Poll: Which invention would have benefited the Roman Empire (until 395 AD) most?

[eliphas8]

This. The printing press would tear the empire apart. It would increase nationalism, sectarianism, and provide a tool for power seekers of various stripes. In addition it would lead to more educated people (educated in classical texts), who would not all be able to get those civil service jobs for which this education was a filter. Unemployed educated people who feel like they should lead, paging Marx.

Just to recap, nationalism, better organized religions, and empowered agitators are death to empires.

I'd say you don't know much about how marxist movements sprouted up (the actually powerful ones sprung up among the working poor), but yeah otherwise you're pretty correct.

 

[Mark E.]

If you are concerned over short-term political impact, you are missing the point. How many centuries elapsed between Gutenberg and Marx? It would take decades, if not a century, to standardize the languages to Roman and Greek through the empire.

Look what happened in OTL. The languages of Paris, Rome, London and Madrid became standards while dialects in between disappeared. If printing comes in the second century, we should consider the other new developments that will come "early."