Great Empires Of The Ancient World, edited by Thomas Harrison

The existence of this particular book provides a series of questions and controversies that this book is unlikely to be able to answer in anything less than an arbitrary way. One such arbitrary division is what counts as an empire. The book includes chapters on New Kingdom Egypt, the Hittite Empire, Assyria and Babylonia, the first Persian Empire, the Athenian Empire, Alexander and his Hellenistic successors, Parthia and the early Sasanian Empires, the Roman Empire, the early empires of South Asia, and the Quin and Han empires of China. In looking at the empires selected and those not chosen, one has to ponder the question of arbitrariness. For one, the inclusion of the Athenian Empire shrinks the size of the empire down to insignificance (why not include the “mini-empire” of Carchimesh, Tabal, Aram, or ancient Israel, which lasted about as long and covered more territory). For another, this particular volume does not discuss the most ancient empires, whether of China, Egypt, or Mesopotamia (presumably because of the paucity of matierial), nor does it include any empires of the Americas. Likewise, the end date of ancient history at 500AD seems a bit arbitrary given that not all empires are included up to that level.

That said, what this book does include is well done, for the most part, and there are consistent patterns. There is a history of each realm discussed, some of their rulers and wars and social systems, there are primary documents included either from the empire itself or (where this is not possible) its enemies, discussions of its strengths and weaknesses as well as the circumstances of its terminal decline, art and architecture, and other related subjects. This material is easy to read, full of photos and maps and graphics to help explain the material, and generally of interest to those with a fairly broad interest in ancient history, though the book is geared to those who are not greatly knowledgeable about these kingdoms already.

Those who are familiar with the history of these empires may come to different conclusions than the editor does. For example, the editor makes the claim that the Sassanid Empire got more peaceful over its history after the third and fourth centuries, but that is not quite the case. In the sixth and early seventh centuries the Byzantine Empire (not discussed here except briefly at the end of the chapter on Rome) and Sassanid Empire fought each other for decades, leaving each other so exhausted that the Arabs were able to make a clean sweep of much of the Middle East. Of course, that story is one beyond the scope of this book, but it is a story that would at least temper or moderate views of Sassanid peacefulness after its early aggression. Such examples are few, but they do suggest that this book is written for a relatively new reader of the subject of ancient history rather than a well-seasoned reader for whom much of the material will already be deeply familiar. For those who are in such an audience, though the book promises to be greatly enjoyable, even if it remains a difficult task to nail down what makes an empire an empire.