Rome and China: Ancient Empires today

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Rome and China Ancient Empires today

• Hx508 World Empires and Their Cultures

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Todays Lecture

• Roman Empire History
• Roman Empire Significance
• Chinese Empire History
• Chinese Empire Significance

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Rome

• Roman Republic founded 508 BCE
• Decline of the Republic 1st century BCE
• Interlude of triumvirates (Caesar) 60-27 BCE
• Emperor Augustus (Pax Romana) 27-14 AD
• Ancient Roman Empire 27 BCE-486 AD? or
• Ancient Roman Empire 27 BCE-395 AD

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What Rome left

• A political language imperium romanum
• imperium the root of empire (used from the
  19th century on)
• Its association with armed might, law and
  civilisation
• monarchia monarchy
• respublica republic
• Political theoretical contemplation of the
  meanings of words.

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Universalism and empire in the Americas

• France, Portugal, Spain and Britain all in the
  Americas
• Spain initially dominated and projected itself as
  the universal empire
• Spain - art political theory
• Portuguese - excellence of their sciences
• The French 16th century courtly ceremony
  legal codes
• English models of civilized people
• English Victorian belief in their own supreme
  empire

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Roman Law

• Law should be based on justicia justice
• Legal principles and opinions codified to guide
  judges
• Open to modification according to prevailing
  community attitudes. Interpretation important.
• Law divided between jus civile (civil law) and
  jus gentium (International law)
• Later ideals of the universal application of the
  law to all
• Principles of contractual relationship developed

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US the new Rome?

• Empire represents a singular civilization
  to some a barrier to the barbarians
• Empire represents universal values to its
  supporters, not specific ethnic identity
• To opponents represents ambition for unlimited
  expansion

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Chinas life

• A 3000-year old empire?
• A history of dynasties
• A feeling of Antiquity and continuity, despite
  the ruptures of power in the past
• China a recent empire with a sense of longevity
• Rome an Ancient empire which clearly finished,
  but which has left a legacy

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Mongul rule (1215-1368)

• Largest land empire under one ruler - Genghis
  KhanS empire stretched from China to central
  Europe
• Thirteenth and fourteenth century Mongol rule saw
  fluctuating boundaries
• Culturally and ethnically not accepted by the
  Chinese
• Nomadic empire
• Intercultural exchange across Eurasia
• Opened up trade routes across land and sea
  (1240-1340)
• A very unusual period in Chinas past

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Confucianism

• Philosophy of statehood
• Qing neo-Confucian rationalism
• Mandarin elite were its guardians and the
  administrative corps of the state
• A cultured elite that promoted educational
  culture
• The Mandarins ensured continuity
• The Mandate of Heaven the ruler had to govern
  with virtue and not according to whim
• Disasters were a sign that the end of the dynasty
  was near
• Romans vox populi, vox Dei Heaven sees with
  the eyes of the people

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Qing China and the West

• China never colonized
• Opium Wars 1839-1842
• Unequal treaties economic, legal and diplomatic
  rights for foreigners
• A growing merchant class
• Reform movements
• Republicanism
• Empire fell in 1912

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China after 1949 end of empire?

• Old ways despised as feudal, yet
• Country reunified after decades of civil war
  old imperial boundaries re-established
• Dominance of the ethnic Han Chinese
• Invasion of Tibet
• Early imperial traditions used in internal
  political conflicts of Maoist regime
• Vision of global pre-eminence
• Architecture and icons are reminiscent of the
  empire
• Practices of authoritarian rule
  (persecution,denouncements, execution)
• Empire represents a singular civilization
  to some a barrier to the barbarians
• Empire represents universal values to its
  supporters, not specific ethnic identity
• To opponents represents ambition for unlimited
  expansion

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China compared with Rome

• Both had tremendous reach far from their
  homelands
• Deep impact on the societies it governed

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Principal works used

• Anthony Pagden Lords of All the World Ideologies
  of Empire in Spain, Britain and France c. 1500-c.
  1800
• Anthony Pagden Spanish Imperialism and the
  Political Imagination
• Johann Arnason The Future that Failed
• Fernand Braudel, A History of Civilizations