And re: fiction and evil empires: well, yes. Rome is pretty much the model Evil Empire, no?
It had a bunch of good things, like roads! Aqueducts! Semi-decent plumbing! The Second Sophistic floruit of letters!
A legal system where theoretically if you were a citizen you were entitled to a fair hearing and exempt from judicial torture. Although this was much more honoured in the breach under the empire, what with all the informers and the agentes in rebus. (But unless you were wealthy or connected, you didn't really need to worry about the informers. No profit in it!)
On the other hand, slavery. Oppression. Military exactions - which get complained about in the papyri all the time, as the soldiers basically exceed their authority and steal shit and beat people up. And in practice, you needed pull and influence to get anywhere at all.
Sometimes it strikes me as not really all that different from today, just with worse medical care, more slavery, a lot more "This is for your own good, unruly slave!" more restrictive social norms, and more options for getting horribly dead...
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branchandroot
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Date: 2011-11-09 05:32 pm (UTC)It had a bunch of good things, like roads! Aqueducts! Semi-decent plumbing! The Second Sophistic floruit of letters!
A legal system where theoretically if you were a citizen you were entitled to a fair hearing and exempt from judicial torture. Although this was much more honoured in the breach under the empire, what with all the informers and the agentes in rebus. (But unless you were wealthy or connected, you didn't really need to worry about the informers. No profit in it!)
On the other hand, slavery. Oppression. Military exactions - which get complained about in the papyri all the time, as the soldiers basically exceed their authority and steal shit and beat people up. And in practice, you needed pull and influence to get anywhere at all.
Sometimes it strikes me as not really all that different from today, just with worse medical care, more slavery, a lot more "This is for your own good, unruly slave!" more restrictive social norms, and more options for getting horribly dead...