Autorentext
Hyun Jin Kim is Senior Lecturer in Classics at the University of Melbourne. His publications include Ethnicity and Foreigners in Ancient Greece and China (2009), The Huns, Rome and the Birth of Europe (Cambridge, 2013) and The Huns (2015). Frederik Juliaan Vervaet is Associate Professor of Ancient History at the University of Melbourne. He is the author of The High Command in the Roman Republic (2014), and co-editor of Despotism and Deceit in the Greco-Roman World (2010) and The Roman Republican Triumph (2014).Selim Ferruh Adal is Assistant Professor of History at the Ankara Sosyal Bilimler Üniversitesi, Turkey. He is the author of papers on the Assyrian Empire, the role of climate change in the Near East and new editions of Mesopotamian cuneiform texts.

Klappentext
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.

Zusammenfassung
Studies the history, literature and archaeology of the great empires of the vast Eurasian continent from a comparative, interdisciplinary and, in particular, a Eurasian perspective. It highlights the critical role of Inner Asian empires and peoples in facilitating contacts and exchanges across Eurasia in the ancient and early medieval worlds.

Inhalt

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 Adal ; 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 Adal .