Misplaced Pages

Comparative studies of the Roman and Han empires: Difference between revisions

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
Browse history interactively← Previous editContent deleted Content addedVisualWikitext
Revision as of 22:08, 9 January 2010 editNev1 (talk | contribs)56,354 edits is this acceptable?← Previous edit Latest revision as of 22:16, 26 August 2024 edit undoCitation bot (talk | contribs)Bots5,409,484 edits Misc citation tidying. | Use this bot. Report bugs. | #UCB_CommandLine 
(288 intermediate revisions by more than 100 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{Short description|none}}
] in 200 CE]] ] in ]]]


'''Comparisons between the Roman and Han empires''' is the ] study of the ] and the ]. Studies investigate the similar scale of the empires at their respective pinnacles, both in size and population, as well as parallels in the rise and decline of each. At their peaks, both states controlled a large portion of the world population, and produced political and cultural legacies that endure to the modern era. While many studies focus specifically on ] or ], few studies directly compare the two. However, the subject has enjoyed increased interest in the 21st century, with several studies examining the concepts of ethnicity, identity, and views of foreigners. '''Comparative studies of the Roman and Han empires''' is a ] involving the roughly contemporaneous ] and the ] of ]. At their peaks, both states controlled up to a half of the world population<ref name="ACME">{{citation |last = Scheidel |first = Walter |url = http://www.stanford.edu/~scheidel/acme.htm |title = The Stanford Ancient Chinese and Mediterranean Empires Comparative History Project (ACME) |publisher=Stanford University |access-date = 2009-12-27 }}</ref> and produced political and cultural legacies that endure to the modern era; comparative studies largely focus on their similar scale at their pinnacles and on synchronism in their rise and decline.


The vast majority of studies focus on ] or ] but the comparison of the two has attracted interest in the 21st century. Studies examine the concepts of ethnicity, identity, and the views of foreigners. Scholars also explore the relevance of ancient structures and characteristics to China's loss of world leadership in what has been called the Early Modern "]."
==Historiography==
⚫ Walter Scheidel reviewed the previous scholarship when he explained the purpose of ]'s and the framework of its study in the early 21st century. ] and ] have both written works comparing the ancient Mediterranean and China, however their studies have had little influence on later ancient historians. Scheidel gives this as a contributing cause to the relative paucity of comparative studies between the two. The majority of the research in the subject area has concentrated on looking at the intellectual and philosophical history of each society. He also noted a change in the direction of research in the 2000s, with a refocusing on the "nature of moral, historical, and scientific thought" in ancient Greece and China.<ref name="ACME">{{citation |last=Scheidel |first=Walter |url=http://www.stanford.edu/~scheidel/acme.htm |title=The Stanford Ancient Chinese and Mediterranean Empires Comparative History Project (ACME) |publisher=] |accessdate=2009-12-27}}</ref>


== History ==
⚫ Despite modern interest, gaps remain in the scholarship comparing Rome and the Han Empire. Scheidel notes that there are no comparative studies of ]; there is a also a virtual absence of work on "political, social, economic or legal history" of the Greco-Roman world and ancient China. However, he does note that historian Samuel Adhead does briefly address the issue. Wittfogel's work has come in for criticism by later historians, but his studies have not fully been supplanted by up to date theses. In modern studies of imperialism, ancient China has generally been overlooked. In Scheidel's words, " the comparative history of the largest agrarian empires of antiquity has attracted no attention at all. This deficit is only explicable with reference to academic specialization and language barriers".<ref name="ACME"/>
] in his ] '']'' (1922) stressed that the development of China during the ] "in innumerable parallels" corresponds to the contemporary Mediterranean world (301-50 BC), with the Chinese wars in 368-320 BC corresponding in political outcome to the ]. He regarded ] as the "Roman" state of China because Qin similarly founded a universal empire in its world. The First Emperor of the unified China, ] assumed the title "Shi," literally the equivalent to "Augustus." He began to build the Chinese ], the ]. Both fortifications protected against the barbarian.<ref>Spengler, Oswald (1922). ''The Decline of the West: Perspectives on World-History'', (tr. Atkinson, Charles Francis, London: George Allen & Unwin LTD), vol II, p 38, 40-42, 416-417, https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.264078/mode/2up?view=theater</ref>


The historian ] in 1939 published ''Rome and China: A Study of Correlations in Historical Events'', covering the period of the Han dynasty.<ref>Teggart, Frederick J., (1939). ''Rome and China: A Study of Correlations in Historical Events'', (Berkeley: University of California Press).</ref> Teggart criticized the dominant narrative form of history aiming mainly to emphasize the greatness of one's own nation. His purpose of the Correlations was scientific understanding of affairs of nations and generalization of causes and effects. History must inquire "not only into what has happened, but into the way things actually work in the affairs of men." Besides the scientific comparative approach, his Correlations with China was revolutionary also in breaking the bond of ]: "The study of the past can become effective only when it is fully realized that all peoples have histories, that their history run concurrently and in the same world, and that the act of comparing is the beginning of all knowledge."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Robinson |first=Edgar Eugene |date=1940-09-01 |title=Review: Rome and China: A Study of Correlations in Historical Events, by Frederick J. Teggart |url=https://online.ucpress.edu/phr/article/9/3/345/66941/Review-Rome-and-China-A-Study-of-Correlations-in |journal=Pacific Historical Review |language=en |volume=9 |issue=3 |pages=345 |doi=10.2307/3632912 |jstor=3632912 |issn=0030-8684}}</ref> The comparison, Teggart argued, revealed a correspondence in barbarian invasions throughout the continent of Eurasia, "and thus brought to light relations in the histories of widely separated areas which had not previously been suspected."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Theory and processes of history, by Frederick J. Teggart. |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015017676720?urlappend=%3Bseq=1 |access-date=2023-09-04 |website=HathiTrust | hdl=2027/mdp.39015017676720?urlappend=%3Bseq=1 |language=en}}</ref>
According to Samuel Adshead's book ''China in World History'', comparing Han China and the Roman Empire gives context and assists understanding of China's interactions and relations with other civilisations of ]. In his opinion, the Roman Empire bears the closest similarity to the Han Empire of the ancient civilisations. He also compares the two to assess their "relative standing" in the ancient world. Despite the similarities between the two empires emphasised by Scheidel, Adshead concludes that when examining Han China and the Roman Empire before ], their "differences outweighed the similarities".<ref name="Adshead 2000 4"/>


