This volume brings together experts in the history of the ancient Mediterranean and early China and presents a series of comparative case studies on clearly defined aspects of state formation in early eastern and western Eurasia, focusing on the process of initial developmental convergence.

• Contributors


• Chronology


• Introduction


• 1.: From the "Great Convergence" to the "First Great Divergence"


• 2.: War, State Formation, and the Evolution of Military Institutions in Ancient China and Rome


• 3.: Law and Punishment in the Formation of Empire


• 4.: Eunuchs, Women, and Imperial Courts


• 5.: Commanding and Consuming the World


• 6.: Gift Circulation and Charity in the Han and Roman Empires


• 7.: The Monetary Systems of the Han and Roman Empires


• Bibliography


• Index

Walter Scheidel is Professor of Classics and, by courtesy, History at Stanford University.