A Comparison Of Early Civilizations Essay Research

A Comparison Of Early Civilizations Essay, Research Paper

A comparing of Early civilisation

After reading the articles on early civilisation, I & # 8217 ; ve identified several similarities and differences about the people who were from these three civilizations. The civilisations in the articles include, the people from Mesopotamia, the Quiche & # 8217 ; Indians, a folk in early Meso-America, and & # 8220 ; The book of Genesis & # 8221 ; which offers a Christian or scriptural account of how our ain civilisation originated. I will state you about how they believed they came into being and what they thought they should make to guarantee their civilisation continued. The three narratives offered insight on how the different civilizations lived by depicting how they believed their civilisation was created.

Creation of Man

All three civilisations believed that the Earth, all the animate beings, and Man was created by one or several Supreme beings. The Meso- Americans and Mesopotamiams believed in many Gods. On the other manus, the Christians believed that merely one God created Man.

The Meso-Americans believed that Tepeu, the & # 8220 ; Creator & # 8217 ; and the Forefathers, a group of great sages and minds created their universe and everything in it. In the article & # 8220 ; Popul Vuh & # 8221 ; , the Quiche & # 8217 ; Indians wrote about how the Creator and the Forefathers planned and created the & # 8221 ; growing of the trees and brushs and the birth of life in the darkness, ( The Popul Vuh, Chapter 1, Pg. 3 ) .

The Mesopotamians believed their universe was created after the Gods sent Marduk, the Warrior God to get the better of the oldest of the Gods, Tiamet, the frequenter of Primeval Chaos. Tiamet created awful firedrakes, snakes, Hurricanes, storms and merely about anything she could in order to forestall the Supreme beings from making person to idolize them, ( The Creation Epic, Tablet 1, pg. 7 ) . Marduk was summoned to kill Tiamet, which he did and created Man out of his blood and bone, ( The Creation Epic, Tablet VI, pg. 11 ) .

& # 8220 ; The Book of Genesis & # 8221 ; Tells us how & # 8220 ; God made the animal of the Earth after his sort, and the cowss after their sort & # 8221 ; , ( The Book of Genesis, Chapter 1, pg. 13 ) . It besides tells how & # 8220 ; God created Man in his ain image & # 8221 ; , ( The Book of Genesis, Chapter 1, pg. 13 ) . This explains that one God created the Earth, the animate beings, and eventually, Man.

The Christians and the Mesopotamian people believed that Man was created in their Gods & # 8217 ; ain image, while The Meso-Americans believed that Man was created from their surrounding environment. The Meso-American society must hold been more Paleolithic than the other two civilisations since they identified more with the land in which they lived in than the Mesopotamians or the Christians.

A Belief in the Need to Idolize Their Supreme beings

By believing that their God or Gods had given them everything they had, all three civilisations saw that their Supreme beings had their best involvement, safety and security in head. They believed that their Supreme beings had great powers and controlled their Universe. Their belief that their God or Supreme beings were so powerful gave them a manner to explicate their adversities and natural catastrophes. Equally long as the Gods were revered and worshipped by them, the people would thrive.

The & # 8220 ; Popul Vuh & # 8221 ; article describes the Quiche & # 8217 ; Indians & # 8217 ; need to idolize the Supreme beings when it writes that since the animate beings could non state the Gods & # 8217 ; names and idolize them, they were punished by being sacrificed and condemned to be killed and eaten, ( The Popul Vuh, pg.5 ) .

& # 8220 ; The Creation Epic & # 8221 ; depict how Marduk kills Tiamet the Goddess of Chaos because she had planned evil against the Gods, Marduk & # 8217 ; s male parents, ( The Creation Epic, pg. 10 ) . She re

presented immorality and the Gods wanted Marduk to kill Tiamet and set up a topographic point of worship, ( The Creation Epic, Tablet IV, pg. 9 ) .

Finally, the Christians write in & # 8220 ; The Book of Genesis & # 8221 ; that when the snake told Eve that if she ate the forbidden fruit she would be & # 8220 ; as Gods, cognizing good and evil & # 8221 ; , ( The Book of Genesis, Chapter 3, pg. 15 ) . God so punished Adam and Eve for eating the out fruit by ostracizing them from the Garden of Eden, ( The Book of Genesis, Chapter 3, pg. 15 ) . This meant that the Christians felt the demand to acknowledge and idolize God in order for them to hold everything that they needed to populate safely and comfortably. If they went against God & # 8217 ; s wants there would be serious effects.

Their Manner of Life and Environment

The Quiche & # 8217 ; Indians lived in what must hold been a beautiful coastal land, full of exuberant verdure, Cypress and Pine trees. There were besides beautiful mountains, vales, and rivers. Birds and cervid abounded throughout this beautiful Eden. This is explained when the & # 8220 ; The Popul Vuh & # 8221 ; describes the creative activity of the Earth, ( Popul Vuh, Chapter 1, pg. 4 ) . The beautiful land with plentifulness of works and wildlife indicates that these people were Paleolithic, runing and garnering nutrient, as they needed.

On the other manus, & # 8221 ; The Creation Epic & # 8221 ; describes a really rough & # 8220 ; dry land & # 8221 ; , ( The Creation Epic, Tablet 1, pg. 7 ) , full of struggle and war. There were natural catastrophes like hurricanes and storms, ( The Creation Epic, Tablet 1, pg. 8 ) . Obviously, these people must hold lived in an waterless clime and were invariably in fright of invasion from other people. After reading the & # 8220 ; The Creation epic & # 8221 ; I believe that & # 8220 ; the Goddess Tiamet represented Pre-civilized times. After Marduk defeated Tiamet, the universe became civilised. The article references that Marduk & # 8220 ; made Stationss for the great Gods & # 8220 ; , and that he & # 8220 ; fixed the twelvemonth and divided it into divisions & # 8221 ; , ( The Creations Epic, Tablet V, pg. 11 ) . This means that he built temples for the Gods and devised a calendar. These achievements give grounds that they had a specialisation of Labor and must hold had category divisions because they had to hold priests. They besides were into monument edifice. All of these are features of a civilisation.

The Christians describe a beautiful Garden of Eden, with plentifulness of grasses, grains, and fruits to eat. It describes how God & # 8220 ; gathered the H2O together unto one topographic point to do room for dry land, & # 8220 ; ( The Book of Genesis, Chapter 1, pg. 12 ) , which indicates that the Garden of Eden was located along a big organic structure of H2O. There was plentifulness of carnal life in this beautiful land. Whales, birds of all sorts, cowss and many other sorts of wildlife thrived on this land and the H2O environing it. After God banishes Adam and Eve form the Garden of Eden they live a mobile life. Their ascendants continue this manner of life until the great inundation when everyone except for Noah and his household dies, ( The Book of Genesis, Chapter 6, pg. 17 ) . Harmonizing to Christian belief, after the Great Flood, Noah & # 8217 ; s household start what is now the beginning of the civilisation in which we now live in, ( Chapter 7, pg. 18 ) .

Religion or the worship of God or Gods has been used to explicate the beginning of civilisations throughout history. Other civilisations may change a small on their account of how their ain people originated, or how they should regulate their lives in order to delight their Supreme beings and go on their being. Wars have been started and full civilisations have even been annihilated in order to guarantee their beliefs are protected. This pattern exists even today, and I suspect will go on throughout clip.