Description
Book SynopsisThe world''s first known empires took shape in Mesopotamia between the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea and the Persian Gulf, beginning around 2350 BCE. The next 2,500 years witnessed sustained imperial growth, bringing a growing share of humanity under the control of ever-fewer states. Two thousand years ago, just four major powers--the Roman, Parthian, Kushan, and Han empires--ruled perhaps two-thirds all the people on earth. Yet despite empires'' prominence in the early history of civilization, there have been surprisingly few attempts to study the dynamics of ancient empires in the western Old World comparatively. Such grand comparisons were popular in the eighteenth century, but scholars then had only Greek and Latin literature and the Hebrew Bible as evidence, and necessarily framed the problem in different, more limited, terms. Near Eastern texts, and knowledge of their languages, only appeared in large amounts in the later nineteenth century. Neither Karl Marx nor Max We
Trade Reviewits parts are varied and interesting, the unexceeded sum makes an absorbing (at times provocative) volume. * Christopher J. Tuplin, Bryn Mawr Classical Review *
Table of ContentsPreface 1.: Jack Goldstone and John Haldon: Ancient States, Empires, and Exploitation: Problems and Perspectives 2.: Peter Bedford: The Neo-Assyrian Empire 3.: Josef Wiesehöfer: The Achaemenid Empire 4.: Ian Morris: The Greater Athenian State 5.: Keith Hopkins: The Political Economy of the Roman Empire 6.: John Haldon: The Byzantine Empire 7.: Walter Scheidel: Sex and Empire: A Darwinian Perspective Bibliography Notes on Contributors