⚫ ] reviewed the previous scholarship when he explained the purpose of ]'s ancient Chinese and Mediterranean Empires Comparative History Project and the framework of its study in the early 21st century. ] and ] both wrote works comparing ancient Mediterranean civilization and China; however, their studies have had little influence on later historians of the ancient world. Scheidel gives this as a contributing cause to the relative paucity of comparative studies between the two, though several scholars have made such studies. In the 1970s, principles of ] have been identified that can be applied to the study of Han China and Rome. They draw on analytical and illustrative comparisons.<ref>{{harvnb|Bonnell|1980}} in {{citation |last=Scheidel |first=Walter |url=http://www.stanford.edu/~scheidel/acme.htm |title=The Stanford Ancient Chinese and Mediterranean Empires Comparative History Project (ACME) |publisher=Stanford University |access-date=2009-12-27}}</ref>
The emergence of the ] as effectively the only superpower in the world after the fall of the Soviet Union in the late 20th century led to a renewed interest in empires and their study. For instance, the Roman Empire has occasionally been held up as a model for American dominance, although this is disputed.<ref>{{harvnb|Mutschler|Mittag|2008|p=xiii.}}</ref> An effect of this interest was that the study of historical empires, such as Han China and Rome, increased. In the field of comparative studies between empires, not just Rome and China, ]'s ''The Political System of Empires'' (1963) has been described as influential as it pioneered the comparative approach.<ref>{{harvnb|Mutschler|Mittag|2008|p=xiii&ndash;xiv.}}</ref> The act of comparing the Roman and Han empires is aided by the amount of written evidence from both, as well as other artefactual sources.<ref name="M&M xiv">{{harvnb|Mutschler|Mittag|2008|p=xiv.}}</ref> In the words of Fritz-Heiner Mutschler and Achim Mittag, "Comparing the Roman and Chinese empires contributes not only to understanding the trajectories along which the two civilizations developed, but also to heightening our awareness of possible analogies between the present and the past, be it with regard to America or China."ref name="M&M xiv"/>


The majority of the research in the subject area has concentrated on looking at the intellectual and philosophical history of each society. Scheidel also noted a change in the direction of research in the 2000s, with a refocusing on the "nature of moral, historical, and scientific thought" in Greece and China.<ref name="ACME"/> These researches have tended to focus on the philosophical and intellectual histories of China and the Greco-Roman world, and despite modern interest, gaps remain in the scholarship comparing Rome and the Han Empires. Scheidel notes that there are no comparative studies of ]; there is also a virtual absence of work on "political, social, economic or legal history" of the Greco-Roman world and ancient China, though historian Samuel Adshead addressed the issue.<ref name="ACME" />
===Society===
Principles of ] have been identified that can be applied to the study of China and Rome. They draw on analytical and illustrative comparisons.<ref>{{harvnb|Bonnell|1980}} in {{citation |last=Scheidel |first=Walter |url=http://www.stanford.edu/~scheidel/acme.htm |title=The Stanford Ancient Chinese and Mediterranean Empires Comparative History Project (ACME) |publisher=] |accessdate=2009-12-27}}</ref> Adshead emphasises the differences between the two empires.


In 1961, Adshead published an article comparing Rome and China. While outlining several parallels, especially the synchronism of their political patterns, he emphasized that contrasts overshadowed similarities and the two should not even be called by one word ("empire").<ref>Adshead, Samuel A. M. (1961). "Dragon and Eagle: A comparison of the Roman and Chinese Empires," ''Journal of Southeast Asian History'', vol 2 (3): p 11-22.</ref> In his ''China in World History'', Adshead compared the Han China and the Roman Empire before ]. He repeated that their "differences outweighed the similarities".<ref name="Adshead 4"/> However, his comparisons have received negative response from experts on Chinese history who cite his lack of use of Chinese sources, poor support of his arguments and eagerness to take poorly supported points as facts.<ref name="jenner">{{cite journal |first = William John Francis |last = Jenner |title = Review: China in World History |journal = The China Quarterly | number = 121 |date = March 1990 |volume = 121 |pages = 151 |doi = 10.1017/S0305741000013722 |jstor = 654084 |s2cid = 154989865 }}</ref><ref name = Farmer>{{cite journal |first = Edward |last = Farmer |journal = The Journal of Asian Studies |jstor = 2058649 |number = 3| volume = 48 |date = August 1989 |pages = 583–584 |title = Review: China in World History |doi = 10.2307/2058649 |s2cid = 166065264 |doi-access = free }}</ref> More recently, ] have been engaging in comparative work on political institutions between China and Rome<ref name="Edwards 2009" /> and between China and early modern Europe.<ref>{{harvnb|Hui|2005}}</ref>
⚫ ===Political structure===
One of the most appealing reasons for historians to begin comparing China and Rome, is their assent to political hegemony over the Mediterranean and ]. However, political comparisons by Adshead have received negative response from Chinese history experts; citing his lack of primary source information, poor support of his arguments and an eagerness to take poorly supported points as facts.<ref name = jenner> {{cite journal | first = WJF| last = Jenner| title = Review: China in World History| journal = The China Quarterly | number = 121| year = 1990 | month = March | page = 151| url = http://www.jstor.org/pss/654084}}</ref> <ref name = Farmer> {{cite journal| first = Edward | last = Farmer| journal = The Journal of Asian Studies| url = http://www.jstor.org/pss/2058649| number = 3| volume = 48 | year = 1989| month = August| pages = 583-584| title = Review: China in World History}}</ref>


