything he did. I remember coming home and turning the television on that night, seeing a glimpse of mindlessness in a cartoon, then immediately switching it off. Instead, I picked up The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, which Jeff had loaned to me, and reading until embraced by sleep. Jeff had a great influence on my life, and I think his family, to me, symbolizes what true intelligence is. Every time I thought of Jeff from then, I would strive to know more about everything taught to me, which, I believe, lead me wholly to my placement in the Extended Learning Program in elementary and middle school, which some might call ‘the apex of public schooling.’ After Jeff moved to Virginia in fourth grade, perhaps to quell my weeping soul, I stove to outdo my contemporaries by all intellectual means, realizing that doing my best, and being smart about life, thinking each day, challenging the brain, would bring success to this: rather like a very lifelike game of chess.
I also value courtesy, which is rather like consideration, or cooperation. I think anyone will eventually come to value this, not necessarily within themselves, but in others. Perhaps, walking through the hall, one slips and spills his textbooks, and another immediately aids the first in restoring the books to their previous position – that is courtesy. Simply doing unto others as one would have them do unto him. Some may know that teenage girls and their mothers are predestined to argue. I had, in third grade, both a teenage sister and a mother, who both were wont to argue very audaciously every off-night. Doing my something to my musing, this was a distraction, and I would tell myself, ‘I wonder if they’ve any courtesy for those about them?’ I never voiced this, but bore it in mind, and applied it to life. Whenever I might prepare to take offence at a friend, or brag, or anything cruel akin to that, I would remember that self-taught lesson about courtesy. Everyone appreciates it – a please or a thanks, something to brighten a dull day. And thus it became adopted into my being.
Diligence became an integral part of my lifestyle in fifth grade, and I am all the more pleased that it did. For this I can doubtlessly thank Mrs. Allen, my teacher. Of course, her class was an ELP course, but what I had seen of the program in fourth grade (my first year in it) had nothing to compare with hers. For the first time, two to three hours of time would be devoted to homework and studying nightly. Her class was rigorous for a fifth grader – diligence was desired. My grades, in the first half of the school year, were lower than those of the second half, largely because in the first I would take frequent breaks to assuage my homework boredom, and in the second I realized that homework would not do itself. This was diligence. With it, I became a greater studier, learned more, and remembered more of what I would learn. And from then, I can recall literally enjoying homework for the first time. Maybe this was the realization that education was precious. Or questionably it could have been that our homework just grew more interesting: but I believe that with that diligence I actually accepted a scholarly lifestyle and adapted to find pleasure in knowledge, and this has carried through to the rest of my school career thus far. Diligence is essential.
The final of my most esteemed values is independence. Apparently studies have been conducted that enlist teenagers to desire this very thing from their parents, and those elders that have influenced their childhood. This is not the independence to which I refer. I mean to write the independence to work alone, to sustain oneself by oneself. In eighth grade, there was a program called Finance Park which was a simulation of life, I suppose. All the participants had a job at a business, were made to pay taxes, and purchase cars, to donate to charity, to raise a family. Not literally, of course, but it taught us eighth graders what the real world would be like. I believe myself to have taken home an altered view of life after school from then – the world in which we live is harsh, and to survive, everyone must work to their fullest. That means that not always will there be someone to dig me from a rut, that there will not always be another person to lean upon. Instead, I should be independent – surely accepting the help of others when given, but able to do all I produce alone. I believe this value to be second only to intelligence, without which independence would be, to me, quite useless – for why depend upon oneself if his mind is not conditioned for it?
Now, reader, I have given to you a list of values which I form my life about – a set of ideals to which I hope to aspire, and fulfill in their entirety. With these I have given the genesis of their induction into my soul: intelligence, courtesy, diligence, and independence. They are integral to me, and to my lifestyle, and I find them used endlessly throughout my life. Without them, I certainly would not be the person I am today, the person I have become comfortable and quite satisfied with. And I invite you to contemplate, now, what values do you cherish in life – for what do you aim?

Virgil and School

Alas, school for Virgil has once more recoursed, the summer concluded.

That means several homeworks a day.

Virgil apologizes for the lack of recent posts, but will try to develop new ones as frequently as possible.

Best of wishes.