• 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.

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.