For their volume on the birth of the Chinese Empire, a team of Sinologists recruited a Roman Historian, ], to compare the First Emperors in the Roman and Chinese world. The choice, they explained, is not casual. "Few figures in world history can be compared to the ] as meaningfully as can ]." Both founded long lasting Empires.<ref>Pines, Yuri et al (2014). ''Birth of an Empire: The State of Qin Revisited'', (Berkeley: University of California Press), p 237. </ref> In his chapter, Yakobson outlines the parallels between the First Emperors of Rome and China. Both were legitimized as pacifiers of their worlds, Augustus ending civil wars and Qin Shi Huang inter-state wars. Their peace monuments, ] and ], symbolized ] and ] respectively. '']'' of Augustus parallels the imperial steles of Qin Shi Huang in the content of the message. Both glorify themselves as superhumans who have completed achievements of superhuman magnitude. Yakobson supposes that the existence of such parallels might point to certain fundamental patterns of empire that transcend the divide between civilizations.<ref>Yakobson, Alexander, (2014). "The First Emperors: Image and memory," ''Birth of an Empire: The State of Qin Revisited'', (ed. ] et al, Berkeley: University of California Press), p 280, 282-283, 287.</ref>
==Contact between the empires==
⚫ {{main|Sino-Roman relations}}


⚫ ==Political pattern==
As the Han and Roman empires were thousands of miles apart, separated by equally developed and powerful states such as the ], contact was limited and overwhelmingly indirect. The Parthians and other intermediaries facilitated trade between Rome and China from the late 1st century&nbsp;BC onwards. The main trade from China to Rome was in silk; ancient sources indicate that Romans were unaware of the scale of the empire of the ], meaning the "silk people". However Raoul McLaughlin, who wrote an article on the silk trade between the Roman and Han empires and their interactions, has questioned whether the Seres were really the Chinese, or whether it referred to a people closer to Rome but still near China.<ref name="McLaughlin">{{harvnb|McLaughlin|2008}}</ref>
One of the most appealing reasons for historians to begin comparing Han China and Roman Empire, is their synchronous ascent to political hegemony over the Mediterranean and East Asia respectively:<ref name="jenner"/><ref name=Farmer/>
*Both systems existed as warring states during the ];
*] conquered its world in 221 BC, while Rome established its hegemony over the Mediterranean in 189 BC;
*both empires endured for centuries until the Han Empire dissolved in 220 AD and Rome ] in 395;
*both began reconquista in the sixth century but at this point proceeded in opposite directions—China under the ] completed its reunification while ] failed.


The Sui-Justinian era marks the juncture when the two civilizations proceeded in reverse directions—China remained unified while the Mediterranean never repeated its ancient unity. Adshead called this a "major watershed" to "expansion in modern Europe" and to "implosion in pre-modern China."<ref>Adshead 2000, p 55.</ref> For Scheidel, "the most striking divergence concerns their afterlife: the effective absence of universal empire from the post-Roman Europe and its serial reconstitution in East Asia," and regrets that the causes for this divergence remain neglected in the research.<ref name="books.google.fr">{{Cite book |last=Scheidel |first=Walter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dqoiBQAAQBAJ |title=State Power in Ancient China and Rome |date=2015 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-020224-8 |language=en}}</ref>
According to ], writing in the first half of the 2nd century&nbsp;AD, delegates from the Seres were received by the Emperor ], however Chinese historians make no mention of diplomatic relations between Rome and China in the time of Augustus. Through trade contacts, Rome learned more about Han China, although in the 1st century, the two cultures rarely came in direct contact, preferring to trade through India. As well as via the sea and India, silk was also traded over land through the Parthian Empire. Han dynastic history (specifically the ''Hou Hanshu'', '']'', abbreviated <nowiki>'</nowiki>''HS''<nowiki>'</nowiki>) also preserves fragments of historic-political import:<ref name="Posch_1998_363" /> In ''HS'' 2.1.1, but already mentioned in the '']'' (the ''Shiji'' text, completed in the early 1st century BC), the Arsacids are said to have gained control over Tiaozhi (] and ]), and to have treated it as a satellite state. In ''HS'' 2.1.4 and 2.2.3, the first Chinese emissaries are stated to have been received with great pomp, and that the Parthians had sent their own emissaries in exchange. In ''HS'' 2.2.4, the Parthians are described to have maintained diplomatic relations with the Central Asian country of ] in 68 BC, and in 35 BC the ] had plans to overthrow the Parthian Empire; the Xiongnu may well be the same people as the ]. In ''HS'' 2.3.5, the Parthians are described to have sought to control the Silk trade by inhibiting ] (the ] in the Near East) contact with China. In ''HS'' 2.3.7-2.3.8, the king Qizjiujue (]) of ] of the Guishuang (]) clan captured Gaofu (]) from the Parthian Empire.<!-- everything per Posch 1998, p. 363 -->


Historian Max Ostrovsky partly filled this gap in the research. He used the comparative analysis to find out what caused the divergence: China never expanded beyond the ], ], or overseas. By contrast, the Mediterranean civilization was ever-expanding beyond the Roman ], northward and eastward during the ], and overseas afterwards. European kingdoms turned their exceeding energies outward and internal European ].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ostrovsky |first=Max |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9b0gn89Ep0gC&q=balanced |title=Y: The Hyperbola of the World Order |date=2007 |publisher=University Press of America |isbn=978-0-7618-3499-1 |language=en}}</ref>
⚫ ==References==
;Notes
{{reflist}}


Adshead similarly supposed that due to "isolation of China behind desert, mountains and jungles … and with its back to a dead ocean," the Chinese elites strove to unity more than the European.<ref>Adshead 2000, p 48.</ref> Sinologist Victoria Tin-bor Hui drew a geopolitical explanation too. The ancient Chinese system, she wrote, was relatively enclosed, whereas the European system began to expand its reach to the rest of the world from the onset of system formation. In addition, overseas provided outlet for territorial competition, thereby allowing international competition on the European continent to trump the ongoing pressure toward convergence.<ref>], ''War and State Formation in China and Early Modern Europe'', Cambridge University Press, 2005, p. 141.</ref>
;Bibliography

⚫ In the field of comparative studies between empires, not just Rome and Han, ]'s ''The Political System of Empires'' (1963) has been described as influential as it pioneered the comparative approach.<ref>{{harvnb|Mutschler|Mittag|2008|p=xiii–xiv.}}</ref> In modern studies of ], however, ancient China has generally been overlooked. In Scheidel's words, " the comparative history of the largest agrarian empires of antiquity has attracted no attention at all. This deficit is only explicable with reference to academic specialization and language barriers".<ref name="ACME" />

