The Classical Periods of China, Greece, and Rome had complex, organized political structures due to being notably expansive. The development of each civilization’s government systems varied based on location, economy, and cultural values. A successful government required maintaining the service to the people, stability and urban growth. Whereas, the downfall of an empire was usually caused by economic recessions, internal rebellions, or outside invasions. While China’s pattern of political control was strengthened by a series of dynasties containing emperors and bureaucrats, Greece and Rome were dominated by the ruling of aristocrats with democratic components as well as tyrannies. The unfavorable outcomes of these civilizations were affected by their …show more content…
Overtime, a dynasty grew weaker and tax revenues declined which developed social divisions. As China expanded, it became harder to secure boundaries. The most significant vulnerability of China’s political structure was allowing excessive power. The Zhou dynasty collapsed due to relying on alliances with regional princes and noble families which caused the central government to be ignored. The Qin dynasty weakened because of Shi Huangdi’s brutal attacks on culture and high taxes which lead to an enormous peasant rebellion. The central control of the Han dynasty fell to the expansion of corrupt bureaucrats causing invasions by the Huns. China required a balance of authority. Greece had a mountainous landscape so it was hard to develop a single central government. Greece’s typical political organization were city-states that used direct democracies. Each city state had a different governing style. A main factor that led to Greece’s fall was the lack of community due to the rise of feudalism in society, independence, and competitiveness. Alliances shifted constantly while tension and conflict increased between the rich and the
Although the foundation of both empires was built upon political integration, their organization of government differed. The Han Dynasty’s centralized power and administration was based on a bureaucratic system while the Roman Empire’s imperial power was based on a one-man sovereign. In order to improve Chinese society, which was under tyrannical rule under the Qin Dynasty, the Han Empire centralized their government with the synthesis between an imperial family and the new scholar-gentry class under a bureaucratic system. By securing power to overthrow the Qin Dynasty, Liu Bang provided lands to those military supporters who helped with the task. From the land grants given, the royal families and supporters were entitled
Thesis: The Greek influence of outstanding culture, gods, and their beautiful art to the Romans’ they took this inspiration on to their own creation. Both ancient build devotion to their gods they would bring the most precious things to them temples, however, they would focus on making large empire to rule and to take control of their city-states.
The Roman and Greek political systems have influenced the government all across the globe today, and have even introduced political words such as democracy, monarchy, and tyranny. However, Rome was influenced by the Greek, they introduced a republic view seen today then the democracy of Greek city-states. During the time of these two civilizations, they held many overlapping similarities, and other times showing the vast difference between the related civilizations such as the location of each city-state, how much power a women had, and the separation of the groups in each political system.
The economy and politics of Greece were extremely complex. Most importantly Greek commercial expansion through new trade markets around the Mediterranean with the non-Greek world made it possible for more men to purchase land and power. At the same time the concept of a polis (city) and demos (common people) and the idea of discussion of public choices and possible outcomes with collective concern were born in the city-state. Two of the most well-known to us today are Athens and Sparta, but there were many more. The mountainous terrain as well as a deeply entrenched sense of independence probably allowed the system to remain more of a loose confederation than a central republic, like that of Rome.
What made the Greek city-state a new form of political and social organization was that there was no longer a king in power of the people. The Greek city-state came during the Archaic Age which was led on by the Greek Dark Age. Although the king no longer had any power within the government, there still remained a king. The new government that was formed was called the polis. The polis allowed for the people to feel they had more of a say of what was going on in the government. Instead of the king creating all of the laws, there was a group of people who made the laws. These people were not royal, they were common citizens who were interesting in creating laws and justice.
