Question

A key difference between Egyptian and Sumerian religions revolved around__________.
A. A tendency to believe in many gods
B. Afterlife beliefs
C. The belief that gods controlled natural forces
D. The role of priests in society
E. The importance of honouring the gods

Answer 1

Hint: In this question, we will learn the difference between Egyptian and Sumerian. Next, we will read how the Egyptian and Sumerian religions differ from each other. Generally, the ancient Egyptian and Sumerian cultures had some parallels.

Complete answer:
Ancient Egypt was the home of one of the first civilizations in the world, which originated around 5,000 years ago. It was created near the Nile River in north eastern Africa. Apart from this, though, there was another civilization, the Sumerian Civilization, which took place in Southern Mesopotamia, now South eastern Iraq. It started at 3,500 B.C. That's before 2,000 B.C. The two cultures evolved simultaneously, and later on they did not contact each other. We can see some parallels and some variations if we equate ancient Egypt with Sumer.

The belief of the Egyptians in gods and goddesses represented the meaning of nature in their lives and in any human endeavour. The Egyptian people believed that various deities dominated the powers of nature. It was based on the deity's mood, bringing healthy harvests, or triggering the death of crops. The ancient Egyptians felt they could enjoy their lives after death because they believed that people in the afterlife were happy, well fed, and occupied doing the same things they had done in life.
Each city-state, as well as other gods, adored its own deity or goddess. Firstly, for the gods, military figures were not priests. Then as kings of the Sumerian city-states, they eventually replaced priests. The Sumerians, therefore, did not worship their rulers as gods, but they believed that their kings were the servants of the gods on earth. However, they talked directly to gods and women, so utter loyalty was commended by Sumerian kings.

The Sumerian religion was polytheistic and besides the deity of their city-state, the Sumerians believed in and worshipped other gods. These gods were amazingly powerful and anthropomorphic, that is, human-like. As a community, the gods were creator gods, a council of gods and goddesses; the earth and the people in it were created by them. Under this council, each deity had a particular rank or position. People in Egypt assumed the gods were kind, but in Sumer, fear of natural disasters and invasions was possibly caused by the gods to whom people did something wrong. Unlike the Egyptians, who claimed they would be content in the afterlife, people feared to descend forever into a gloomy underworld in Sumer, a large cave full of nothing but dust and silence.

Hence, the correct answer is option (D).

Note:The belief in the afterlife was the most significant thing that we could remember. The Egyptians thought the afterlife was positive, but the Sumerians thought it was dark. In comparison, only Pharaoh headed the Egyptian government, although there were several separate city-states governed by their own kings in Sumer.