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Though on the surface, the Roman Empire and the Han Dynasty seem very different, they have a surprising number of similarities. Their differences are in a broad range of categories. First of all the Hans were for the most part ethnically homogeneous, whereas the Roman Empire extremely heterogeneous in makeup. The Hans had an emperor who had theoretically absolute power, but in reality was in great check by high officials and Imperial families. In contrast, …

…Each of the Empires strangely enough covered approximately the same amount of land, the Hans: 1.5 million square miles; and the Romans: 1.7 million square miles. Each society had a great military to protect their great empires. Though the Romans followed Christianity for the end of their reign, for the most part the Han and Roman empires were based on a polytheistic religion. Though culturally different, many comparisons can be made between the Romans and the Hans.