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Similarities Between Roman And Chinese Empires

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When populations in kingdoms began to expand beyond their capacity, the development of empires took way, first seen around 500 B.C.E. (88). Though rooted with the political systems seen in city-states, empires were able to hold and exercise a greater amount of power (88). With that threat of power, leaders within an empire can overcome, rule, and redeem assets and skills from other groups of people (88). Therefore, empires were able to create order and constancy in a larger, more diverse group of civilians. Because of an empire’s diversity, the mixing of ideas, cultures, and values fostered economic, artistic, linguistic, and religious development and exchange, leading to flexibility and development within the larger state (88-89, 1/30). The Roman and Chinese empires had multiple similarities in terms of structure, organization and religious outreach, however, these three aspects also differed in comparison to one another.
Although the largely democratic Roman Empire and the …show more content…

Many Roman citizens felt uneasy with this new governmental structure; Augustus felt obligated to include aspects of the former republic in his rule (103). He created many reforms to laws regarding marriage and family, for example, he made divorce harder to obtain and required all adults to marry—if they were not, they would face large fees (Kuefler, 96). Though it personally seemed difficult to honor his own laws, he still enforced them no matter the cost; he banished his daughter for an adulterous crime, taking it so seriously he considered executing her (Kuefler, 97). Though he was strict in his rule compared to previous Roman rulers, he humbly referred to himself as “first man,” even though he acquired a copious amount of personal authority (103). This is in stark contrast to China’s first imperial ruler; Shihuangdi changed his name to reflect his superior

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