Question

make a comparative study of harappan and mesopotamian civilization ​

Answer 1

At the dawn of civilization two distinct civilizations appeared in Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley: theSumerians and the Harappans. The Sumerians settled in the valleys between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, aland known as Mesopotamia, the area known today as Kuwait and Iraq. One of the most important cities of thiscivilization was Ur. Ur is the city from which God called Abram a

s mentioned in Genesis 11:31(“Abram…setout from Ur”) and Nehemiah 9:7, “You are the LORD God, who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of theChaldeans 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 mostimportant cities were Mojeno-doro and Harappa. The Sumerian and Harappan economies developed alongsimilar 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 e

mpire was divided into regions with half a dozen cities functioning ascapitals and was governed by a group of people. Archeologist Jonathan Mark Kenoyed has speculated that theHarappan rulers were merchants, ritual specialists and individuals controlling important resources, instead of just one social group controlling the rest. From the construction of the cities however it does appear there weresome social classes, as the citadel is usually 20 feet higher than the middle and lower town. The Sumerians, onthe other hand, developed into city-states ruled by a priest-king. The king led the military, administered trade, judged disputes and performed certain important