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Characteristics of the Development of Early Empires Based on a Comparison of Rome and Qin Han
- 1 University College London, Gower St, London, the United Kingdom
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Abstract
Rome in the west and the Qin and Han dynasties in the east became empires after a long period of warfare in a similar period. Although both shared the characteristics of empires, they still showed significant differences on the road to unification. Rome, driven by the growing power of the aristocracy, kept squeezing civilians and eventually had inner conflicts which transformed the empire into monarchies under the pressure of popular sentiment and aristocratic plutocracy. On the other hand, Qin and Han, under the premise of emphasizing blood ties, kept weakening the tradition of the previous period, laying down the logic of hereditary rule of the dynasty with divinely granted human rights and ensuring the stability of the dynasty with stable local administration and grassroots power under civil governance. This paper will take a comparative historical approach, focusing on Rome and the Qin and Han dynasties. It is illustrated from the formation of the empire and its early manifestations in politics, economy, culture, military administration, and local governance systems to explore what characteristics the early empire had.
Keywords
Rome, Qin and Han dynasties, empire
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Cite this article
Deng,Y. (2023). Characteristics of the Development of Early Empires Based on a Comparison of Rome and Qin Han. Communications in Humanities Research,4,375-380.
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Volume title: Proceedings of the International Conference on Interdisciplinary Humanities and Communication Studies (ICIHCS 2022), Part 2
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