Using the Evidence: Political Authority in Second-Wave Civilizations

Consider the documents in this collection, and then respond to the questions below.

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Making comparisons: How would you describe the range of political thinking and practice expressed in these documents? What, if any, common elements do these writings share? Another approach to such a comparison is to take the ideas of one writer and ask how they might be viewed by several of the others. For example, how might Pericles, Aristides, and Han Fei have responded to Ashoka?

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Comparing ancient and modern politics: What enduring issues of political life do these documents raise? What elements of political thinking and practice during the second-wave era differ most sharply from those of the modern world of the last century or two? What are the points of similarity?