Scheidel omitted two notable studies, '']'' by Spengler and ''Civilization on Trial'' by ]. Spengler outlined three parallel phases which began in China c. 600 BC, the Mediterranean c. 450 BC and the modern world c. 1700. In all three cases, the size of armies and the scale of warfare increase. In the modern case the trend is demonstrated by Napoleonic Wars, the American Civil War, and the World War (the book was published before the Second World War) and is accelerated by modern military technology.<ref>Spengler, Oswald (1922). ''The Decline of the West: Perspectives on World-History'', (tr. Atkinson, Charles Francis, (London: George Allen & Unwin LTD), vol II, p 419-422, https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.264078/mode/2up?view=theater</ref> Having correlated the Chinese wars of 368-320 BC with the ],<ref>Spengler 1922: vol II, p 417.</ref> Spengler added that the latter War corresponds to the settlement of the ] in that both avoided the "idea of the wiping out one of the leading great powers of the world" but we are in the same evolutionary chain of the three ]. The Third ended with ] proclamation ].<ref>Spengler 1922: vol II, p 422.</ref> The thesis had been published a couple of decades before a famous ] proclaimed a similar fate for Spengler's country. Comparing the three ages, the ancient Chinese, the Roman, and the Modern, Spengler states that "Caesarism" is an inevitable product of such an age and it "suddenly outlines itself on the horizon." In China the culmination occurred with the ], in the Mediterranean with ] and ] and in our world is expected in one century .<ref>Spengler 1922: vol II, p 419.</ref>

Whether influenced by Spengler or not, Toynbee drew a similar pattern for the same three civilizations. Ancient Mediterranean and Chinese worlds passed continual rounds of wars going on to a bitter end at which one surviving great power—Rome and Qin respectively—"knocked out" its last remaining competitor and by conquest imposed the overdue peace on the world, ] and ]. Having projected the unification of the modern world on the cases of Rome and Qin, Toynbee noted that, by contrast, the modern ultimate "blow" would be atomic. But Toynbee remains optimistic: No doubt, the modern world has far greater capacity to reconstruct than the Chinese and the Romans had.<ref>Toynbee, Arnold, (1948). ''Civilization on Trial'', (New York: Oxford University Press), p 127-128, 133-134, https://archive.org/details/civilizationontr00toyn/page/126/mode/2up?view=theater</ref>

Long time since the works of Spengler and Toynbee the comparative analysis between ancient Rome and China and its implications for the modern world did not receive further development but this changed with the emergence of the United States of America as effectively the only ] in the world after the ] in the late 20th century. The event led to a renewed interest in empires and their study. During the ], the number of publications related to empire has increased exponentially<ref>Vasunia, Phiroze (2011). "Review: The comparative study of empires," ''Journal of Roman Studies'', vol 101: p 235.</ref> accompanied by "stormy debates" on empires and Sinologist ] coined the term "comparative imperiology."<ref>Pines, Yuri & Biran, Michal & Rüpke, Jörg (2011) ''The Limits of Universal Rule: Eurasian Empires Compared'', (New York: Cambridge University Press), p 2-3, https://books.google.com/books?id=eyoNEAAAQBAJ</ref> The Roman Empire has occasionally been held up as a model for American dominance.<ref>{{harvnb|Mutschler|Mittag|2008|p=xiii.}}</ref> The United States' ] is unprecedented in the modern system and thus the only illuminating cases can be found in pre-modern systems: "One difficulty with analyzing unipolarity is that we have mainly the current case, although examining Roman Europe and Han China could be illuminating."<ref>], "Unipolarity: A Structural Perspective," ''World Politics'', 61/1, (2009): p 200.</ref>

In order to illuminate, Ostrovsky compared the evolution of the early hegemonies of Rome (189–168 BC) and Qin (364–221 BC). Since the condition of global closure (impossibility to expand) makes our ] more similar to China than Rome, the Chinese political pattern is supposed to be more relevant for us than the Roman. This implies hard anti-hegemonic balancing like ] rather than soft balancing like against Rome, total war and sweeping conquest like ] in 230–221 BC rather than Rome's gradual annexations, and, if civilization survives, a cosmopolitan revolution, like the Han revolution in 202 BC and the ] in AD 212, which similarly would turn the global ] into ]. Since the modern system will remain totally circumscribed until the end of history, this World State is likely to be permanent like the Chinese rather than temporary like the Roman.<ref>Ostrovsky 2007, p 320, 362–363.</ref>

== Rationale ==
According to Adshead's book ''China in World History'', comparing Han China and Roman Europe gives context and assists understanding of China's interactions and relations with other civilisations of ]. "Other comparisons could be made&nbsp;... None, however, offers so close a parallel with Han dynasty as the Roman empire".<ref name="Adshead 4">{{harvnb|Adshead|2000|p=4.}}</ref> In the opinion of Scheidel:

{{quote|only comparisons with other civilizations make it possible to distinguish common features from culturally specific or unique characteristics and developments, help us identify variables that were critical to particular historical outcomes and allow us to assess the nature of any given ancient state or society within the wider context of premodern world history.<ref>{{harvnb|Scheidel|2009|p=5.}}</ref>}}

Comparative analysis, Scheidel added elsewhere, generates new causal insights which are impossible for analysis confined to single cases.<ref name="books.google.fr"/> Regarding why China and Rome, Scheidel explains that these two were among the largest (especially by population) and persistent of pre-modern empires, and in addition expanding and collapsing at roughly the same time.<ref>Scheidel
2015, p 5.</ref> In the words of Fritz-Heiner Mutschler and Achim Mittag, "Comparing the Roman and Han empires contributes not only to understanding the trajectories along which the two civilizations developed, but also to heightening our awareness of possible analogies between the present and the past, be it with regard to America or China."<ref name="M&M xiv"/> Recent work by Ronald A. Edwards shows how such comparisons can be helpful in understanding ancient Han Chinese and Roman European political institutions.<ref name="Edwards 2009">{{harvnb|Edwards|2009}}</ref>

For Ostrovsky, the comparative analysis is vital for understanding the ] and the survival of China. The former case is one of the most extensive historical researches and counts multiple factors all of which can be true. Regarding the question why the fall of Rome was ''fatal'', however, the comparison with the Han China is the key rationale. It outlines the decisive factor (geopolitical circumscription) among multiple secondary. Moreover, he claims, it probably illuminates where we are heading.<ref>Ostrovsky 2007, p 50, 362–363.</ref>

