Are you impressed with the greatness of Empires, or the destructive and oppressive feature, and why? - Chapter 3

I was impressed with the greatness of Empires because the system they had was very similar to what we have with todayś successful countries. For instance, both the Roman and Chinese empires defined themselves in universal terms (p.123). Bringing the entire world ¨under the control of Rome¨; the Chinese empire was described ¨all under heaven¨. Their main focus was investing in their public infrastructures to facilitate their respective domains militarily and commercially speaking (p.123). Both empires invoke supernatural sanctions to justify their rules. Romans started to convert their deceased emperor as god, to perpetuate and enhance the authority of the new rulers. During this time, Christians refused to be part of this cult, provoking their persecution by the Roman authorities. In China something similar had previously existed in which events linked Earth with the invisible realm called Heaven (p.125). Heaven was considered an impersonal moral force that regulated the universe. When catastrophic events would happen in the weather, or with people -wars, rebellions, etc., rules were blamed by losing the Mandate of Heaven. When it came to religion, Romans adopted Christianity which had been born as a small sect in a remote corner of the empire (125), whereas in China, Buddhism came from another country -India. In addition, the way they governed, the culture and language they developed, and the awareness of the environment were very similar to what we have now.