There's one caveat about the old empires and them being multicultural. It's true that there were multiple cultures in them, but usually there was one group that was the main group and the rest were oppressed in various ways. The Roman empire had many cultures, but if you wanted to have any sort of political power in the high offices of the state, you had to pretend to be Roman. In that case the whole of religion itself was a form of acting Roman to the point where some of the most ancient rituals were saved in such forms of Latin, that no one even understood what was said. But it was the ritual that binded the Romans together. But if by multiculturalism is meant that all cultures are in an equal standing within an empire, I don't think that is true at all. At the very least, not the rule, but the exception.
An empire is practically by definition multi-cultural, especially in a time where two adjacent valleys might contain different cultures. And, you're completely correct, there was no assumption of equality between cultures, in fact, quite the opposite.
![The Self in Meditation, Science, and Politics | Robert Wright & Thomas Metzinger [The Wright Show]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/8NnW6oCcHVA/mqdefault.jpg)
So so so much incredible wisdom!
There's one caveat about the old empires and them being multicultural. It's true that there were multiple cultures in them, but usually there was one group that was the main group and the rest were oppressed in various ways. The Roman empire had many cultures, but if you wanted to have any sort of political power in the high offices of the state, you had to pretend to be Roman. In that case the whole of religion itself was a form of acting Roman to the point where some of the most ancient rituals were saved in such forms of Latin, that no one even understood what was said. But it was the ritual that binded the Romans together. But if by multiculturalism is meant that all cultures are in an equal standing within an empire, I don't think that is true at all. At the very least, not the rule, but the exception.
An empire is practically by definition multi-cultural, especially in a time where two adjacent valleys might contain different cultures. And, you're completely correct, there was no assumption of equality between cultures, in fact, quite the opposite.
Sensible talk. Probably explains why there isn't a shitnado in the comments, yet.