At last, comparison between the Roman and Han empires is aided by the rich amount of written evidence from both, as well as other artefactual sources.<ref name="M&M xiv">{{harvnb|Mutschler|Mittag|2008|p=xiv.}}</ref> Already Spengler emphasized the existence of the vast primary sources on the ] and stressed that the development corresponds not only to the contemporary Mediterranean world but also to "our own present time."<ref>Spengler, Oswald (1922). ''The Decline of the West: Perspectives on World-History'', (tr. Atkinson, Charles Francis, (London: George Allen & Unwin LTD), vol II, p 416-417, https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.264078/mode/2up?view=theater</ref>

== See also ==
{{Portal|Ancient Rome|China|History}}
⚫ * ]
* ]

⚫ == References ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}

=== Sources ===
{{refbegin}} {{refbegin}}
*{{citation |last=Adshead |first=S. A. M. |year=1961 |month=October |title=Dragon and Eagle: a comparison of the Roman and Chinese empires |journal=Journal of Southeast Asian History |volume=2 |number=3|pages=11–22 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |url=http://www.jstor.org/pss/20067345}} * {{citation |last=Adshead |first=Samuel Adrian Miles |title = China in World History |isbn = 978-0-312-22565-0 |year=2000 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |orig-year=1988 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=E8mpbItQVc8C }}
* {{citation |last=Bonnell |first=Victoria E. |title = The Uses of Theory, Concepts and Comparison in Historical Sociology |journal= Comparative Studies in Society and History |publisher=Cambridge University Press |volume=22 |number=2 |date=April 1980 |pages=156–173 |doi = 10.1017/s0010417500009270 |doi-access=free }}
*{{citation |last=Adshead |first=Samuel Adrian Miles |title=China in World History |isbn=9780312225650 |year=2000 |origyear=1988 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=E8mpbItQVc8C}}
*{{citation |last=Bonnell |first=Victoria E |title=The Uses of Theory, Concepts and Comparison in Historical Sociology |journal=Comparative Studies in Society and History |publisher=] |volume=22 |number=2 |month=April |year=1980 |pages=156–173}} * {{citation |last=Edwards |first=Ronald A. |year=2009 |title = Federalism and the Balance of Power: China's Han and Tang Dynasties and the Roman Empire |journal = Pacific Economic Review |volume=14 |number=1 |pages=1–21 |ssrn=1395142 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-0106.2009.00430.x |s2cid=154400404 }}
*{{citation |last=McLaughlin |first=Raoul |title=Silk ties: the links between Ancient Rome & China |journal=] |date=1 January 2008}} *{{citation |last=Hui |first = Victoria Tin-bor |year=2005 |title = War and State Formation in Ancient China and Early Modern Europe |location = New York, NY |publisher = Cambridge University Press }}
*{{citation |editor1=Mittag, Achim |editor2=Mutschler, Fritz-Heiner |title=Conceiving the Empire: China and Rome Compared |publisher=] |year=2008. |isbn=0199214646 |url=http://books.google.ca/books?id=QjS7W-BtXOkC&printsec=frontcover&dq=COnceiving+the+empire+rome+and+china&cd=1#v=onepage&q=&f=false}} * {{citation |editor1-last = Mutschler |editor1-first = Fritz-Heiner |editor2-last = Mittag |editor2-first = Achim |title = Conceiving the Empire: China and Rome Compared |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2008 |isbn = 978-0-19-921464-8 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=QjS7W-BtXOkC&q=COnceiving+the+empire+rome+and+china }}
*{{citation |last=Roberts |first=J |authorlink=JAG Roberts |title=The complete history of China |chapter=The Fall of the Roman and Chinese Empires Compared |location=Stroud |publisher=Sutton Publishing |isbn=0-7509-3192-2 |year=2003 |origyear=1996}} * {{citation |last = Roberts |first = J.A.G. |author-link = J.A.G. Roberts |title = The complete history of China |chapter = The Fall of the Roman and Chinese Empires Compared |location = Stroud |publisher = Sutton Publishing |isbn = 0-7509-3192-2 |year = 2003 |orig-year = b1996 |url-access = registration |url = https://archive.org/details/completehistoryo0000robe }}
*{{citation |editor=Scheidel, Walter |year=2009 |title=Rome and China: comparative perspectives on ancient world empires |publisher=] |isbn=9780195336900 |url=http://books.google.ca/books?id=aTdN3PWIvs0C&dq=ISBN+9780195336900&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=OjQEC3hwh9&sig=Ztkngh777I9pkVHK0Nft0dzxC2o&hl=en&ei=EuQqS7rUGYrQ8Qb9nJCgBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CA4Q6AEwAA}} * {{citation |editor-last = Scheidel |editor-first = Walter |editor-link = Walter Scheidel |year = 2009 |title = Rome and China: comparative perspectives on ancient world empires |publisher = Oxford University Press |isbn = 978-0-19-533690-0 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=aTdN3PWIvs0C }}
{{refend}} {{refend}}


==Further reading== == Further reading ==
*{{citation |last=Edwards |first=Ronald A. |month=February |year=2009 |title=Federalism and the Balance of Power: China's Han and Tang Dynasties and the Roman Empire |journal=Pacific Economic Review |volume=14 |number=1 |pages=1–21 |url=http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1395142}} * {{citation |last=Adshead |first=S. A. M. |date=October 1961 |title=Dragon and Eagle: a comparison of the Roman and Chinese empires |journal=Journal of Southeast Asian History |volume=2 |number=3|pages=11–22 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |jstor=20067345 |doi = 10.1017/s021778110000034x }}
* ], and ], ''The Way and the Word: Science and Medicine in Early China and Greece'' (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002)
* {{citation |last=Motomura |first=R. |title=An approach towards a comparative study of the Roman empire and the Ch'in and Han empires |journal=Kodai |volume=2 |year=1991 |pages=61–69 }}
* Lisa Ann Raphals, ''Knowing Words: Wisdom and Cunning in the Classical Traditions of China and Greece'' (Ithaca, N.Y: Cornell University Press, 1992)


