The Ancient Romans Vs Chinese

Claire Kelsey Tierney The Ancient Romans Versus the Chinese The Ancient Romans, a western civilization, and
the Ancient Chinese, a nonwestern civilization couldn't be more different in some cultural universals of their society, but other aspects of the societies don't differ too much. For example, the belief systems and the way in which the governments are run are very different, yet the sciences that were frequently studied and the technology that was invented fall on similar parts of the spectrum. Not only were the religious rituals and beliefs very contrasting between Ancient Romans and Ancient Chinese, but also the role the religion played in the government was very different. In Ancient China, the main religion was Confucianism, which can be viewed as both a philosophy and a religion. Confucianism is defined as the way of life taught by Confucius, a Chinese philosopher that developed concepts about education, society and government based on his high morals and love of history. Confucianists have a very optimistic viewing of the nature of humans, and have faith that humans are teachable and improvable through hard work. In the beginning of the Ancient Roman Empire, the majority of the people living in the society believed in many gods, and created what is referred to as Roman Mythology, or the collection of the traditional stories told by the ancient Romans that exist in historical literature and artwork. As Rome began to adopt aspects of Greek culture, their mythology became increasing similar to that of Greece. Until the last century of the empire Christianity was banned throughout Rome, but under Constantine I, Christianity became dominant and in 391 AD, it was the only religion prohibited. Under the Han dynasty in China, Confucianism was instilled as not only the state religion, but also the prominent ideology over legalism, which was the form of government first used. In Rome, religion was never part of the government, while the religion practiced in China was the central idea of the government under the Han rule. The Romans used a republic to rule their people, while Ancient China had a monarchy headed by an emperor and a royal family. The Senate in Ancient Rome was very influential and powerful but, at the beginning of the republic, was made up of mostly patricians, or wealthy landowners. Plebians, or commoners, gained more power in the republic after reserving the right to veto movement made by the aristocratic Senate, although the wealthy still always had more say. The Romans came up with the idea that there should be what we call today checks and balances in our government: they split the power between three branches, the executive, the legislative and the judicial branches. Ancient China used a monarchy form of government where its rulers were born into their positions instead of being selected by the people such as those in charge in the Roman Republic. Ancient China had three main philosophies by which their governmental decisions were based on: legalism, based on the idea that a highly efficient and power government is key to social order; Confucianism, based on the importance or morality and respect; and
Taoism, based on Chinese thinker Laozi's ideas that people should be guided by a universal force called the Dao. Both the Ancient Romans and the ancient Chinese focused their technology and scientific attention on civil engineering working to find inventions to make the lives of the people living in their societies easier. The ancient Chinese were famous for figuring out how to control waterways, inventing the process of papermaking, and discovering how to build different types of bridges adapted for different geographical areas. Similarly, the Romans were also renowned for their bridge building, specifically the bridge built by Julius Caesar in record time over the Rhine River. Both societies expanded greatly on civil engineering of their time, although the Chinese spent more time on science and mathematical aspects, while the Romans focused more on the practical application of their technology.

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Claire Kelsey Tierney The Ancient Romans Versus the Chinese The Ancient Romans, a western civilization, and

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