Custom «Comparison between Aztec and Egyptians» Essay Paper Sample

In central Mexico, there lived a particular community who comprised of Aztec people. These were people who used the Nahuatl type of language. They occupied large sections of Mesoamerica during the 14^th-16^th centuries in a period which was called late post classic in the chronology of Mesoamerican. The Aztec formed some alliances with other Mexican communities to come up with an Aztec empire. They entered the Mexico valley as semi-nomads and they were faced with a problem of moving out. They settled at first on Chapultepec which is a hill located in the west part of Texcoco lake in the year 1248.

Egyptians are an ethnic group which comprises of North Africans of Mediterranean who are the indigenous in Egypt. Their identity is associated with geography. The community is concentrated at the lower side of the Nile valley where land is fertile and conducive for cultivation. The land stretches from first cataract up to Mediterranean and it's bordered by a desert on both sides, that is, east and west. This form of geography is the reason behind the development realized by the community since they settled there. Egyptians use variety of Arabic language called masri and a minority who use sa'idi Arabic in the upper side of Egypt. An estimated 90% of Egyptian people are Muslim while 10% comprise of Christians. Almost half the population is today living in the urban centres.

The essay will try to compare the civilizations of both the Aztec and Egyptian societies. The disciplines which will be briefly reviewed will include: art, religion, music, socioeconomic strategies, and political policy. The civilization in Egypt started in time around 3150BC which is estimated at 4500 years before settlement in Mexico's central basin where the indigenous Aztecs were dislodged continuously by the war and shifting alliances faced by city states. Those of the Aztec community who were displaced sort refuge in the small islands of Lake Texcoco where they founded the Tenochtitlan town in 1325 which is today the Mexico City. This area which is some times seen as similar to Venice experienced some problems which majorly led to the end of civilization in a considerable short period of time.

Among the problems are the complex cosmology or systems of belief which found it difficult to tolerate the rest and may have helped in installation of right a chance to subjugate the weak people in pretence of universe saving. During the wars of trying to expand, thousands of enemy troops were captured and massacred by the Aztecs. The territories which were conquered were heavily taxed in the name of tribute and this led to lack of food supply and discontent. Slavery resulted where individuals sold themselves or their loved ones or even children to cater for their debts. It also involved some of those useful captives got from the war and in most cases the unfortunates were executed in the name of sacrifices by being slaughtered on an altar.

The class which was in power appeared elitist and male minded and did not allow the lower classes to penetrate in order to gain advancement as a result of their heroic military deeds. This was so because the main objective of Aztec state revolved around engagement in war. Their organizational structure was out shined by HUEI TLATOANI who was viewed as being semi-divine. Similarly, the Egyptian rulers were believed to have received the gift of immortality from their deities. The ruler of Aztec was believed to have lived with splendor which was great and pleasure palaces together with personal side show of residence with deformed persons and monstrosities.

Thereligion which is perceived by the Aztec community is complicated and confusing due to a belief that humanity came as a result of violence and that death was crucial for life to continue here and also in other worlds. In line with the belief, many human sacrifices including the disturbing sacrifice of children were conducted and were done on a rating way beyond the known ritual systems in the world history. The reflection of this is shown in the art extant up to today. Also there are crafted sculptures which bring in fearful images involving decapitation, wrath and sorrow. Poetry compendium and paintings are other forms of Aztec art which divulges the good and sophisticated part of Aztecs.

Egyptian culture was based on agrarian way which celebrated while worshiping the sun together with Nile River which propelled life. Guided by the divine decree, their harvests were equally shared among the whole community and this ensured prosperity among the community during the advanced civilization that was considerable enough to allow females in leadership occasionally. They also enjoyed privilege including economic independence in a more flexible class structure. Promotion was earned by the goal oriented through education and delivering service to Pharaoh. Although the history of Egypt is associated with war and civil dissent, it is not as worse as the one found in Aztec history.

Slavery was done as seen in Aztecs but, was avoidable by those who afforded to buy back their freedom and of their children's. The ancient religion of Egyptians accommodated some 2000 deities which was overall a spiritual affair that was able to promise life after death to the individuals who were perceived to have lived holy lives. Their literature comprised of songs, lyrics, texts, decrees, and tales which were useful in education, record keeping and entertainment sectors. Like the Aztecs, the architecture of Egypt still inspires a wonderful sense of awe especially to those who can appreciate the faced problems while building when power tools were not available. The evident elaborates of design together with sheer size shows a marvelous intellectual capability with tough determination to counter harsh obstacles.

While the description of the Aztecs who were islands habitats is seen as being compelling in terms of geographical beauty, there is every reason to believe that the natural beauty is far from an inducement of chance to live in a community which promoted war, heavy taxation, sacrifice of human, and believed cannibalism. This is not intended to mean that Aztec people were perfectly barbaric, but there still could have been some interesting aspects of culture as far as political realms and religion are concerned. Egyptians on the other hand had a particular way of life which was appealing in sectors of art, theocratic socialism and architecture of the said civilization. The involvement of female in leadership portrayed a society which was not gender bias and with rules not bent to discriminate the weaker people or the unlucky ones. This by far shows that Egyptians were more civilized in their way of life than the Aztecs. Another point worth ones time is the fact that leaders were buried together with precious artifacts got from artisans as well as craftsmen who had dedicated their time and resources in that work. This was eventually stolen by tomb robbers who made money from those artifacts.

The two societies had some evident similarities in their whole life description. To begin with, both advanced civilizations for their place and time of existence and they were both construction builders in large scale since they both built pyramids although of different types. Both of them used hieroglyphics writing style and their leadership style was that of monarchy in majority of their existence time. Their differences revolved in the fact that they existed at different times in their peak. The Egyptians lasted a longer time as compared to the Aztec Empire and both were exposed to different climates leading to different ways of living.

In conclusion both the Aztec and Egyptians have much in common in the way they carried out their lives in terms of economic activities, political systems, gender and geographical location among others. The Egyptians had almost 3000 years to construct a social, political and religious framework as opposed to hundreds years which Aztecs had to oversee civilization. Were it not for colonization of Egypt by Romans and Aztec by Spanish, the development realized by the two would have been great because of enough time of civilization.