==External links== == External links ==
⚫ * {{citation |ssrn = 1442585 |title = Coin Quality, Coin Quantity, and Coin Value in Early China and the Roman World |first = Walter |last = Scheidel |date= 2009-08-01 |quote = comparative study of two superficially quite different currency systems, in Warring States and Han China and in the Roman Empire|ref=none}}
{{Wikiversity|Comparison between Roman and Han Empires}}
⚫ * {{citation |url= http://ssrn.com/abstract=1442585 |title=Coin Quality, Coin Quantity, and Coin Value in Early China and the Roman World |first=Walter |last= Scheidel |date= 2009-08-01 |quote= comparative study of two superficially quite different currency systems, in Warring States and Han China and in the Roman Empire}}
*{{citation |last=Scheidel |first=Walter |publisher=Princeton University |title=Monetary systems of the Roman and Han Empires |url=http://www.princeton.edu/~pswpc/pdfs/scheidel/020803.pdf |format=] |quote=A chapter from Scheidel's '' Rome and China: comparative perspectives on ancient world empires'' (2008)}}
* *
* "," Interview with University of California, Berkeley, professors Michael Nylan and Carlos Noreña.


⚫ ]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Comparison Between Roman And Han Empires}}
⚫ ]
] ]
] ]
]
]

Latest revision as of 22:16, 26 August 2024

Political map of the Eastern Hemisphere in AD 200

Comparative studies of the Roman and Han empires is a historical comparative research involving the roughly contemporaneous Roman Empire and the Han dynasty of early imperial China. At their peaks, both states controlled up to a half of the world population and produced political and cultural legacies that endure to the modern era; comparative studies largely focus on their similar scale at their pinnacles and on synchronism in their rise and decline.

The vast majority of studies focus on one or the other but the comparison of the two has attracted interest in the 21st century. Studies examine the concepts of ethnicity, identity, and the views of foreigners. Scholars also explore the relevance of ancient structures and characteristics to China's loss of world leadership in what has been called the Early Modern "Great Divergence."

History

Oswald Spengler in his magnum opus The Decline of the West (1922) stressed that the development of China during the Warring States "in innumerable parallels" corresponds to the contemporary Mediterranean world (301-50 BC), with the Chinese wars in 368-320 BC corresponding in political outcome to the Second Punic War. He regarded Qin as the "Roman" state of China because Qin similarly founded a universal empire in its world. The First Emperor of the unified China, Hwang-ti assumed the title "Shi," literally the equivalent to "Augustus." He began to build the Chinese Limes, the Great Wall. Both fortifications protected against the barbarian.

The historian Frederick John Teggart in 1939 published Rome and China: A Study of Correlations in Historical Events, covering the period of the Han dynasty. Teggart criticized the dominant narrative form of history aiming mainly to emphasize the greatness of one's own nation. His purpose of the Correlations was scientific understanding of affairs of nations and generalization of causes and effects. History must inquire "not only into what has happened, but into the way things actually work in the affairs of men." Besides the scientific comparative approach, his Correlations with China was revolutionary also in breaking the bond of Eurocentrism: "The study of the past can become effective only when it is fully realized that all peoples have histories, that their history run concurrently and in the same world, and that the act of comparing is the beginning of all knowledge." The comparison, Teggart argued, revealed a correspondence in barbarian invasions throughout the continent of Eurasia, "and thus brought to light relations in the histories of widely separated areas which had not previously been suspected."

Walter Scheidel reviewed the previous scholarship when he explained the purpose of Stanford University's ancient Chinese and Mediterranean Empires Comparative History Project and the framework of its study in the early 21st century. Max Weber and Karl August Wittfogel both wrote works comparing ancient Mediterranean civilization and China; however, their studies have had little influence on later historians of the ancient world. Scheidel gives this as a contributing cause to the relative paucity of comparative studies between the two, though several scholars have made such studies. In the 1970s, principles of sociological examination have been identified that can be applied to the study of Han China and Rome. They draw on analytical and illustrative comparisons.

The majority of the research in the subject area has concentrated on looking at the intellectual and philosophical history of each society. Scheidel also noted a change in the direction of research in the 2000s, with a refocusing on the "nature of moral, historical, and scientific thought" in Greece and China. These researches have tended to focus on the philosophical and intellectual histories of China and the Greco-Roman world, and despite modern interest, gaps remain in the scholarship comparing Rome and the Han Empires. Scheidel notes that there are no comparative studies of high culture; there is also a virtual absence of work on "political, social, economic or legal history" of the Greco-Roman world and ancient China, though historian Samuel Adshead addressed the issue.

In 1961, Adshead published an article comparing Rome and China. While outlining several parallels, especially the synchronism of their political patterns, he emphasized that contrasts overshadowed similarities and the two should not even be called by one word ("empire"). In his China in World History, Adshead compared the Han China and the Roman Empire before Constantine. He repeated that their "differences outweighed the similarities". However, his comparisons have received negative response from experts on Chinese history who cite his lack of use of Chinese sources, poor support of his arguments and eagerness to take poorly supported points as facts. More recently, sinologists have been engaging in comparative work on political institutions between China and Rome and between China and early modern Europe.

For their volume on the birth of the Chinese Empire, a team of Sinologists recruited a Roman Historian, Alexander Yakobson, to compare the First Emperors in the Roman and Chinese world. The choice, they explained, is not casual. "Few figures in world history can be compared to the First Emperor as meaningfully as can Augustus." Both founded long lasting Empires. In his chapter, Yakobson outlines the parallels between the First Emperors of Rome and China. Both were legitimized as pacifiers of their worlds, Augustus ending civil wars and Qin Shi Huang inter-state wars. Their peace monuments, Ara Pacis Augustae and Twelve Metal Colossi, symbolized Pax Romana and Pax Sinica respectively. Res Gestae of Augustus parallels the imperial steles of Qin Shi Huang in the content of the message. Both glorify themselves as superhumans who have completed achievements of superhuman magnitude. Yakobson supposes that the existence of such parallels might point to certain fundamental patterns of empire that transcend the divide between civilizations.

