This is lecture 13.
I call it Roman Empire and Han China, so we’re going to bounce back and forth here some comparison
and contrast.
It’s an opportunity to look at these two dominating civilizations at the opposite ends
of Eurasia.
A similar time frame, both of these are expansive empires.
We talk over the Pax Romano, the Roman Peace; the Pax Seneca; the Pax Chinese, that is the
Chinese Peace – and of course, this peace that we talk about is established by the dominant
military power of Rome and China.
We have similar numbers of people here in the Roman Empire and Han China.
Both of these need to incorporate alien people who live along the periphery of their respective
empires.
Both build roads and canals and aqueducts to bind the empire together.
A political symbolism is used as an instrument of unity in both China and Rome.
Both expanded the bureaucracy to control their respective empires.
Both used taxation to fund trade in major cities and civil projects.
Both engaged in ensuring a surplus of food – wheat in southwest Asia and the Mediterranean,
and of course, rice and wheat in China.
And both Rome and China suffered serious epidemics, as we talked about last time, which severely
reduce their populations by probably about a quarter.
The ever-expanding Old World web, again our metaphor used by the MacNeills, allowed travelers
and armies to extend infections, and we talked about this last time.
The human web that the MacNeills discuss has its advantages in that it allows ideas and
innovations to move across Eurasia, but of course, it allows diseases to move across
Eurasia as well.
In Han China – Again, Confucianism sort of lies at the heart of the state, creating
a sense of unity and loyalty to the state.
An emphasis here on sort of divine majesty referred to as the Son of Heaven, introduced
the first clearly established system of bureaucracy, which we’ve talked about.
Representatives of the government are scattered throughout China to maintain unity and order.
The examination system that we discussed, to promote people into military and governmental
service, and of course, a vast territory in East Asia is brought together and organized
in this way.
And of course, the Chinese are also famous for patronizing scientific research, as we’ve
discussed.
In Rome, the bureaucracy in the Mediterranean is not quite as developed.
The Romans put more emphasis on the legal system, trying to create unity through common
law throughout the regions that they dominate.
The emperors are not generally considered divine, but we’ll see this not always necessarily
true.
Imperial monuments point to the power of the imperial office – again, physical reminders
to the people of the power of the Roman emperor.
And of course, Christianity is born in the Roman Empire.
Some differences here – China held a much tighter bureaucratic control over the territories
it claimed.
Again, Rome was content with a looser regime, allowing local autonomy as long as tribute
and loyalty existed towards the emperor.
Rome used its military quicker than the Chinese.
The Chinese tended to depend on diplomacy.
Roman victories were a way of rewarding their armies and their generals, and Roman victories
kept a steady supply of slaves pouring into the empire.
Han China, of course, sprang from earlier Chinese dynasties, and then other Chinese
dynasties would follow in the steps of the Han dynasty.
Of course, Rome was born of a combination of sort of elite and commoners mixing together
in what we might think of as a democratic society.
Both of these empires suffered decline due to economic stagnation, pandemics, foreign
invasions.
Like I said, the Han traditions will live on and Rome will not be reconstituted, although
there will be efforts in Europe to do so.
We see this with the Holy Roman Empire and of course, later in the 20th century even
Mussolini had illusions of grandeur that he might be able to recreate the glory that was
Rome, and of course, he failed in this.
So just a brief sort of compare and contrast between the Roman Empire and the Han Chinese.
Thank you.