The Pivotal Empires of the Ancient World

Originally homogeneous societies that arose from relatively small states, Rome and Han China were both incredibly advanced ancient civilizations, esteemed for their organizations, social structure, military finesse, and economic savvy. But despite their numerous parallels, Rome and the Han Dynasty of ancient China had many contrasts, as well. These similarities and differences account for the success and eventual downfall of each empire.

A few obvious differences between the two empires can be immediately established. First of all, Rome and China thrived in different continents. Europe housed Rome, while Asia proudly brandished China for its own. The Roman Empire's official language, Latin, was Indo-European, while the Chinese spoke a Sino-Tibetan language. Obviously the difference in language accounts for their difference in alphabets, as well. Rome used the Roman alphabet, which is utilized by all modern Germanic and Romance languages today, while the Chinese depended on a character system, where one unique character generally represented a dingle word, idea, or expression. In Rome, the standardization of the alphabet served very little purpose for communication to the public because many inhabitants of the Roman Empire did not actually speak Latin since they were conquered foreign peoples with their own customs and languages. The Roman alphabet therefore only served in communicating with members of the government and military. Civilian Roman citizens would communicate in the vernacular. 

In China, however, the standard writing was highly effective in communicating with members of the government decrees because every literate person in the empire understood the same Chinese characters. What is common about the Romans and Han Chinese in terms of language and writing though, is that both empires were well-educated with many written records.