I have loved history since 8th grade, and have continued to be intrigued with the subject throughout my high school career. In fact one of the reasons I even applied to CAP was to challenge myself and learn as much as I could in social studies and history. This project, which tasked me with comparing the political methods of the Tang and Byzantine empires, did exactly that. Going into this project I was interested in the Byzantine Empire, I already knew a lot about it and was more aligned with my interests. On the other hand I usually regard China as dull and uninteresting but after this project and a more in depth analysis of a specific dynasty I realized that I could appreciate its amazing history. We had a choice of a couple of ancient nation states in which to compare but I choose the Tang and Byzantines because I thought their history contained the most interesting elements. I was still unaware though in the main purpose of the essay, the ways in which these empires held political control. Discovering these means was the main task for me during this project. Surprisingly I found that this subject was not only was related to my love of history but also modern politics and the role of government. I found that these two …show more content…
I found that these two nations shared most forms of internal control. I would never advocate for a leader praised as a high god but I believe that these similarities show that there is a good successful way to govern; these methods lead to wealth, and expansion of control. However in the modern world polices that are geared towards the nation as the whole are rarely followed, instead many favor individuals. The rulers of ancient nations understood that is the nation as a whole is successful everyone benefits, including those at the top of the pyramid. Per usual I kept thinking about the relation to the modern world while writing this
As you can see, the Byzantine and Arab empires had many characteristics that came to define them. Whether it was through their religious beliefs, political structure, or economy, each was able to create a vast, long lasting empire which came to define the post-classical period.
Did Justinian impact life as we know it because he is such a great ruler, or is he just a follower who keeps trying to hold on to the loose threads of a fallen empire? Some might say that without Justinian, humanity is a step further back. Others may argue evermore that Justinian is a two-faced liar who you cannot trust (Doc. 2). Contrary to many beliefs, Justinian creates a new Byzantine Empire after the fall of Rome that is influential to many different cultures, more advanced and educated than Rome, and more economically thriving than the Roman Empire.
One of the similarities between two civilizations in terms of religion affect political hierarchy would be how did the kings keep their power. First of all, most of the emperors of China started out as a general in the military and that is the same for the Aztecs because they believed that the best warrior shall be the ruler of the Aztecs. In order for the Aztec rulers to stay in power, they eat human flesh and the human heart just like their gods. They do this so they can be seen more like and god or more superior than the regular citizens. In China, they do not eat human flesh nor do they do anything to please their gods instead they follow the ways of the Mandate of Heaven and do the things that a good emperor or “son of heaven” should do. They are similar because they do things to make people consider them as partially “god” or a god.
The problem of internal revolt is inherent to all empires, as it is difficult to consistently maintain authority over a large and diverse population. Although empires have taken steps to prevent a loss of control from occurring, even the utmost vigilance has been either not enough, or has lapsed long enough for a revolt to occur. The resulting uprising might be minor, or it might be serious enough to threaten a crucial territory. How empires have dealt with a major internal revolt is instructive in several ways: it tests whether or not the empire's military is strong enough to deal with revolts, it tests the ability of the ruler or the ruling class to maintain their authority in the face of the challenge, and it provides a way to examine an empire's policies by looking at which ones may have contributed to the revolt, and which were changed or introduced in its aftermath.
Since the introduction of Buddhism into China, it was not well received by the population as its foreign beliefs clashed with pre-existent principals of Confucianism and Taoism. On top of that, it was alienated by the Confucianism-based government in the late Han Dynasty. All in all, Buddhism was not a common nor a popular religion throughout China at first. Nevertheless, this all changed after the rise of the Tang Dynasty. There is no doubt that Buddhism and the Tang administration under Wu’s reign formed a critical symbiotic relationship with one another. Buddhism played a pivotal role in justifying Empress Wu’s rule. She enthroned herself as the monarch of China, an extraordinarily difficult achievement for a woman in a male-dominant society, by associating herself with Buddhism: proclaiming herself as the Maitreya and that she will bring an utopian era for the Chinese. (Smarr, 17 Feb. 2012) At the same time, Buddhism benefitted handsomely from government support, as monasteries are exempted from tax and that they are financially supported by the state, as seen in A Pilgrim’s Visit to the Five Terraces Mountains, which ultimately resulted in the substantial growth in attraction of Buddhist converts and Buddhism itself. Wu’s extensive support of the religion with ostentatious gifts and donations contributed to the rapid proliferation of Buddhism. Evidently, the mutually benefitting relationship between Buddhism and the state are crucial to each other’s survival during Wu’s sovereignty, but to what extent did her financial support (donations to monasteries) of Buddhism bettered the government overall?
