Han to Roman comparison essays

Han to Roman comparison essays Though on the surface, the Roman Empire and the Han Dynasty seem very different, they have a surprising number of similarities. Their differences are in a broad range of categories. First of all the Hans were for the most part ethnically homogeneous, whereas the Roman Empire extremely heterogeneous in makeup. The Hans had an emperor who had theoretically absolute power, but in reality was in great check by high officials and Imperial families. In contrast, the Roman Empire consisted of a Republic, which for the most part would be considered an oligarchy by todays standards. Later in its life, Rome was changed to an empire by Octavian. The Hans deemed their leader as the Son of Heaven, but the Romans had only a small percentage, mostly in Egypt, where the Emperor was worshiped as Pharaoh, or son-of-god. A great and successful effort in China was put into the creation of complex irrigation systems which resulted in many agricultural advances for the Chinese. However, no real effort was put forth in Rome to bring about any real irrigation in their empire. The Hans had a system of land division with landl ords and tenants, whereas Rome simply brought in slaves from their conquered lands. In the Han Dynasty, a great prejudice was put against merchants, whereas in Rome, merchants were simply thought as a second-rate occupation. Han and Roman connections can be seen when you look deeper into each society. Both the Chinese and Romans were constantly invaded by northern invaders. Each set up a series of walls to keep out these invaders. Neither civilization set up any sort of line of succession, causing short scuffles over transitions of power. Each of the Empires strangely enough covered approximately the same amount of land, the Hans: 1.5 million square miles; and the Romans: 1.7 million square miles. Each society had a great military to protect their great empires. Though the Romans followed Christianity fo...