Roman and Han Compare and Contrast Essay

Rome-Han Compare/Contrast Essay

Although Roman and Han empires were similar in that they both empires focused on ritual and themes to instill loyalty to empire, ultimately they are more different because Roman women had no public role and are completely dependent on men while Han women fate relied on society and their economy and Han China’s form of social structure was more complex and contained more classes for people to be arranged in, while Rome’s social structure was simple.

A key difference in the Roman and Han China empires was their treatment of women.

Even though women in both Rome and Han China are patriarchal, the women’s roles and treatment was different. Roman women had no public role at all, they couldn’t own property or represent themselves in legal matters. No Roman women were not allowed the right to vote or hold in a political position. Roman women were completely dependent on men, while Han China women quality of life depended on economics and their status was depended on society. Even though Roman women didn’t have many rights starting out, they had a more luxury life then wives of Chinese men did. Women in Han China were to be house wives, they were to complete the work around the house, while Roman women took part in some cultural aspects like, baths and sporting events. The inequality in of women in Han China is due to the society the empire holds, because women’s status and authority was determined by society, so it was their choice to constrain the women. The inequality of Roman women could be due to their fathers forcing them to marry men they didn’t know, henceforth creating this dependence on the men whom they are married to, the dependence on men could make women look weak, as if the men are strong and more capable.

A dominant difference in Rome and Han China are their forms of social structure. Han China acquired a complex social structure. Han China had and emperor at the top of their structure, followed by the first class; palace court, nobles, government officials. Then second class; peasants. Next the third class; artisans. Subsequently the fourth class; merchants. Slaves are at the bottom but they do not even get placed into a class. Han China had a reliance on patricians and believed heavily in the Patron-client relationship which was a system of mutual benefit and obligation. Their very structured society could have been due to retaining the legalistic nature of the Qin Dynasty. However, the Roman social structure was simple and straightforward. At the top they had Patricians,