How Different was Han China and the City State Athens
Han China and the Greek city state Athens were civilizations separated by thousands of miles and each had its own way of unique way of life. So how can we even begin to compare these influential civilizations? Both Athens and Han China had a distinct geography, well known philosophers, and its own ideology that allowed it to thrive and eventually decline into chaos.
Athens was located on a Southern peninsula in the Aegean Sea. The surrounding region called Attica was covered in barren hills very little flat ground for some of the more traditional crops. This made governing hard and likely lead to the small size Athens could control. Due to the area of Attica, Athens had a huge control over the Southern Aegean Sea, allowing it to pillage or tax ships passing through their waters. This was only supported by the huge naval power Athens had accommodated throughout the years. With the little room for crops, besides olives and grapes, Athens imported most of the food they needed for the population to continue growing. (“Document 1”)
Even though Han China dwarfed the Attica by 450 times the size, China and Athens both were faced with some of the same hardships. The vast plains of Han China allowed the people to grow the tremendous amount of crops needed to supply the enormous population of …show more content…
Some of the most famous philosophers we know today, such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle came out of Athens. These philosophers contributed a great amount of knowledge and insight to Athens and its surrounding people. One of the most famous one’s was Socrates. Socrates was known to uphold the law and thrive for virtue, during a speech at his trial, he said that even though his death was injustice, he would accept the word of law, he would not beg or ask for forgiveness nor run from Athens. (“Document