Technological Advancements And The Development Of The Han And Roman Empires

The Hans and Romans understood the importance of technology, but unlike the Hans, the Romans viewed anyone who worked with tools or with their hands to be a person of lowly status. The Romans only showed appreciation for technologies that could hold some benefit for the upper-class. The upper-class Romans thought that craftsmen, people who made a living out of making tools, was hardly an occupation that deserved any respect. The Hans appreciated the use of tools in their labor and how it could help the people. The Hans showed a great appreciation of their technological advancements, and its effect on society.

The Han Dynasty and the Roman Empire were two grand empires that rose out of preexisting territories and provided relative peace over wide areas. The collapse of the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BCE), which was the first great land-based empire in East Asia, came after a period of war, confusion, and tyrannical rule. Due to the political disorder that stemmed from the early dynastic activity, the emergence of the Han Dynasty (206 BCE- 228 CE) sprung to focus on restoring order. On the other hand, the rise of the Roman Empire (44 BCE- 476 CE) originated from consolidating authority over aristocratic landlords and overriding the democratic elements of the earlier Republic. Instead, the Roman Empire redefined the concept of “citizen” as subjects to

Throughout history, there were various empires which developed into great, powerful forces. These empires expanded their lands to new places but, these empires ultimately came to an end. Amongst these great empires, were the Han and the Roman empire. Both were great in power but, due to political, social, and economic causes, they came to an end. Although they do partake in the equal shares of corruption and problems with the military, they also had fair shares of differences, regarding their declines. For example, the Han empire had decentralization and rebellion while Rome had shifted in interests and developed war issues. These differences and similarities are bits of history which help to comprehend why these empires are no longer

The Han and Roman Empires are very important. They have greatly influenced the past, and many other societies worldwide. The Han Dynasty and the Roman Empire have different outlooks on technology, the Han Dynasty view technology as a practical application used to ease the workload of people, while the Roman Empire views certain technology as needed, despite the creator. If not for the technology and the technological views of the Han and Roman Empires, the world would be a much

Han dynasty emerged into power back in 221BCE after the fall of Qin dynasty 206BCE. They were the original pioneers when it comes to political systems and structure of the society that lasted more than 2000 years in China. On the other hand, the Roman Empire controlled the western Mediterranean and they had various advancements in technology and science. The Romans had different engineering accomplishments considered to be different from those of the Han kingdom. They formed the basis of the establishment of the western legal codes. This research is aimed towards analysis the similarities and the differences between the Han dynasty and the Roman Empire. The consequences of their differences are also analyzed in this research.

The Roman and Han Empires were among the greatest empires in history. The Han prospered in 202 BCE - 220 C.E and the Roman Empire in 27 BCE- 476 C.E. By the early second century CE, Rome controlled the entire Mediterranean coastline and had to use military force to set up borders against their adversaries, the Huns. During the Han, colonies were established in Korea and military campaigns were mounted in order to control their neighbors, the Xiongnu. Both of these empires had similar rises by using strong military power and expansion, which helped them both strive in economic trade. Although there are many similarities in the reasons that contributed to the rise of these empires, there are also several contrasting reasons for their decline. These two empires differ because Rome allowed plague to end their empire while the Han kept ruling.

Technology in World Civilization: A Thousand Year History written by physicist and historian Arnold Pacey explains his unique “global view” of the evolution of technology differing from the common Eurocentric view of this topic dating back to Greek civilizations. The book is consisted of eleven chapters that chronologically depict the creative inventions in technology throughout several cultures across time in history, starting from the early days in 700 A.D. to the very recent historical events in the 1980’s. Technology in World Civilization: A Thousand Year History views the adaptation of technology from a different perspective by giving insight and excellent supporting criteria crediting the East with the innovative technology

Technology was a key role in history, it shaped civilizations and outcomes of many things. Technology was a primary focus amongst many civilizations including the Roman Empire and the Han Dynasty. In addition, both civilizations had an appreciation to the technology no matter what social class, and both also payed attention and how they could modify it to benefit the civilization in anyway.