Political pattern

One of the most appealing reasons for historians to begin comparing Han China and Roman Empire, is their synchronous ascent to political hegemony over the Mediterranean and East Asia respectively:

  • Both systems existed as warring states during the Axial Age;
  • Qin conquered its world in 221 BC, while Rome established its hegemony over the Mediterranean in 189 BC;
  • both empires endured for centuries until the Han Empire dissolved in 220 AD and Rome followed suit in 395;
  • both began reconquista in the sixth century but at this point proceeded in opposite directions—China under the Sui dynasty completed its reunification while Justinian failed.

The Sui-Justinian era marks the juncture when the two civilizations proceeded in reverse directions—China remained unified while the Mediterranean never repeated its ancient unity. Adshead called this a "major watershed" to "expansion in modern Europe" and to "implosion in pre-modern China." For Scheidel, "the most striking divergence concerns their afterlife: the effective absence of universal empire from the post-Roman Europe and its serial reconstitution in East Asia," and regrets that the causes for this divergence remain neglected in the research.

Historian Max Ostrovsky partly filled this gap in the research. He used the comparative analysis to find out what caused the divergence: China never expanded beyond the Great Wall, Tibet, or overseas. By contrast, the Mediterranean civilization was ever-expanding beyond the Roman limes, northward and eastward during the Middle Ages, and overseas afterwards. European kingdoms turned their exceeding energies outward and internal European power was balanced.

Adshead similarly supposed that due to "isolation of China behind desert, mountains and jungles … and with its back to a dead ocean," the Chinese elites strove to unity more than the European. Sinologist Victoria Tin-bor Hui drew a geopolitical explanation too. The ancient Chinese system, she wrote, was relatively enclosed, whereas the European system began to expand its reach to the rest of the world from the onset of system formation. In addition, overseas provided outlet for territorial competition, thereby allowing international competition on the European continent to trump the ongoing pressure toward convergence.

In the field of comparative studies between empires, not just Rome and Han, Shmuel Eisenstadt's The Political System of Empires (1963) has been described as influential as it pioneered the comparative approach. In modern studies of imperialism, however, ancient China has generally been overlooked. In Scheidel's words, " the comparative history of the largest agrarian empires of antiquity has attracted no attention at all. This deficit is only explicable with reference to academic specialization and language barriers".

Scheidel omitted two notable studies, The Decline of the West by Spengler and Civilization on Trial by Arnold J. Toynbee. Spengler outlined three parallel phases which began in China c. 600 BC, the Mediterranean c. 450 BC and the modern world c. 1700. In all three cases, the size of armies and the scale of warfare increase. In the modern case the trend is demonstrated by Napoleonic Wars, the American Civil War, and the World War (the book was published before the Second World War) and is accelerated by modern military technology. Having correlated the Chinese wars of 368-320 BC with the Second Punic War, Spengler added that the latter War corresponds to the settlement of the Versailles Treaty in that both avoided the "idea of the wiping out one of the leading great powers of the world" but we are in the same evolutionary chain of the three Punic Wars. The Third ended with Cato's proclamation Carthago delenda est. The thesis had been published a couple of decades before a famous Charter proclaimed a similar fate for Spengler's country. Comparing the three ages, the ancient Chinese, the Roman, and the Modern, Spengler states that "Caesarism" is an inevitable product of such an age and it "suddenly outlines itself on the horizon." In China the culmination occurred with the First Emperor, in the Mediterranean with Sulla and Pompey and in our world is expected in one century .

Whether influenced by Spengler or not, Toynbee drew a similar pattern for the same three civilizations. Ancient Mediterranean and Chinese worlds passed continual rounds of wars going on to a bitter end at which one surviving great power—Rome and Qin respectively—"knocked out" its last remaining competitor and by conquest imposed the overdue peace on the world, Pax Romana and Pax Sinica. Having projected the unification of the modern world on the cases of Rome and Qin, Toynbee noted that, by contrast, the modern ultimate "blow" would be atomic. But Toynbee remains optimistic: No doubt, the modern world has far greater capacity to reconstruct than the Chinese and the Romans had.

Long time since the works of Spengler and Toynbee the comparative analysis between ancient Rome and China and its implications for the modern world did not receive further development but this changed with the emergence of the United States of America as effectively the only superpower in the world after the fall of the Soviet Union in the late 20th century. The event led to a renewed interest in empires and their study. During the War on Terror, the number of publications related to empire has increased exponentially accompanied by "stormy debates" on empires and Sinologist Yuri Pines coined the term "comparative imperiology." The Roman Empire has occasionally been held up as a model for American dominance. The United States' hegemony is unprecedented in the modern system and thus the only illuminating cases can be found in pre-modern systems: "One difficulty with analyzing unipolarity is that we have mainly the current case, although examining Roman Europe and Han China could be illuminating."

In order to illuminate, Ostrovsky compared the evolution of the early hegemonies of Rome (189–168 BC) and Qin (364–221 BC). Since the condition of global closure (impossibility to expand) makes our world system more similar to China than Rome, the Chinese political pattern is supposed to be more relevant for us than the Roman. This implies hard anti-hegemonic balancing like against Qin rather than soft balancing like against Rome, total war and sweeping conquest like Qin in 230–221 BC rather than Rome's gradual annexations, and, if civilization survives, a cosmopolitan revolution, like the Han revolution in 202 BC and the Edict of Caracalla in AD 212, which similarly would turn the global American Empire into World State. Since the modern system will remain totally circumscribed until the end of history, this World State is likely to be permanent like the Chinese rather than temporary like the Roman.

Rationale

According to Adshead's book China in World History, comparing Han China and Roman Europe gives context and assists understanding of China's interactions and relations with other civilisations of Antiquity. "Other comparisons could be made ... None, however, offers so close a parallel with Han dynasty as the Roman empire". In the opinion of Scheidel:

only comparisons with other civilizations make it possible to distinguish common features from culturally specific or unique characteristics and developments, help us identify variables that were critical to particular historical outcomes and allow us to assess the nature of any given ancient state or society within the wider context of premodern world history.

Comparative analysis, Scheidel added elsewhere, generates new causal insights which are impossible for analysis confined to single cases. Regarding why China and Rome, Scheidel explains that these two were among the largest (especially by population) and persistent of pre-modern empires, and in addition expanding and collapsing at roughly the same time. In the words of Fritz-Heiner Mutschler and Achim Mittag, "Comparing the Roman and Han empires contributes not only to understanding the trajectories along which the two civilizations developed, but also to heightening our awareness of possible analogies between the present and the past, be it with regard to America or China." Recent work by Ronald A. Edwards shows how such comparisons can be helpful in understanding ancient Han Chinese and Roman European political institutions.

