Han China And Rome Comparison Essay

Two of the greatest and most famous empires in history are those of the Romans and Han. These two governments followed very distinctive political philosophies; the Roman Empire adhering to Aristotle’s theory of limited government, and the Han Empire following the theology of Confucius. Although these two political ideas are different, the results of their application were, overall, very similar because the two governments grew into large, powerful, and successful empires. The government that the Romans created was limited in its power over the people and some officials were selected by the citizens. This idea is not to be confused with the truest and pure form of democracy, a system which Aristotle personally despised, because the theory of limited government requires a mutual trust between citizens and officials. A small number of the …show more content…
The Han reunited the people of their region and, under the rule of King Zheng, began taxing them in order to raise a large, well-equipped army. The Romans also desired to raise a large army and did so through their practice of citizenship. Roman citizenship was an exclusive political standing that granted certain freedoms and privileges to those who had it. This was not offered to salves, the poor, or women and those who did hold citizenship were required to serve at least 10 years in the military in exchange for their rights. Roman citizenship, at the time, gave great advantages to those who held it, to the point that it became a desirable position to non-citizens. The Roman government would eventually allow non-citizens to gain citizenship through military service of more than 25 years, leading to their constant ability to find soldiers and increase the size of their army. Both the Roman and Han governments used their massive armies to gain territories until they controlled all of the neighboring areas, building their Empires with every military