March 22, 2019  | Blog 4

Your head pulses amidst a thunder of a thousand voices, and your feet burn as you stagger in scorched sand. But you don’t mind the noise or pain because an immense armored creature with horns is galloping at you. Surely, you can endure some discomfort while you run for your life, right?

At this point, I bet you are wondering, “What in the world is going on?”

I can guarantee you one thought: you are trapped in a movie far, far away, and now you’re being hunted by a reek in the Petranaki arena on the planet of Geonosis.

Bummer, I see that the creature has been impaled by a trap. At least now you can listen to me run a parallel between Star Wars and the Roman Empire while you catch your breath!

The aforementioned arena undoubtedly resembles the Roman Colosseum, where thousands of gladiators fought to the death for the pleasure of Roman audiences. As dark as this may seem, viewers are spellbound by the epic scene George Lucas incorporated with a battle between Jedi and droids.

Hold your horses; I’m not done yet. This is not the only similarity between Star Wars and the Roman Empire. In fact, I discovered many similarities in history, culture, and government, too.

Let’s start with the most obvious: culture through architecture. Many of the buildings and architecture on many planets in Star Wars are taken from Roman designs, especially the domed buildings of Naboo and obelisks on Coruscant.

Furthermore, before becoming an empire, ancient Rome was a republic, and the same case was for the Galactic Empire, which originally was the Old Republic. Both betray their closest allies who helped them reach a status of exceptional power: Chancellor Palpatine deceives the Jedi Temple while the Romans betray the Etruscans.

Both universes are under the control of imperial, totalitarian regimes marked by ruthless leaders. “The body of a dead enemy always smells sweet,” said Roman emperor Vespasian. Driven by the belief that the republic would last forever, both fought lengthy and brutal wars. The Romans produced the Punic Wars while the Star Wars universe experienced the Sith and Clone Wars.

Both had a very disciplined military. Both had an elaborate chain of command. Both had an auxiliary program.

The Galactic Empire spread as they conquered one system after another. Similarly, the Roman Empire often allowed the nations that they defeated to maintain their own system of government and self-rule, culture and religious beliefs, so long as they paid homage to the emperor, paid taxes and didn’t cause trouble.

Finally, both empires are taken down by smaller, more determined foes. The Galactic Empire is ultimately defeated by the Rebel Alliance while the Roman Empire’s destruction is attributed to the invasion of various Germanic tribes.

From such similarities between these universes, I can confidently say that George Lucas was inspired by the Roman Empire to create the Galactic Empire we see in Star Wars today.  

— Cameron Guan

Word Count: 482

Sources:

Quote by Vespasian (c. 69-79 AD)