Chapter 3 Comparing Empires

Q: Are you more impressed with the “greatness” of empires or with their destructive and oppressive
features? Why?

On page 105 of our textbook, the topic of United States essentially being the modern day Rome is the main topic. This page discusses how the Roman Empire eventually became overextended and corrupt due to too much power and reach across the globe. As sad as it makes me to admit this, I would agree this is where the United States is headed. The United States has embassies all over the world and things like the United States stock exchange influence not only our countries economy, but all other major countries economy too. I do not want to get too much into corruption, but based off the Roman's history and the United State's history, it is pretty easy to see they both dealt with corruption. From Julius Caesar being murdered by the senate to Russian scandal's with BOTH United States political parties, both empires have the corruption box checked for sure. That being said, the greatness of the older empires  is very apparent, as well as oppression. Both greatness and oppression are also seen in today's world. For me personally I would like to focus on the greatness of the empires.

I take a great interest in the history of the Roman Republic and Roman Empire. The greatness of the Roman's was so incredible when reading about life during that time. I was pleased to read in our book that the Chinese Empire, which was east of Rome, also was establishing itself during the same time as the Roman Empire. I know this point may seem like a small one, but I love the fact that both empires were able to thrive at the same time. Often in today's world we get caught up with being cutthroat and actually wanting others to fail. The Roman and Chinese empires flourishing at the same time is proof that even back then, the world has enough resources for everyone who lives on it. 

"Rome wasn't built in a day" is a quote I heard so often growing up, and it popped into my head during this reading. Empires take time to build and Rome is no exception. I was disappointed to learn that Romans had to resort to things like kidnapping women to maintain population size. I do have to admit that it was very impressive to learn about how the Roman Empire expanded and to see all the different countries it left influence in. Rome was first the Republic before the Empire. The Empire came much later after the death of Julius Caesar (44 BC), but the Republic began around 509 BC when a group of Roman Aristocrats overthrew the Roman King and this is where the senate took over and essentially became the key decision makers for the Roman Republic. Although I am not a violent person, Rome's military forces were always one of the greatest to ever exist. I am not condoning the actions of taking over territory but I would be lying if I said that the Roman's did not have an impressive militia. Rome was able to essentially extend is borders to circle the Mediterranean Sea and they became a powerhouse Empire around 117 BC. Rome even offered for some captives to become Roman Citizens after they had conquered new territory. Rome flourished greatly and it was interesting to read that gender roles and inequality differed in the Roman Empire than other Empires. Roman women were able to be out in public and seemed to have more liberty than women of other empires. 

Rome did have slaves like even earlier societies, so this seems like a very unfortunate norm. This is a huge negative for me, but overall I do think the greatness of the Roman Empire and others, was more impressive. Oppression is something we see often in today's world so I guess that's why I am more impressed with the greatness. Things such as the handshake, calendar and even plumbing were things that existed during the Roman Empire, and are things that we still use or do to this very day. To me that speaks volumes on the impact classical empires had during their time and during today's world. 

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