What Both China and Rome Have in Common

In the Classical era, both Rome and China are expanding their empires. What both Rome and China shared was that they both built a system of roads. The roads were key to the empires because it made trade easy and it made communication throughout the empires possible. One Roman road started in Sicily and it stretches the northwestern shore line of the Mediterranean Sea and ends at the Red Sea. The Chinese the Imperial Roads stemming from the central Xi'an City to the Great Wall and to both the East and South China Sea. The Silk Road ends in the city of Xi'an. Both empires specialized in building public works such as roads, aqueducts, and walls (Strayer 1) . All were for the good of the public and the quick mobility of the military. The walls were used to blockade any type of invader from reaping havoc upon the empires. Both Rome and China believed in their own supernatural meaning behind their ruling. The Romans regarded their dead emperors as "gods." The Chinese were quite different by the Emperor being titled the "Son of Heaven" and he was said to govern the "Mandate of Heaven." They believed that when the Chinese were raided or something bad happened, it was linked to the emperor for bad ruling. With a catastrophic even happening, he had losted the Mandate of Heaven thus the emperor will loss his power. A foriegn religion has blosomed out of both these two empires. In Rome, Christianity derived out of Jerusalem and spread around Rome during the Pax Romana. At first Rome did not accept Christianity. They persecuted Christians but the offered one more chance to denouce their beliefs, if refused then they were executed. Around 300 C.E. the emperor Constantine pass a edict that made Christianity legal to praticed which was titled "The Edict of Milan." Later on, Christianity became the official religion of Rome. In China, Buddism was brought in through the Silk Road. Merchants from India and from other lands where it was praticed brought Buddisim to Han China. The religion was not fully supported by the Han Dynasty. It was not till the end of the Han Dynasty when Buddisim was spread throughout China (Strayer 2) .

1 Robert W. Strayer. Ways of the World. Bedford/St.Martin's 2009.

2 Robert W. Strayer. Ways of the World. Bedford/St.Martin's 2009.