A Comparison Of The Political Structures Of Imperi

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Tanvir Ahmed 10/23/11 Mr. Borthwick Period 7 A Comparison of the Political Structures of Imperial Rome and the Han Dynasty The world in which we inhabit has seen the rise and fall of numerous civilizations ever since mankind first began to organize itself into an advance state of human society marked by a high level of science, culture, industry, and government. The most important aspect of civilization may very well be government, or in other words organized political direction and control. Without a government a civilization could never hope to stay a cohesive and powerful structure, surely chaos would erupt without control and order. This is very true of Imperial Rome (44 BCE–1453 CE) and Han China (206 BCE–220 CE). Both eras were regarded as the Golden Ages of their respective civilizations but the glories the Golden Ages brought could have never been achieved if a system of political structure was not present to ensure advancement went smoothly until the point Imperial Rome and Han China became the political hegemony of the Mediterranean and East Asia respectively. Imperial Rome and Han China were both led by Emperors who had almost god-like statuses and power in their empire with monarchial sets of succession. However, the Empires also had bureaucratic, economic, and militaristic systems that functioned with the empire’s political control very differently. To begin with, the powers of an emperor (his imperium) existed, in theory at least, by virtue of his "tribunician powers" (potestas tribunicia) and his "proconsular powers" (imperium proconsulare). In theory, the tribunician powers (which were similar to those of the Plebeian Tribunes under the old republic) made the Emperor's person and office sacrosanct, and gave the Emperor authority over Rome's civil government, including the power to preside over and to control the Senate. The proconsular

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