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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. The Roman and han empires. Flourished at roughly the same time (200 BCE-200CE) Occupied a similar area (approximately 1.5 million square miles)
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Look back over the past, with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future, too. E. Napp Marcus Aurelius
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 E. Napp
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 E. Napp
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 E. Napp
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 E. Napp
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 E. Napp
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 E. Napp
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 E. Napp
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 E. Napp
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 E. Napp
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 E. Napp
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 E. Napp
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 E. Napp
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) E. Napp
Not until the Sui dynasty emperor Wendi (581-604 CE) reunified China did the new religion gain state support and only temporarily E. Napp
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 E. Napp
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 E. Napp
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? E. Napp
