The history of China is particularly noteworthy for the way in which the Empire was militarily subdued on a number of occasions by warlike tribes from the periphery of the Empire. However the conquerors on each occasion came to be merely a new ruling group operating a very similar political system to the one they had defeated (Eberhard, 1977). The adaptability of the Romans is well illustrated by their reactions to Greek culture in the early period and the transformation from the Classical Empire based on Rome into the. Byzantine Christian Empire based on Constantinople. One vital feature of such systems is the way the rulers must be prepared to tolerate linguistic, cultural and religious diversity, providing subjects are prepared to make the necessary olitical compromises to meet the primary needs of the empire.