For Ostrovsky, the comparative analysis is vital for understanding the fall of Rome and the survival of China. The former case is one of the most extensive historical researches and counts multiple factors all of which can be true. Regarding the question why the fall of Rome was fatal, however, the comparison with the Han China is the key rationale. It outlines the decisive factor (geopolitical circumscription) among multiple secondary. Moreover, he claims, it probably illuminates where we are heading.

At last, comparison between the Roman and Han empires is aided by the rich amount of written evidence from both, as well as other artefactual sources. Already Spengler emphasized the existence of the vast primary sources on the Warring States and stressed that the development corresponds not only to the contemporary Mediterranean world but also to "our own present time."

See also

References

Citations

  1. ^ Scheidel, Walter, The Stanford Ancient Chinese and Mediterranean Empires Comparative History Project (ACME), Stanford University, retrieved 2009-12-27
  2. Spengler, Oswald (1922). The Decline of the West: Perspectives on World-History, (tr. Atkinson, Charles Francis, London: George Allen & Unwin LTD), vol II, p 38, 40-42, 416-417, https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.264078/mode/2up?view=theater
  3. Teggart, Frederick J., (1939). Rome and China: A Study of Correlations in Historical Events, (Berkeley: University of California Press).
  4. Robinson, Edgar Eugene (1940-09-01). "Review: Rome and China: A Study of Correlations in Historical Events, by Frederick J. Teggart". Pacific Historical Review. 9 (3): 345. doi:10.2307/3632912. ISSN 0030-8684. JSTOR 3632912.
  5. "Theory and processes of history, by Frederick J. Teggart". HathiTrust. hdl:2027/mdp.39015017676720. Retrieved 2023-09-04.
  6. Bonnell 1980 in Scheidel, Walter, The Stanford Ancient Chinese and Mediterranean Empires Comparative History Project (ACME), Stanford University, retrieved 2009-12-27
  7. Adshead, Samuel A. M. (1961). "Dragon and Eagle: A comparison of the Roman and Chinese Empires," Journal of Southeast Asian History, vol 2 (3): p 11-22.
  8. ^ Adshead 2000, p. 4.
  9. ^ Jenner, William John Francis (March 1990). "Review: China in World History". The China Quarterly. 121 (121): 151. doi:10.1017/S0305741000013722. JSTOR 654084. S2CID 154989865.
  10. ^ Farmer, Edward (August 1989). "Review: China in World History". The Journal of Asian Studies. 48 (3): 583–584. doi:10.2307/2058649. JSTOR 2058649. S2CID 166065264.
  11. ^ Edwards 2009
  12. Hui 2005
  13. Pines, Yuri et al (2014). Birth of an Empire: The State of Qin Revisited, (Berkeley: University of California Press), p 237.
  14. Yakobson, Alexander, (2014). "The First Emperors: Image and memory," Birth of an Empire: The State of Qin Revisited, (ed. Pines, Yuri et al, Berkeley: University of California Press), p 280, 282-283, 287.
  15. Adshead 2000, p 55.
  16. ^ Scheidel, Walter (2015). State Power in Ancient China and Rome. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-020224-8.
  17. Ostrovsky, Max (2007). Y: The Hyperbola of the World Order. University Press of America. ISBN 978-0-7618-3499-1.
  18. Adshead 2000, p 48.
  19. Victoria Tin-bor Hui, War and State Formation in China and Early Modern Europe, Cambridge University Press, 2005, p. 141.
  20. Mutschler & Mittag 2008, p. xiii–xiv.
  21. Spengler, Oswald (1922). The Decline of the West: Perspectives on World-History, (tr. Atkinson, Charles Francis, (London: George Allen & Unwin LTD), vol II, p 419-422, https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.264078/mode/2up?view=theater
  22. Spengler 1922: vol II, p 417.
  23. Spengler 1922: vol II, p 422.
  24. Spengler 1922: vol II, p 419.
  25. Toynbee, Arnold, (1948). Civilization on Trial, (New York: Oxford University Press), p 127-128, 133-134, https://archive.org/details/civilizationontr00toyn/page/126/mode/2up?view=theater
  26. Vasunia, Phiroze (2011). "Review: The comparative study of empires," Journal of Roman Studies, vol 101: p 235.
  27. Pines, Yuri & Biran, Michal & Rüpke, Jörg (2011) The Limits of Universal Rule: Eurasian Empires Compared, (New York: Cambridge University Press), p 2-3, https://books.google.com/books?id=eyoNEAAAQBAJ
  28. Mutschler & Mittag 2008, p. xiii.
  29. Robert Jervis, "Unipolarity: A Structural Perspective," World Politics, 61/1, (2009): p 200.
  30. Ostrovsky 2007, p 320, 362–363.
  31. Scheidel 2009, p. 5.
  32. Scheidel 2015, p 5.
  33. ^ Mutschler & Mittag 2008, p. xiv.
  34. Ostrovsky 2007, p 50, 362–363.
  35. Spengler, Oswald (1922). The Decline of the West: Perspectives on World-History, (tr. Atkinson, Charles Francis, (London: George Allen & Unwin LTD), vol II, p 416-417, https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.264078/mode/2up?view=theater

Sources

Further reading

  • Adshead, S. A. M. (October 1961), "Dragon and Eagle: a comparison of the Roman and Chinese empires", Journal of Southeast Asian History, 2 (3), Cambridge University Press: 11–22, doi:10.1017/s021778110000034x, JSTOR 20067345
  • G. E. R. Lloyd, and Nathan Sivin, The Way and the Word: Science and Medicine in Early China and Greece (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002)
  • Motomura, R. (1991), "An approach towards a comparative study of the Roman empire and the Ch'in and Han empires", Kodai, 2: 61–69
  • Lisa Ann Raphals, Knowing Words: Wisdom and Cunning in the Classical Traditions of China and Greece (Ithaca, N.Y: Cornell University Press, 1992)

External links

Categories: