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The Dynamics of Ancient Empires: State Power from Assyria to Byzantium (review)

The Dynamics of Ancient Empires: State Power from Assyria to Byzantium (review) The Dynamics of Ancient Empires: State Power from Assyria to Byzantium. Edited by ian morris and walter scheidel. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009. 400 pp. $85.00 (cloth). Ian Morris and Walter Scheidel present essays growing out of a series of conferences at Stanford University's Social Science History Institute. This volume is an ambitious cross-cultural perspective of the ancient empires in a series of case studies based on political theory as well as on recent archeological research. The empires under discussion are Neo-Assyria, Achaemenid Persia, Athens, Rome, and Byzantium. The key questions are: How do empires come into being? How do they survive? What is their ideology? And what is their economic basis? These essays aim "to produce greater insights into the varied bases for imperial `success' at different times and place and the pattern of imperial declines and successions that have characterized world history for most of the past five millennia" (p. 27). Peter Bedford (Union College, New York) focuses on the principles and beliefs of Neo-Assyrian (c. 934­ 605 b.c.e.) imperialists. His thesis is that the Neo-Assyrian period of domination was not primarily about the control of territory, but of goods and services. After an early http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of World History University of Hawai'I Press

The Dynamics of Ancient Empires: State Power from Assyria to Byzantium (review)

Bacon, Ewa K.
Journal of World History , Volume 21 (4) – Feb 3, 2010
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University of Hawai'I Press
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Abstract

The Dynamics of Ancient Empires: State Power from Assyria to Byzantium. Edited by ian morris and walter scheidel. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009. 400 pp. $85.00 (cloth). Ian Morris and Walter Scheidel present essays growing out of a series of conferences at Stanford University's Social Science History Institute. This volume is an ambitious cross-cultural perspective of the ancient empires in a series of case studies based on political theory as well as on recent archeological research. The empires under discussion are Neo-Assyria, Achaemenid Persia, Athens, Rome, and Byzantium. The key questions are: How do empires come into being? How do they survive? What is their ideology? And what is their economic basis? These essays aim "to produce greater insights into the varied bases for imperial `success' at different times and place and the pattern of imperial declines and successions that have characterized world history for most of the past five millennia" (p. 27). Peter Bedford (Union College, New York) focuses on the principles and beliefs of Neo-Assyrian (c. 934­ 605 b.c.e.) imperialists. His thesis is that the Neo-Assyrian period of domination was not primarily about the control of territory, but of goods and services. After an early

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Journal of World History – University of Hawai'I Press

Published: Feb 3, 2010

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