Han China And Rome Comparison Essay

Two of the greatest empires in all of history, the Ancient Roman and the Han China empires are similar in terms of both creating great inventions still used today; however, they are different in terms of how their militaries were organized and their religious beliefs. Ancient Romans were the first to invent and use concrete for buildings and other architectural use. It put them ahead of other empires due to the fact that they could now use concrete to create and make buildings stronger and able to support more weight. Concrete is the reason domes are made possible today. The Romans were the first society to manufacture roads for military purposes. “All roads lead to Rome” is an expression used to show how every road in Europe branches out of Rome. We still use most Roman inventions today. Han China, on the other hand, also greatly benefited the world with the creation of many smaller but still widely used items. The wheelbarrow, for example, may not have had a huge impact on society at the time, but still we use it for many tasks today. The Chinese in the Han Empire also invented paper which is
perhaps one of the greatest inventions of all time. As Rome used architecture to build aqueducts as one of the earliest forms of irrigation, China used its architecture to build many large defensive walls and large bridges. The Roman and the Han Empires had many different views on religion.
Romans tended to believe in mythology, where they shared many gods that were simply counterparts of Greek gods such as Zeus being known as Jupiter in Rome. Romans also practiced many other more common religions, such as Christianity and Judaism. Christianity spread in the Mediterranean Basin. In the first century A.D, in the time of Emperor Nero, Christianity was looked down upon and was even punishable by death. The Han Empire followed many different religions, such as Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism. They mostly practiced Taoism; however, Buddhism became very popular when it was first brought to China in 100 B.C. through the Silk Road. Confucianism is more a philosophy than religion, but it mainly preaches non violence and peace in China. Others like Taoism mainly preach about naturalness in
life. Another large difference between the Han and Roman empires was their militaries. Both empires had large militaries that could march incredibly far distances and ended up as victors in most battles they fought. However, Rome generally fought using infantries in an immobile steady formation.. Romans tended to avoid cavalries. Rome also let non Roman citizens fight in order to gain citizenship. The Han used a completely different strategy. The Han began using a new list of tactics including a missile weapon they developed. China had large cavalries such as the crossbow produced in huge masses to aid their military. Serving in the army was very common for adult males at the time. They also tended to avoid the use of slaves and foreigners as soldiers. Overall, Han China and Ancient Rome shared share many characteristics like their inventions, and also have a wide array of differences such as their militaries and religious beliefs. However both empires were extremely powerful and both left their marks on history using unique characteristics of their own.