comparative study between Harappan and the Mesopotamian Civilisation in form of power point presentation (10 to 15 slides)
Answers
Explanation:
At the dawn of civilization two distinct civilizations appeared in Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley: thethe gods controlled their destinies. Because they believed the gods controlled them, they sought ways tothe top of the ziggurat. The lesser gods, who did not have enormous temples built for them, were idols andThe economies of the Harappan and Sumerian civilizations were very similar. Both civilizations relied heavilySumerians and the Harappans. The Sumerians settled in the valleys between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, a
land known as Mesopotamia, the area known today as Kuwait and Iraq. One of the most important cities of this
civilization was Ur. Ur is the city from which God called Abram as mentioned in Genesis 11:31("Abram..
out from Ur") and Nehemiah 9:7, "You are the LORD God, who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the
Chaldeans and named him Abraham'" Concurrently, in the area that is now Pakistan, part of Afghanistan and
Northern India the Harappan civilization appeared in the flood plain of the Indus and Hakra rivers. Its two most
important cities were Mojeno-doro and Harappa. The Sumerian and Harappan economies developed along
similar lines, and have comparable religious and social structures. Nevertheless their politics, art, treatment of
women and intellectual advancements stand in sharp contrast to one another.The Harappans and Sumerians are distinctly different politically. While the Sumerians developed the world's
first monarchy, the Harappans may have developed the first democracy. Very little evidence has been found of
a king in the Indus Valley, only one white priest-king idol and a silver crown; not enough to establish that the
"royalty" were the rulers. Instead the empire was divided into regions with half a dozen cities functioning as
capitals and was governed by a group of people. Archeologist Jonathan Mark Kenoyed has speculated that the
Harappan rulers were merchants, ritual specialists and individuals controlling important resources, instead of
one social group controlling the rest. From the construction of the cities however it does appear there were
some social classes, as the citadel is usually 20 feet higher than the middle and lower town. The Sumerians, on
the other hand, developed into city-states ruled by a priest-king. The king led the military, administered trade,
judged disputes and performed certain important religious ceremThe king also had a bureaucracy, which
mostly of priests, who assisted him in governing. To justify the authority of the priest-kings the
Sumerians declared that the king was divinel y selected, but later this changed and eventually they asserted that
king himself was divine and worthy of worship. So while the Sumerians worshiped their king the Harappans
chose not to glorify any particular person and were instead ruled by ordinary people.on trade; in fact they appear to have traded extensively with one another. In records found in Mesopotamia there
is mentioned a civilization they traded with in the area of the Indus valley and many Indus seals, for which they
are well known, have been found in Mesopotamia. The Sumerians exported mostly textiles and crops, while the
Harappans traded in lumber, copper, gold and ivory, which were bought by the Sumerian royalty. Both
civilizations made great advances in transportation in order to carry their merchandise with greater ease. The
Sumerians appear to have developed the wheel and possibly the sailboat and the Harappans developed ox-cart
small flat-bottomed boats all of which were used commercially. Perhaps it is because of the extensive trade
between the two civilizations that they developed similarly in many areas.In terms of religion, we know little about the Sumerian religion and even less about the Harappan religion. W
do know that both civilizations were polytheistic. The Sumerians believed in many gods that were humanlike
with human emotions. They believed that the sun, moon and stars were gods and everything that happened was
controlled by one of the gods. According to the Sumerian religion, humans were created to serve the gods, anddiscover what the gods held in store for them. By doing this they invented astrology that eventually led to the
invention of the lunar calendar. They also studied the inner organs of sacrificed animals to predict the future. To
worship their gods the Sumerians built the ziggurats, large temples, which are architectural wonders. One such
temple is found in the ancient city of Ur where the moon god, Nanna, was said to have lived in a little house atstatues, which were worshiped in homes. Since the Indus script has not been deciphered and apart from the
bathhouse in Mohenjo-doro there are no religious structures there is very little evidence for the beliefs and
practices of the Harappans. What we know is from figurines and seals, many of which depict a horned goddess
with the sacred pipal tree. This probably indicates the worship of a mother goddess who presided over fertility,