Roman Vs. Hellenic History Homework

The Hellenic Empire and Roman Empire were very different, as the Hellenic Empire under
Alexander was never really a true empire, as it didn't have a centralized government.
Once it divided into the Antigonid, Ptolemaic and Seleucid Empires, the three reached
true empire-dom, each had centralized government, and began to spread their influence
into the surrounding areas. The Hellenic empires were really nothing new, as they simply
reinforced Greek ideas, but they also added ideas from Persia and Asia. The Roman
Empire however introduced many concepts which revolutionized government. Especially in
its treatment of captured people's, and its relatively fair judicial system, the Roman
Empire was ground-breaking, and would forever change not just imperial government,
but all government. However, both of the empires actually had much in common as well,
they both possessed many of the essentials for a good empire. Both the Roman and
Hellenic empires had standardized languages over their territories, and both had a lot
of trade between them and their various neighbors. Their militaries were also similar,
well trained, and fiercely loyal. One differing component of their armies was in the source
of the soldiers, however, most soldiers generally were wealthy land owners, but during the
time of Julius Caeser, the Roman armies were made of poor people who had much more
to lose, and so were more loyal to the emperor, and less loyal to the individual generals.
The big advantage the Romans had over the Hellenic empires was in the innovation
department. Although the Hellenic empires possessed many fine Greek inventions, the
Romans had the famous bath houses as well as the aquaducts. They also had a generally
more advanced civilization, having the Coliseum and other things to attempt to entertain
the masses. Another thing the Romans had over the Hellenics, was their religion. While
the Hellenic empire most likely followed the polytheistic Greek religion, the Romans
instituted the relatively new Christian faith, a religion based off the already large Jewish
religion. The Hellenic empire is not totally bested by the Roman empire, however, as the
Ptolemaic empire in particular was a master of commerce, and using the section of the
Nile it controlled, made a vast fortune, erecting many amazing buildings in it's capital of
Alexandria. The Antigonid empire also traded very frequently, and because of it's
position, it was a master of sea travel and trade. All and all, even though the empires
were different, both worked well for their specific location and purpose.