Do you think the Roman Empire (of Rome-Sabines, Italian tribes, southern Greeks mixtured, Trojans rebels), and

Question

and the Roman Empire of New Rome (aka: Constantinople: Hellenized Greek ruled who had Roman citizenship and considered themselves Roman citizens) that last from 503 B.C. to 1461 A.D. with the fall of the empire of Trebinzond (the last outpost of Roman territory in the east "TO BE THE GREATEST EMPIRE IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD"? (1,964 YEARS)

Answer 1

define the greatest. they were not the biggest empire (that was the mongol). they were not the longest lasting (that was the turkish...). they were not even the greatest civilizators (those were the greeks).

maybe they were the greatest combination of all three. but i think it was a great (maybe not the greatest, but a great) empire, because of the legacy it left.

Answer 2

No I don't, I'm sorry to say. Not that it wasn't great in many standards, but it wasn't/isn't The greatest empire in the history of the world. My vote goes to China.

1. The empire of China still exits, even if it's not called that to day, but the realm as an certain area of land roughly the same that it was under the last emperor. History of dynastic rule in China begins in c. 1500 BC with Shang dynasty. It wasn't the China as we know it, I grand you that, but the essence of Chinese empire was there. The true origin on one unified government can be found, as some historians say, in the Qin dynasty 221-227 BC.

2. Many Chinese state records from that period still exist, though they are copies of copies of copies. More recent records have survived well and are extremely detailed. You can find records of sales, taxes, court orders, bills, letters... You name it it's there. Classical Chinese poetry etc has mostly survived, which sadly cannot be said about classical European literature.

3. Romans did make numerous ingenious inventions, there's no doubt about that, but so did Chinese. Paper, paper money, umbrellas, compass, printing (earliest known printed book 868 AD), gunpowder, seismoscope, numerous nautical inventions (rudder...), books (bookshops were common by the end of Tang 906 AD), cannon etc.

4. Chinese writing is ingenious. Contrary to our own western writing it is not tied to the spoken language as the individual characters do not represent sound but ideas. The empire of China is and was vast and the spoken languages in the different parts of the realm differ greatly from each other. The difference can in fact be so great that two Chinese don't necessarily understand what the other is saying. This presents a huge problem to the governance of the China: if a command is given in the capital and it needs to be understood in every parts of the empire, then is must be translated into every spoken language (members of the EU recognise this problem all too well I think). But since all the major languages/dialects in Chine are closely related, it was more practical to use a writing system, which ignores the differences in pronunciation. Less fuss, lower costs, faster, more reliable. The writing is one of the major reasons why the emperors have been able to rule so large realm.

5. Even if the empire of China is now been ruled by a party and not an emperor, the principles are almost the same. And the problems.

6. When ever China or one of the dynasties was conquered by an outside conqueror, the conqueror adopted the Chinese system of government etc. Naturally there has been small changes, but in essence nothing changed except the dynasty in power.

These are the major reasons for me to prefer China over Roman empire. I could be wrong of course, nothing is certain but the change ;)

Answer 3

My vote goes to Egypt. They created pyramids at least 500 years before Stonehenge was built. Technologically, they are the greatest.

Answer 4

the Romans were great as a whole, but they were also pretty brutal. with that in mind, i would not consider them the greatest. granted, they are incredibly fascinating and i love to study every facet of their lives.

every great empire has its own faults, which make it impossible to name one better than another.

Answer 5

I certainly do,what else even comes close?