The Egyptian, Hebrew and Greek Civilizations were all very significant early civilizations. While they all shared the essential characteristics of a civilization, rules/laws, system for foodstorage and Religious beliefs or system, they also differed in certain aspects of their civilization. The Egyptians, were one of the earliest civilizations to arise.
This civilization arose out of theneed to regulate the food and water supply. This need for regulation was due to the flooding of the Nile. The Egyptians were therefore also always in much closer proximity to one another than for example the Greek Civilization. Another difference was that the Egyptians didn’t have quite as many influences from other groups of people as did the Greeks. The location of the Nile and surrounding area provided a natural barrier from others. Thus their development was largely due to themselves and not a result of the surrounding peoples influences.
Their religious beliefs differed from other civilizations, Egyptians had many gods but the dominant worship was the worship of Amon-Re. While this religious system did change later to a more monotheistic religion – the worship of Aton it was for many years, up until the Eighteenth dynasty, the worship of many gods. Another unique characteristic of the Egyptians was their form of writing, hieroglyphics. This was a complicated system of pictographs with sound symbols. There is really one significant difference to be noted about the Hebrew Civilization. This big difference was that in a time when all surrounding civilizations believed in many gods, the Hebrews believed in one God.
The God was unique also in that he controlled nature. Their God was called Yahweh. The significance of this difference was that although a radical idea in it’s early day, this monotheism came to predominate later on. The Greek Civilization, unlike the Egyptian grew out of a need for protection and peace from the many invading groups. The Greeks developed the polis and also the idea of the city/state. This idea was not theirs originally but it can be said that they worked and developed this idea of government quite extensively.
Another difference in the Greek Civilization was the idea of rational thought introduced quite early on and expounded by leading Greeks such as Tales, Xenophanes and Hippocrates. It should be noted that this was not solely the only thought they also had a great deal of mythology and belief in many Gods. Another significant development from the Greek Civilisation was their military abilities, they learned to defend themselves. The hoplite phalanx was the primary defence used by the police. In conclusion I see the major differences developing because of the different priorities and needs of each civilisation.
The Egyptians needed strong regulation and control especially in the area of food. The Greeks needed good methods of defense and organization that would produce this. The Hebrews had a unconventional but significant religious belief system. This was central to their civilization and control. When we look at these characteristics, we see that they each had a different emphasis on the characteristics of a civilization.
