Chapel Hill, USA, Imperial Highways and Ideology: China and Rome Compared
The highways of imperial Rome and of China during its Classical Era (323 BCE316 CE) have always attracted admiration, and many remained in use far into later periods, even down to modern times.Comparison of them, however, has typically been limited to basic aspects such as their length and geographical extent.This paper identifies avenues of investigation both broader and deeper in nature.Aspects opened up for comparison include the material character of each empire”s highways; their planning, classification and maintenance; the regulation of travel along them; and the perception of them as instruments of power and civilization.An attempt is made, moreover, to relate these aspects to the place occupied by highways in the societies of China and Rome from cultural, philosophical, and religious perspectives.Striking results emerge from comparison: testimony for Rome”s highways is remarkably abundant, and the minimal control of movement even surprising; by contrast, the prominence of the highway as a ubiquitous leitmotif and metaphor in Chinese ethics and thought is hardly paralleled in Roman thought.
Richard TALBERT
University of North Carolina
国内会议
天津
英文
134-139
2012-06-16（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）