Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of IHeart Radio.

Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind. My name is Robert Lamb. And I am Joe McCormick. In this episode, I'd like to take us back to the year 36 BC.

So at this point, we have two of the most powerful kingdoms of the day ruling over their respective spheres of influence.

So in the West, we have the Roman Republic on the cusp of collapse into the Roman Empire.

And they're at the time in control of

much of the Mediterranean coast, including all or significant portions of the Italian peninsula,

Sicily, Sardinia, Hispania, Gaul, Euricum, Macedonia, Greece, Asia Minor, Syria, Judea, Cyprus, Crete, and parts of coastal northern Africa.

And then in the east, we have the Chinese Han Dynasty, controlling an even larger territory that consisted of much of modern-day China with a significant expansion into western regions of this area.

So each empire was the most consequential of its day within its sphere of influence,

though they were hardly mirror images of each other.

The Roman Republic was in a very fragile state on the verge of collapse into the Roman Empire,

and it's going to continue to experience threats to its stability from that point

onward. While the Han Dynasty was somewhat consolidated and stable with a complex bureaucracy

in place to solidify its emperor's rule, it's also worth stressing that the Han Dynasty also

clearly had longevity on its side at this point, having existed from around 206 BCE.

Interestingly enough, each was ruled to a certain extent by some form of unofficial triumvirate at the time.

Rome by the first triumvirate of Caesar, Krasis, and Pompeii.

And the Han Empire was sometimes administered by something like triumvirate,

most specifically in the form of the three excellencies,

who would run things of the emperor, happened to be very young.

But again, the Roman situation was an unsteady alliance of the day,

and the Chinese version we're seeing here was more of a baked-in aspect of imperial rule.

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