September 5, 2014

[THE HAN DYNASTY VS. ROMAN EMPIRE]

The Han Dynasty and Roman Empire had many similarities and differences. Family life,
ideology, and social structure in both empires shared certain aspects and differed in others
while their governmental styles closely paralleled except for the falsified sense of democratic
and Socratic power in Rome.
Although slightly differing in form, the Han Dynasty and Roman Empire depended upon
free peasantry and flourished through militaristic expansion and growing road networks. Both
governments rose from farming peoples who had been previously expedited by tyrannical
rulers, such as Tarquinius Superbus (overthrown in 507 B.C.E.) and Shi Huangdi, who built his
empire from the labor and deaths of thousands of people. However, after their oppressive
rulers, the Han and Roman civilizations took two different paths of government that shared
certain qualities and social structures. While the Chinese moved into a legalist, totalitarian rule,
the Romans transitioned to a government where the plebeians and patricians worked together
as two presidential groups; a democratic-styled republic and an advisory senate. This
collaborative form of Roman government was eventually replaced by a princeps (first among
equals) emperor, when Octavian swindled the reality of power from the republic and senate.
Once settled, the Han and Roman governments both depended upon a free peasantry who
could be pressed into the military or used for other forms of labor. Both also received the
majority of their revenue from annual taxes on harvests, created massive networks of roads for
faster transportation, and practiced delegation to manage their expanding empires.
On another note, the Han and Roman empires socially resembled one another with their
ideology of the family and state. The Chinese and Romans believed that family life instituted
core values and responsibilities that translated over into their political and social lives. Heavily
influenced by Confucianism, the Chinese believed that family life prepared individuals for
society by teaching obedience, respect, self-discipline, and social cohesion. They considered the
family to be symbolic of social hierarchy, such as absolute authority resting with the father who
was representative of the emperor. However, to a much greater extent than the Romans the
Chinese believed they were part of an interdependent rather than individual agents living for
themselves. Both empires also had strong senses of community and divisions of social classes as
demonstrated by patron and client relationships in both Rome and China, and rising
aristocracies and peasantry in the empires, and Roman democracy.