When comparing two forms of artwork, it can be quite difficult to distinguish them. And the fact that those works of art are thousands and thousands of years old certainly doesn't help the situation. When you look at Egyptian and Sumerian art, there is definitely some similarity. Both come from before our time and both express the beliefs and culture of their respective lineage. But if you dig deeper, you can definitely start to see the difference. Egyptian art is widely known for its hieroglyphics, while Sumerian art can be seen as focusing more on naturalistic views of the human form. Both of these cultures deserve the utmost respect, for their works of art to survive through the millennia as they have, we can only give credit where it is due. Some may not know the reason behind many of these works of art, but during these periods of time you did not make something for no reason. Everything had a purpose, or it was considered a waste of precious resources. Since Egyptian art is perhaps the best known, we will first delve into its culture and the reasons behind the artwork. Egyptian art is widely known for its depiction of the telling of a story with the artwork. Egyptian hieroglyphics represent this perfectly, although the main focus of these interesting shapes may have a different meaning than what some are used to. This also applies to the way many Egyptians portray their human figures. There is a continuous quality in them that has spanned many centuries. The figures are almost always rigid, posed in a way that shows authority and drives the point of the artwork. Even the astonishing hieroglyphs are depicted in a way that shows the figure from the best angle, even if it is twisted. Most of them are based on… half the paper… do what we like? Do we engage in things that don't matter? You can almost certainly say no, just as the Sumerian and Egyptian cultures did. Maybe this means we are all simply human, or maybe we are closer to our past than we want to believe.Works CitedGerman, Senta. "Ziggurat of Ur." Intelligent story. NP Network. 12 February 2014. .Moortgat, Anton. The art of ancient Mesopotamia. 1st. New York: Phaidon Publishers Inc., 1969. Print.Sweeney, Emmet John. The era of the pyramids. New York: Algora Pub, 2007. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) Web. February 10, 2014. The Judgment of Hu-Nefer. 1995. Photography. British Museum, London, United Kingdom. Network. 12 Feb 2014.The Standard of Ur. Nd Photography. Penn Museum Web. February 12 2014. .