Roman Emperor Constantine I founded the Byzantine Empire in 330 CE as a continuation of the Roman Empire in the east. The characteristics of the empire led to the modern definition of “Byzantine,” which means “strangely complicated.” This was true, as in the Byzantine Empire was very chaotic, complex, and strange at times, but it was very massive and influential worldwide. The empire heavily influenced modern religion, laws, and engineering making it worthwhile learning about the empire.
Throughout history, and in many nations and empires throughout time, governments are affected by religions of different kinds. Religion has been an integral component of humanity, as a way to search answers to existential questions that they might have as well as possibly giving a reason as to why the things they saw happen occur, mostly in older religions. Religion is used by people in power to govern the citizens of their nations on a basis of that religion, as a way to set the foundations of the rules and regulations that must be followed. The Han Dynasty and the Gupta Empire during the classical ages of China and India, respectively, are examples of how their emperors used religion to exert control and shape their nation. The methods in
It is surprising indeed that Even today, tyrannies and dictatorships exist in the world when more than two and a half thousand years ago the ancient Athenians had developed a functional and direct form of democracy. What contributed to this remarkable achievement and how it changed the socio-political. scene in Athens is what will be considered in this paper. The paper will have three sections, each detailing the various stages. of political development from the kings of Attica to the time of Pericles when, in its golden age, Athens was at the height of its. imperial power.
Post Classical politics first came to be when Kong Fuzi or Confucius brought it up during the classical era. Confucius was an educator and a political advisor. At the time, China was experiencing problems and Confucius helped to settle everything. He passed his knowledge on to students who then created analects which are political and cultural traditions that Confucius had taught. Confucius was a very wise man. He did not answer philosophical questions because it did not help to solve the problems at hands and he refused to answer religious question because it was too complex for mere human beings to understand. He believed that political and social harmony came from appropriate arrangements of human relationships with one another. To him, the country should not have been ruled by someone born into power, but to someone who was erudite and incredibly meticulous. When the post classical era came around Yang Jian brought China back to an un-centralized rule after their collapse during the Han dynasty. During the Tang Dynasty they came up with the “bureaucracy based on merit” (Bentley and Zeigler, p. 378) or by recruiting government officials.
Both the first civilizations and Ancient Greece were marked by great leaders, though one society gave its citizens more jurisdiction over their own lives than the other. The people of the first civilizations had more power than those of Ancient Greece as shown by their powerful kings in The Epic of Gilgamesh and their leader’s ability to listen in The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant, versus the supreme rule of the king in Plato’s The Republic.
The Ottoman Empire were Muslims and included Hungary, Syria, Egypt, Bulgaria, and Albania, and they marched on land. The Ottoman Empire is said to have first appeared somewhere around the 1300’s, and can be related to the decline of the Byzantine Empire. They began conquering Christian lands and by the late 1600’s all Christians were afraid of the “terrible Turk”. It is no wonder that many other people were afraid of the Ottoman Empire since they seem to be really rather powerful and they conquered a lot of land. It was in the 1330’s when the Morroccan Abu Abdallah Ibn Battuta passed through Constantinople and became impressed with the Ottomans who seemed to be gaining power rather quickly, he noticed that they had close to 100 forts and
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 the Roman emperor. Both empires shared similar agendas to exploit their vast territories and resources, which helped them expand their political dominance; however, despite having similar political goals and foundations, their government system, cultural ideologies and imperial expansionist natures diverged.
When comparing different societies in ancient history you may not think that Han China and Ancient Rome had a lot in common. These two great societies had many similarities and differences, especially in their social structures. These similarities and differences are all due to Han China’s and Ancient Rome’s governments, family structures and religions. Both of these wonderful empires lasted for approximately 400 years and had lasting effects on the lands they conquered.
...iority in military strength (it had the largest military, succeeded in the most seizures such as that of Constantinople, and the monopoly of trade), and superiority in stability and unity (a successful establishment and administration discouraged uprising and conflict). Every power must, at some point fall; that is history’s most repeated lesson. There is no evidence yet of a nation that did not fall victim to changing times; even North American capitalism is experiencing such alteration because of the rise of Chinese potential. The true measure of success, however, is what comes out of this downfall: what is learnt from it, and what is done to re-unit the power once again.
Today we can look around ourselves and see thousands of technical innovations that make life easier; But if we take a step back and ask ourselves “How?” we will soon realize that most often, these technological advancements did not just “poof” into existence, but are usually the outcome of building upon yesterday’s technology. If we follow this cycle back into time, we can attribute almost any modern day invention to an ancient civilization during its golden age. China was no exception. China’s Song and Tang dynasties fostered scientific advances comparable to Rome’s during its Pax Romana. The most significant and impacting of these were the development of primitive gunpowder and porcelain of the Tang and paper money, and the magnetic compass of the Song Dynasties. Although these may seem very far off, if you look hard enough, you can see traces of their impacts in society today because most of the advancements today we owe to them.