There's reason for optimism heading into the third week of the season. The current expanded playoff format has been in place since 1990. In the 14 seasons that have followed, 24 teams have started a campaign with at least two losses and eventually made the playoffs. Some even made deep playoff runs.
Rome and Han. One similarity between the Roman Empire and the Han Dynasty were that they were both very advanced societies, with a great political system. The difference between the Roman Empire and the Han Dynasty was that the Romans were sort of a republic, where they got to choose their leader.
The Western Empire ceased to exist in 476 CE when the Goths took control, but the Empire continued on in the east, with its capital in Constantinople and was commonly known as the Roman Empire. 1  Rome began as a kingdom around 800 BCE and was then a republic, before becoming an empire. The first Roman Emperor was Octavius, who took the imperial name Augustus. He became emperor in 31 BCE. The Roman Empire split into a Western Roman Empire and an Eastern Roman Empire in 395 CE. The Western Empire ended in 476 CE. The Eastern Empire, or Byzantine Empire, ended in 1453. Depending on how you define the Roman Empire: The united empire lasted 426 years; The Western Empire lasted a further 81 years, for a total of 507 years