The Roman Empire and Han Dynasty sprang up at around the same time. The Roman Empire was essentially everything that touched the Mediterranean while the Han took over much of China. Obviously, differences in culture, tradition, and location caused them to be different in ways; but even though these empires did not really have contact with one another, there were many similarities. These similarities and differences will be discussed in religion and culture, economy and society, and government and military as well as the effect these areas had on how each was ruled.
A person's religion and traditions can have a lot to do with decisions they make, even when it comes to ruling an empire. In both Han China and Rome, the same values of respect, piety, duty, and honor were stressed. A powerful patriarch headed families. The main religion in Rome was Christianity. China's largest religions were Confucianism and Buddhism. While picking in an emperor in Rome had little to do with faith, the Chinese believed in the Mandate of Heaven. In China, there were Confucian beliefs going around, but there still was not much thinking. In contrast, Rome had many famous philosophers. The philosophy easily blended in with Christianity.
The economy of an empire can be very instrumental in whether it will survive. Both empires taxed their subjects to the point that the people's loyalty fell onto the landowners. They also spent a lot of funds on the military to ward of invaders. So much was spent in this area that others became weak and the economy fell. Trade became common in Rome and China, aided by the building of roads. Socially, there were defined classes in both empires. Merchants in Rome had a much higher status than those in China. Also, Rome used slaves so they did not care for technological advances in agriculture as the Chinese did. They developed systems such as irrigation to make farming easier.
