Hollywood Hype

            When I hear the word “empire” my mind immediately jumps to scenes from the movie Gladiator. I think of Spartan-like men in breastplates, heads bowed reverently to their emperor, ready to march out in battle at a moments notice. The movie Gladiator deals with the Roman Empire, but thoughts of the Ottoman and Byzantine empires also cross my mind.  My general connotation with the word ‘empire’ is not one of strong emotion. I attribute this neutrality to empires being  a very  historical idea to me. It is not something that I feel passionately about because it is something that just simply was and is not anymore. A positive association I make with empires is the great courage men showed in fearlessly serving their emperors, but at the same time I am struck by the heinous acts they committed in the advancement of conquest.   One definite negative connotation I have with empires is the hierarchal rule of one man above all. An elite class held power and others would toil endlessly with hope of advancement.

            Empires definitely had a strong since of self and other because within an empire citizens were required to have a strong sense of patriotism and respect for their leader. The constant race to expand made all outsiders either a threat or an impediment to progress. If you were not for the empire, you were the “other” because you were not cut from the same superior cloth. If you were for the empire, but from somewhere else you were a lesser man.

            Empires were established in a time of many new technologies and tools were coming into being. Those left behind in a less advanced or civilized state were often considered Barbarians. Men of a different nationality who spoke different languages were considered to be lesser and of a barbaric nature.

            My ideas on empires and barbarians are almost completely shaped by Hollywood. The majority of the exposure I have had to these topics has been though movies.