Comparing Ancient Neighbors

Both Mesopotamia and Egypt were River Valley Civilizations. This means they built their homes near big rivers to survive. In Mesopotamia, people lived between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. In Egypt, people lived along the Nile river. Every year, these rivers flooded, leaving behind a special kind of rich, gooey soil called silt. This soil was like 'super-food' for plants! Because of the rivers, both groups could grow plenty of wheat and barley. Without these $3$ main rivers, these famous civilizations might never have existed at all.

Even though they both loved rivers, these neighbors had different styles! In Egypt, the leader was called a Pharaoh. People believed the Pharaoh was a living god! To honor them, they built pointy stone Pyramids as giant tombs. In Mesopotamia, the leaders were powerful Kings. Instead of pyramids, they built Ziggurats. A Ziggurat looks like a giant wedding cake made of steps! While pyramids were for the dead, Ziggurats were temples for the living to worship their gods.

Both civilizations are famous because they were among the first to invent writing. However, their 'alphabets' looked very different. Mesopotamians used Cuneiform, which was made of wedge-shaped marks pressed into wet clay. Egyptians used Hieroglyphics, which were beautiful pictures that stood for words or sounds. Because they wrote things down, we know so much about them today! They also gave us the wheel, the $365$-day calendar, and even the idea of $60$ minutes in an hour.