The Roman Empire Vs Han China

James Pritchard

7th

10/9/14

The Roman Empire Vs. Han China

Politically, Economically, and Socially

        The  Roman Empire was  Dominate Empire in Europe and North Africa, meanwhile, to the east another civilization was just as powerful, the Han dynasty. The two were similar in  many ways, but just as different in others. There Political systems of Rome had 2 consoles a year, while China had Emperors. The social system of China and Rome was  that the basic unit of society was family. The economical factor was that both of these civilizations were connected by a road called the silk road. The Roman Empire and Han China were two of the biggest civilizations that ever existed, and left behind systems still seen in everyday life.

        There way of life was very different in some ways, early Rome was ruled buy kings but, when the republic rolled around after 500 B.C.E was lead by a senate, while in China the Han dynasty was the retained centralized government of the Qin dynasty, and was ruled by Emperors. There were lots of slaves in Rome, because of their abundance of prisoners of war, but in China there were very little slaves. China built the silk road which helped the start exporting there goods a lot faster, they exported, silk, silver, copper, textiles, and amber, while Rome started exporting grapes, olive oil, purple fabric, metal weapons, and tools. They were very different in many ways and had very diverse social, economical, and political ideologies.  

        There were many similarity between these great civilizations, there farms were both based on large estates owned by the wealthy individuals. As well they both used the silk road to trade with one another, and both benefited from the construction of the silk road because they could now easy trade, share knowledge, and share culture. They both eventually adopted coinage, which helped there economical status. There social structure was similar too, the center of society was family. Women for the most part did not have a public role in society but, in China the women of power could sometimes have a public role. Both of these civilizations had some sort of law that was set out by the government but it wasn’t as enforced in Rome's newly captured land. By being similar in these ways they were both able to succeeded in many ways from  social, to politics to economics.