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

Description

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. List of Illustrations ix List of Maps xii List of Tables xiii List of Contributors xiv Acknowledgements xv Introduction / Hyun Jin Kim and Frederik Juliaan Vervaet 1 PART I. Political Organization and Interactions of Eurasian Empires 13 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 15 2. Tang China's Horse Power: the Borderland Breeding Ranch System / Jonathan Karam Skaff 34 3. Cimmerians and the Scythians: the Impact of Nomadic Powers on the Assyrian Empire and the Ancient Near East / Selim Ferruh Adalı 60 PART II. Socio-Institutional Aspects of Eurasian Empires 83 4. Honour and Shame in the Roman Republic / Frederik Juliaan Vervaet 85 5. Honour and Shame in Han China / Mark Lewis 110 6. Slavery and Forced Labour in Early China and the Roman World / Walter Scheidel 133 PART III. Cultural Legacies of Eurasian Empires 151 7. Homer and the Shi Jing as Imperial Texts / Alexander Beecroft 153 8. The Serpent from Persia: Manichaeism in Rome and China / Samuel N. C. Lieu 174 PART IV. Archaeology of Eurasian Empires 203 9. Alans in the Southern Caucasus? / Antonio Sagona, Claudia Sagona and Aleksandra Michalewicz 205 10. Greeks, Scythians, Parthians and Kushans in Central Asia and India / Osmund Bopearachchi 251 11. Enclosure Sites, Non- Nucleated Settlement Strategies and Political Capitals in Ancient Eurasia / Michelle Negus Cleary 275 Conclusion / Hyun Jin Kim, Frederik Juliaan Vervaet and Selim Ferruh Adalı 313 Index 318