9. How and why did the Egyptian view of life differ from the Mesopotamian outlook?

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The Nile is what kept the Egyptians alive, so when it flooded the Egyptians used it, and praised it for giving them food. In contrast to Mesopotamia, where the river flooding not only kept them alive, but also killed many people and crops, Egyptians had a good outlook on life, and were very optimistic when the floods came. Mesopotamia, on the other hand, was very pessimistic because their floods, unlike the Egyptian ones, either killed the land or renewed it. Both happened just as often, so they did not expect the floods to save them every time. The Egyptian floods were very regular and slow, and the chance that it would overflow completely to destroy everything was small. The floods in Mesopotamia, however, were very violent and fast, often occurring before the farmers even knew it was coming. This difference in types of floods may have caused the difference between the Egyptian and Mesopotamian outlook on life. For more information, click here: [1] This is a well done site but it is a personal site by two students...not really authoritative. RB

Sources: Manual pg 125

Simon Jernigan