Handbook of Ancient Afro-Eurasian Economies: Volume 1: Contexts

Description

The notion of the “Silk Road” that the German geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen invented in the 19th century has lost attraction to scholars in light of large amounts of new evidence and new approaches. The handbook suggests new conceptual and methodological tools for researching ancient economic exchange in a global perspective with a strong focus on recent debates on the nature of pre-modern empires. The interdisciplinary team of Chinese, Indian and Graeco-Roman historians, archaeologists and anthropologists that has written this handbook compares different forms of economic development in agrarian and steppe regions in a period of accelerated empire formation during 300 BCE and 300 CE. It investigates inter-imperial zones and networks of exchange which were crucial for ancient Eurasian connections. Volume I provides a comparative history of the most important empires forming in Northern Africa, Europe and Asia between 300 BCE and 300 CE. It surveys a wide range of evidence that can be brought to bear on economic development in the these empires, and takes stock of the ways academic traditions have shaped different understandings of economic and imperial development as well as Silk-Road exchange in Russia, China, India and Western Graeco-Roman history. Acknowledgements Contents List of Contributors Transliteration and Orthography Abbreviations Introduction: Ancient Economies and Global Connections Part I: Empires Introduction 1. The Hellenistic Empires 2. Central Asian Empires 3. Early Historic South Asia 4. The Qin and Han Empires 5. The Xiongnu Empire 6. The Arsakid Empire 7. The Roman Empire Part II: Evidence Introduction 8. Graeco-Roman Evidence 8.A Material Evidence 8.B Transmitted Texts 8.C Documentary Sources 9. Evidence for Central Asia 10. Evidence for Early South Asia 10.A Indic Sources 10.B Graeco-Roman Indography 11. Evidence for Arsakid Economic History 12. Qin and Han Evidence 12.A Transmitted Texts 12.B Excavated Texts 12.C Material Evidence: Lacquerware Part III: Historiographies Introduction 13. Russian Perspectives on Eurasian Pasts 14. The Qin and Han Economies in Modern Chinese and Japanese Historiographies 15. Trends in Economic History Writing of Early South Asia 16. Constructing Ancient Central Asia’s Economic History 17. Economy, Frontiers, and the Silk Road in Western Historiographies of Graeco- Roman Antiquity Index