Introduction
The term empire is derived from the Latin imperium meaning power or authority. In political terms, an empire can be defined as a geographically extensive group of states and ethnic groups that are united and ruled by either an oligarchy or a monarch. This will be the meaning of the word empire in this essay despite its other uses in modern language to mean a large business enterprise. There were many empires in history but the notable ones include the Roman Empire and the Chinese empires which dominated most of the history between 200 BC and 200 CE.
History
The Roman Empire came to be as a result of transition from a republic to an empire. This occurred as a result of increase of the disproportionate wealth and military power by a few people through their provincial commands. The first emperor was Augustus, who still ran the empire on republican constitutional principles despite the empire having been born out of the republic. He was the one who had the last decision after the senators had debated anything and he declined to take up any titles that were associated with a monarch. The time when he ruled is referred to as the golden age. However, it was not until 212 that roman citizenship was granted to all those who were freeborn inhabitants of the empire. Initially, women were not granted citizenship. One characteristic is that many of the emperor’s reigns were terminated by his murder or execution. Of its emperors, it was Constantine who was the first to convert to Christianity and established Constantinople as the new capital of the eastern empire. The last empire to rule both the east and west was Theodosius I, who died in 395 AD after making Christianity the state religion.
On the other hand, the Han dynasty in china grew out of the first imperial dynasty, the Qin Dynasty. This first Dynasty had succeeded in unifying warring Chinese states through conquest but it became unstable after the death of Qin Shi Huangdi, the first emperor. Unlike the Roman Empire, that greatly depended on conquest to gain wealth, the Han dynasty majorly depended on trade with other nations. This was the main avenue of revolt where one nation could close its borders and stop trading with the others later on to grow to an empire of its own. This dynasty had many ambassadors that travelled to other surrounding civilizations to establish good relations unlike the Roman Empire which mainly based its stability as an empire on military conquest. In order to pay for military campaigns and colonial expansion, the emperors nationalized many private industries. The government monopolized the salt, liquor production, iron as well as bronze-coin currency. The empire was brought to an end after the Battle of Red Cliffs in 208 AD when emperor Cao was defeated and was divided into three spheres of influence.
Government
Both empires had the central government with emperor as the highest authority. But in the Roman Empire, the emperor amassed more power by making himself the central religious authority and had the right to declare war and do negotiations with foreign leaders. He was expected to come into direct contact with the citizenry when dispensing his official duties, and also during the official banquets in the palace. The main source of the emperor’s power however was the military, which was paid directly from the imperial treasury and was made to swear allegiance to the emperor every year. In the Han Empire on the other hand, the emperor’s powers theoretically had no limit. However, if the emperor rejected the decision of a court he risked alienating his ministers which greatly destabilized his powers. Below the emperor were cabinet members. He also had an imperial counselor whose chief purpose was to conduct disciplinary procedures for officials. After the central government there was the local government with provinces, commanderies and counties. The head of provinces was a governor. It was also divided into kingdoms which were exclusively ruled by male relatives of the emperor, something not seen in the Roman Empire.
Religion
In the Han Empire, it was common for people to make ritual sacrifices of foods and animals, to spirits, deities, and ancestors in shrines. It was believed that a person has a two-part soul, one that remained in the grave after death and one that went to paradise in the afterlife. The emperor acted as the highest priest in the land who offered sacrifices to heaven. They also believed in the achievement of immortality. In 65 AD, Buddhism was introduced in the Han Empire. In Rome on the other hand, religion encompassed of those practices that were considered indigenous and those that had been imported into Rome. The Romans attributed their success to their maintaining good relations with the gods. The religion was however not based on faith or dogma but on knowledge and the correct sacrifices and prayer. After the collapse of the republic however, public vows that were meant for the stability of the republic were now redirected at the well-being of the emperor. After the emperor’s death, he could be mad a state divinity through the vote by the senate. The making of Christianity a state religion despite the Romans regarding it as a form of atheism lead to the treatment of those who rejected it regarded as traitors to the emperor. It is worth noting that despite the introduction of Christianity, many of the roman pre-Christian beliefs and practices continued in Christian festivals and local traditions.
Economy
Both empires relied heavily in the use of money to establish the value of property and debts. In either empire, the coins used bore the image of the emperor. In china, the state used to do minting before inflation pushed it to close the government mint and favor private money minting. Taxation in the Han Empire was the main way the government made revenue. There was land and property taxes. Labor tax on the other hand took the form of one month conscripted labor per year for male commoners aged below 60 and above 15. In Rome on the other hand, the government depended mainly on mining and metallurgy as its main source of revenue. There was also trade among the two empires and among its different provinces. The transport systems in these empires included the use of sea going vessels to travel to distant regions and also on roads and paths for inland transport. Trade formed the main economic activity in the urban areas in both empires while in the rural areas agricultural practices and mining industries were the main sources of income.
If I had to choose the empire to live in, I would prefer the Han Empire because of its relatively stable governments with fewer assassinations of emperors and lower expectations of the government on the people. The Han Empire also had a better religious environment with no declared state religion which allowed people to freely choose their faith unlike in the Roman Empire where there was a declared state religion with little tolerance to those who rejected it.
Works Cited
Elman, Benjamin A. "Political, social, and cultural reproduction via civil examinations in late imperial China." Journal of Asian Studies (1991): 7-28.
Lewis, Mark Edward and Edward Lewis Mark. The Early Chinese Empires: Qin and Han. Boston: Harvard University Press, 2009.
Reilly, Kevin. Worlds of history. 1. to 1550. Boston: Bedford/Saint Martin"s, 2004.
Rostovtzeff, Michael Ivanovitch. The Social (and) Economic History of the Roman Empire. New York: Biblo and Tannen Publishers, 1983.
