Ancient Egypt had a different political structure from Mesopotamia. In
ancient Egypt, the Pharaoh was considered to be the representative of
the gods on earth. The citizens of ancient Egypt believed that their
Pharaoh was a god, and refrained from looking directly at his face even
when addressed by him (Richards & Van Buren, 2000). The majority of
noblemen who were appointed to significant positions in ancient Egypt
were related to the Pharaoh. Upon his death, only a son of the Pharaoh
could succeed him. In ancient Mesopotamia, society consisted of
self-governing regional states for ten centuries before Sargon the Great
was proclaimed as king in 2370 BCE (Brisch et al., 2008). The citizens
of Mesopotamia, however, did not consider the king or his successors to
be divine. In Mesopotamia, most of the scribes were the members of noble
families and not related to ruling kings.