Ancient cultures left their stamp in history through their conquest, economic development, scientific advance and arts, being Greek and Rome remarkable cultures that excel in the universal history by the power exerted over their neighbors and contenders. I must point out that (The Cultural Connection between Rome and Conquered Greece ) “although Rome conquered the land of Greece, many scholars throughout history, such as the Roman poet Horace, have noted that the culture of Greece appears to have conquered Rome by integrating itself into Roman culture.” The biggest Greek influence over Rome comes tie to the arts, specifically to the sculpture and architecture, and in this case I will analyze the similarities and difference between two iconic buildings in both
did not participate they were marked with red paint and had to suffer punishment for their
When the Greeks die they have to have a proper burial. They put a coin on the eye or in the mouth of the dead person. If they did not have a proper burial the person would appear to someone in their dream and tell them where their body was and to give them a proper burial. Charon will only pick up people who have the coin to take them across Lethe. They then go through the veil of mourning to the Plain of Judgement. If they have been good they get to go through the Palace of Hades to
What is being old? For Santiago, a humble old fisherman from the novel, The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, being old is an advantage. He has not caught a fish in 84 days. But that changes once he sets out on the greatest fishing trip he has ever faced in life. He has been fishing for most of his life and is has been a great fisherman even as an old man. He goes out in the morning to fish then comes back in the evening, but he hasn’t came back with a fish for 84 days. He is always helped by a young boy, Manolin but after a while of him helping Santiago fish he has to leave for another boat. After 84 days of not catching a fish he goes on a 3 day fishing trip and comes home with the greatest fish he has caught, the giant, great, beautiful, and majestic marlin. Pretty much his whole life he has been fishing with the dream of catching this fish and now he is an old man. After all that time he came home with a great fish that took him 3 days straight to catch. Even as an old man even without the strength he used to have, his bad luck, everything against him, he was still able to catch the fish with his tricks, his skill, and his patience.
(1) The physical environment and Mediterranean climate has greatly shaped the social and political background of ancient Greece. The Greek people surrounded the Aegean Sea and dwelled in its multiple islands. Mountains were also a dominant presence in Greece’s mainland environment. The Greek people inhabited isolated plains and valleys throughout the mountains that allowed them to dwell in separate communities. The rugged landscape and the lack of large rivers made transportation difficult. The inability to easily travel between city-states made it hard to unite Greece under a single government. All of these different factors contributed to Greek individualism. Due to travel over land being so difficult, Greeks turned to trade by sea which
Throughout the thousand years’ history of the little corner of Europe called “Greece” developed many social experiments in governance. Within any given era, the political landscape ebbed and flowed to give birth and death to numerous forms of government. When we speak of ancient Greece, it is important to remember that we are not talking about a single unified country. Instead, we are considering the hundreds of small “city-states” (many no bigger than small towns) what often operated independently of one another and only occasionally got powerful enough to “matter” to historians or their present day neighbors.
The Greek and Roman are country are located in the Mediterranean. Rome assimilated into the Greek way of life but besides this, there were still existed major differences between ancient Rome and ancient Greek especially the Athens. The history of the ancient Romans and ancient Greek can be compared and contrasted using the economic, social and political aspects of the two countries.
Unlike the unified Rome, Greece was never a single nation, but simply a collection of coexisting city-states. There was a lot of discord and strife between city-states and Greece was virtually always wracked by conflict between the different cities. Individual identity was of utmost importance to the Greeks and became a defining mark of Hellenism. A unified identity did not exist because unlike Rome where, for example, you were Roman from Ephesus, if you were from Athens, you were Athenian, not a Greek. Due to constant tension and civil war, many cities experienced a high turnover in systems of government. While individualism caused strife between city-states, it also gave rise to what many regard as the greatest thing to ever come from the Greek world: democracy. The practice of direct democracy was started in Athens but spread to neighboring city-state who used Athenian government as a model to build their own unique version
Greek democracy was a complex and new idea to the world. While not operating like the democracies we see in the world today it is credited with having introduced the idea to the world and showed that it could work to create a nation that can experience great wealth, generate innovative art and architecture, and enjoy relative peace for long periods of time. It wasn’t to last however and I’ll investigate here some of causes that led to its collapse.
Just as civilization took a few thousand years to develop into a well functioning society, so did the evolution of polis in Ancient Greece. From the 8th century to the 4th century, Greece was changing their style of politics, which was greatly influenced by its landscape and human knowledge. The polis was very small in population. This small size city-state gave individuals a sense of belonging, which in offset, its citizens were intimately involved in the political and cultural community. This evolution of change in Greece eventually led to a positive outcome.