Eurasian Empires in Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages: Contact and Exchange between the Graeco-Roman World, Inner Asia and China

Editors:
Hyun Jin Kim, Frederik Juliaan Vervaet, Selim Ferruh Adalı

Publisher:
Cambridge University Press

Publication date:
October 2017

Abstract:

The great empires of the vast Eurasian continent have captured the imagination of many. Awe-inspiring names such as ancient Rome, Han and Tang China, Persia, Assyria, the Huns, the Kushans and the Franks have been the subject of countless scholarly books and works of literature. However, very rarely, if at all, have these vast pre-industrial empires been studied holistically from a comparative, interdisciplinary and above all Eurasian perspective. This collection of studies examines the history, literature and archaeology of these empires and others thus far treated separately as a single inter-connected subject of inquiry. It highlights in particular the critical role of Inner Asian empires and peoples in facilitating contacts and exchange across the Eurasian continent in antiquity and the early Middle Ages.

Table of Contents:

Introduction Hyun Jin Kim and Frederik Vervaet

Part I. Political Organization and Interactions of Eurasian Empires:
1. The Political Organization of Steppe Empires and their Contribution to Eurasian Interconnectivity: the case of the Huns and their impact on the Frankish West     Hyun Jin Kim

2. Tang China's Horse Power: The Borderland Breeding Ranch System    Jonathan Skaff

3.Cimmerians and the Scythians: The Impact of Nomadic Powers on the Assyrian Empire and the Ancient Near East    Selim Ferruh Adalı

Part II. Socio-institutional Aspects of Eurasian Empires:
4. Honour and Shame in the Roman Republic Frederik   Juliaan Vervaet

5. Honor and Shame in Han China    Mark Lewis

6. Slavery and forced labor in early China and the Roman world    
Walter Scheidel

Part III. Cultural Legacies of Eurasian Empires:
7. Homer and the Shi Jing as Imperial Texts 
Alexander Beecroft

8. The Serpent from Persia – Manichaeism in Rome and China 
Samuel Lieu

Part IV. Archaeology of Eurasian Empires:
9. The Alans in the Southern Caucasus? 
Antonio Sagona, Claudia Sagona and Aleks Michalewicz

10. Greeks, Scythians, Parthians and Kushans in Central Asia and India 
Osmund Bopearachchi

11. Enclosure Sites, non-nucleated settlement strategies and political capitals in ancient Eurasia  Michelle Negus Cleary

Conclusion Hyun Jin Kim, Frederik Juliaan Vervaet and Selim Ferruh Adalı.