During the Han and Roman civilizations many new developments of useful technology took place, at the hands of thousands of people. The Romans built brilliant new technologies such as their aqueducts and the creation of concrete which helped build better, stronger structures. The Han also had technologies they developed to help their society, such as their agricultural advancements with farming tools and the using the ox. Attitudes towards the technology at the time for each civilization caused pride and encompassed order to accumulate success, but the Han viewed workers more equally than the Romans did in the making of these magnificent advances.

Throughout Eurasia, in the time period of 200 BCE-200 CE, both the Roman and Han dynasty were flourishing empires; that participated in the expansion of commerce, specifically through the Silk Road, production, and developing new technologies. (context). Although both empires were emerging from previous states, their attitudes of technology differ from each other and themselves. In the Han dynasty, they had many technological advances through the work of their people,and common people were making technological advancements out of need, for more efficiency; therefore, the chinese were more acceptant of this creators (although poor). The elite Romans had a different view, they thought these common people were low and crude.

Many great empires emerged from 600 BCE to 600 CE. Of these many empires were the Roman Empire and Han Dynasty. These great empires needed many things to prosper and one of those things was technology. Technology allowed these empires to expand and accomplish many feats throughout their time. This all influenced their attitude toward technology. The Han dynasty had a very positive attitude towards technology and wanted it for the benefit of the common man, whereas the Roman empire somewhat neglected technology and saw it as no benefit.

Although in different regions of the world and with cultural differences, the same problems plagued both the Han Dynasty and the Western Roman Empire, significantly contributed to their downfall. Some similar causes were pressure from barbarians and poor leadership which affected s their empires. However similar, they were starkly different in areas such as the religious divide that served to weaken Western Rome that did not exist in China.

The year, 200 BCE, marked an important date in history as it was the year that both Han China and Rome expanded from small states into large empires. The roots of Han China had begun way back before 200 BCE, when several tribes settled along the Yellow River. This settlement aloud for multiple groups to unite and become one civilization, under one ruler, with one belief system. From this small community, China has formed into one of the largest empires in the world today; all dating back to the first year in which the small state expanded into a large empire, 200 BCE. The Chinese based their agricultural beliefs on environmental determinism, and because of their agricultural success they expanded more than they had imagined. Similarly, Rome began their long ruling empire the same year, under similar circumstances. The beginnings of Rome are credited to the Latin culture; in 800 BCE, the Latins formed a small community which further led into small farming villages forming a civilization. Like China, Rome was ruled by one ruler, the Tarquins, which had been a wealthy family at that time. However, in the same year, Rome broke out from its small state setting and formed a large empire, and just like China, they believed in environmental determinism. Thus, they had such an impact on the world that they set a precedent for their own beliefs and strengthened their culture. Consequently, Han China and Rome have more in common than the year they began their success; each state saw

Throughout the history of Eurasia, the idea and development of technology prospered and directly affected many governments. Due to the expansion of empires, many problems arose, which proved to be difficult to societies. To combat these difficulties, governments turned towards technology to help develop their civilization. Significantly, from the second century BCE to the second century CE, Han and Roman technology improved and developed drastically. The use of newfound technology allowed the governments to build bigger projects, which rapidly broadened the societies and economies. Notably, the Han dynasty’s attitude was more positive towards technology than the Roman empire due to the fact that they were proud of their accomplishments and expressed the necessity for more, while most Romans viewed the development of technology as a crude job for the unrefined due to the organized social structure.

In history, attitudes towards technology differed in regions due to the various factors such as religion, philosophy, and social classes that were intertwined with technology. In the period up to 500 C.E., although both the Han and Romans had an attitude of much appreciation for their water network technology, their overall attitudes towards technology was different because while the Han government had a more open minded attitude as they believed that they should use technology to help their whole society, including the peasants due to their religious and philosophical beliefs, while the Roman government had a more narrow attitude in the sense that they usually did not use technology to help the peasants, but to help the higher social classes.