look back over the past, with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the...
TRANSCRIPT
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Look back over the past, with its
changing empires that rose and fell, and you
can foresee the future, too.
Marcus Aurelius
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THE ROMAN AND HAN EMPIRES
Flourished at roughly the same time (200 BCE-200CE)
Occupied a similar area (approximately 1.5 million square miles)
Populations of a similar size (50 to 60 million) Giant empires shaping the lives of close to
half of the world’s populations However, only dimly aware of each other Had almost no direct contact
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ROME
Began as a small city-state in Italian peninsula in the eighth century BCE
Originally ruled by a king Roman aristocrats overthrew monarchy
around 509 BCE Established a republic in which patricians,
wealthy landowners, dominated Two consuls exercised executive power -Advised by patrician assembly – the Senate
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Conflict between patricians and plebeians led to some political changes
-Twelve Tables, Roman written laws, offered plebeians (common people) some protections
-Established office of tribune – represented plebeians
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Launched empire-building enterprise -Took more than 500 years -Conquered Italian peninsula (began 490s
BCE) -Between 264 -146 BCE, Punic Wars with
Carthage and victory -Expansion in the eastern Mediterranean
(Greece, Egypt, and Mesopotamia) -Extended territories in Southern and
Western Europe (Spain, France, and Britain) -By 2nd century CE, reached its maximum
extent
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Wealth of the empire enriched a few -large estates and slaves But many free farmers forced into the cities
and poverty A small group of military leaders (Marius,
Sulla, Pompey, Julius Caesar) depended on the poor
-brought civil war to Rome during the first century BCE
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When the civil war ended, power now was vested in an emperor
-Caesar Augustus (reigned 27 BCE – 14 CE) The republic had ended – Rome was an
empire During the first two centuries CE, the empire
provided security and prosperity -Pax Romana
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However, with new territories came new vulnerabilities
Which led to new conquests Rome’s central location in Mediterranean
helped but its army built the empire Brutal in war -Carthage was completely destroyed But Romans could be generous -Granted citizenship to some of the
conquered
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THE HAN DYNASTY
Did not create something new but restored something old
The Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties had existed before
But by 500 BCE, unity vanished in the era of warring states
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During the Qin Dynasty, Shihuangdi developed an effective bureaucracy, equipped his army with iron weapons, and increased unity
Shihuangdi adopted Legalism -A philosophy based on harsh punishments
to ensure obedience -Dissident scholars executed – Books
burned Ruled from 221 – 210 BCE Called himself “first emperor” Laid the foundations for a unified Chinese
state -A state that has endured with periodic
interruptions to the present
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Began construction on Great Wall of China -To keep invaders out – keep “barbarians” out Erected a mausoleum as emperor’s final
resting place with some 7,500 life-size ceramic soldiers
Imposed a uniform system of weights, measures, and currency
Standardized the written form of the Chinese language
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The Han dynasty that followed (206 BCE – 220 CE)
-Retained centralized features of Shihuangdi’s creation
-Moderated the harshness of Qin policies -Consolidated China’s imperial state and
established the political patterns that lasted into the twentieth century
-Established Confucianism as the dominant philosophy
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SIMILARITIES – ROMAN AND HAN
Invested heavily in public works -Roads, bridges, aqueducts, canals, walls Invoked supernatural sanctions to support
rule -Romans began viewing deceased emperors
as gods and established a religious cult to bolster authority of living emperors
-Chinese emperors were viewed as the Son of Heaven and governed by the Mandate of Heaven so long as they ruled morally
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Both absorbed a foreign religious tradition -Christianity in the Roman Empire and
Buddhism in China -Though Christianity developed slowly and
by fourth century CE obtained state support to help a declining empire with a common religion
-Buddhism from India was introduced by Central Asian traders and received little support from rulers (appealed to people who felt bewildered after the collapse of the Han dynasty)
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Not until the Sui dynasty emperor Wendi (581-604 CE) reunified China did the new religion gain state support and only temporarily
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THE COLLAPSE OF EMPIRES
The Western part of the Roman Empire collapsed in 476 CE after a decline of several centuries
-The eastern part began the Byzantine Empire
(preserved Greek and Roman learning) In China, many free peasants turned into
impoverished tenant farmers -Led to a major peasant revolt known as the
Yellow Turban Rebellion in 184 CE
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Rivalry among elite factions Empires too big, too overextended, too
expensive A growing threat from nomadic or semi-
agricultural peoples occupying the frontier regions of both empires
But collapse and disunity in China was eventually replaced by a unified imperial state
Whereas Western Europe dissolved into a highly decentralized political system
-Europe would be a civilization without an encompassing imperial state
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Strayer Questions How did Rome grow from a single city to the
center of a huge empire? How and why did the making of the Chinese
Empire differ from that of the Roman Empire? In comparing the Roman and Chinese
empires, which do you find more striking - their similarities or their differences?
How did the collapse of empire play out differently in the Roman world and in China?