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The Roman Empire gets my vote. It lasted from 27 BC to 476 AD. As a Republic it existed from 509 BC to 27 BC. Arguably it lasted until 1453 as the Byzantine Empire. It had the best army in the world for centuries and left Western Civilization their legal code and impressive engineering. It's sheer size was incredible and it's control of the entire Mediterranean Sea has been unequalled.
The Roman Empire gets my vote. It lasted from 27 BC to 476 AD. As a Republic it existed from 509 BC to 27 BC. Arguably it lasted until 1453 as the Byzantine Empire. It had the best army in the world for centuries and left Western Civilization their legal code and impressive engineering. It's sheer size was incredible and it's control of the entire Mediterranean Sea has been unequalled.
The Romans were a close second which is sort of unfair because of the time period in which it arose, but the fact remains the breath of the British Empire at its peak was unimaginable in the ancient world.
The Romans were a close second which is sort of unfair because of the time period in which it arose, but the fact remains the breath of the British Empire at its peak was unimaginable in the ancient world.
But it's unfair to compare empires that are so separated by technology.
I'd say an empire should be ranked by the overall impact on human civilization. Which to me means 1) Rome, 2) Britain, and 3) a tie between the original Arab Caliphate and Spain. Rome defined the whole Western world for millennia, spread Greek culture and Judeo-Christian religion, and deeply impacted not only Western Europe but also Eastern, and lasted from Antiquity until XV century (Byzantium was a direct uninterrupted continuation of Roman Empire, they never thought of themselves as anything but the Roman Empire, Basileia ton Romaion, and so did their contemporaries, the very term Byzantium was only coined in XVIII century). So Rome lasted until XV century, which is almost modern times.
If you view China as an empire, (I do, even though its a contiguous state) - it has essentially remained intact for about 5,000 years, and seems to be recovering to its general position as one of the two strongest "empires" in the world after about 150 years of weakness and changes in regime.
If you view China as an empire, (I do, even though its a contiguous state) - it has essentially remained intact for about 5,000 years, and seems to be recovering to its general position as one of the two strongest "empires" in the world after about 150 years of weakness and changes in regime.
Though I agree about the impressive, incredible history of China - China isn't an 'Empire'.
One must not leave out two Great Empires. That of the Mongols which reached from Poland to the Pacific Ocean and included such places as China, Korea, Central Asia, Mongolia, Russia (Kiev and the Principalities), Persia, Iraq and Pakistan and North India.
and its successor (Muscovy) which became the Empire of All the Russias. then the USSR. It is still with us today as The Russian Federation.
Both of these empires covered more contiguous landmass than any other.
ISIS would have to be #1. Being able to bring the U.S. to its knees, they must be most powerful!
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