What’s the Significance?
Big Picture Questions
What common features can you identify in the empires described in this chapter? In what ways did they differ from one another? What accounts for those differences?
Are you more impressed with the “greatness” of empires or with their destructive and oppressive features? Why?
Do you think that these second-wave empires hold “lessons” for the present, or are contemporary circumstances sufficiently unique as to render the distant past irrelevant?
Looking Back: How do these empires of the second-wave civilizations differ from the political systems of the First Civilizations?
Next Steps: For Further Study
Jane Burbank and Frederick Cooper, Empires in World History (2010). A fascinating account by two major scholars of the imperial theme across the world. Chapter 2 compares the Roman and Chinese empires.
Arthur Cotterell, The First Emperor of China (1988). A biography of Shihuangdi.
Christopher Kelley, The Roman Empire: A Very Short Introduction (2006). A brief, up-to-date, and accessible account of the Roman achievement.
Cullen Murphy, Are We Rome? The Fall of an Empire and the Fate of America (2007). A reflection on the usefulness and the dangers of comparing the Roman Empire to the present-day United States.
Sarah Pomeroy et al., Ancient Greece (1999). A highly readable survey of Greek history by a team of distinguished scholars.
Romila Thapar, Ashoka and the Decline of the Mauryas (1961). A classic study of India’s early empire builder.
Illustrated History of the Roman Empire, http://www.roman-empire.net. An interactive Web site with maps, pictures, and much information about the Roman Empire.