Handbook of Ancient Afro-Eurasian Economies. Volume 1: Contexts

Editor:
Sitta von Reden

Publication date:
December 2019

Publisher:
De Gruyter Oldenbourg

Abstract:
The notion of the “Silk Road” that the German geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen invented in the 19th century has lost attraction to scholars in light of large amounts of new evidence and new approaches. The handbook suggests new conceptual and methodological tools for researching ancient economic exchange in a global perspective with a strong focus on recent debates on the nature of pre-modern empires. The interdisciplinary team of Chinese, Indian and Graeco-Roman historians, archaeologists and anthropologists that has written this handbook compares different forms of economic development in agrarian and steppe regions in a period of accelerated empire formation during 300 BCE and 300 CE. It investigates inter-imperial zones and networks of exchange which were crucial for ancient Eurasian connections.

Volume I provides a comparative history of the most important empires forming in Northern Africa, Europe and Asia between 300 BCE and 300 CE. It surveys a wide range of evidence that can be brought to bear on economic development in the these empires, and takes stock of the ways academic traditions have shaped different understandings of economic and imperial development as well as Silk-Road exchange in Russia, China, India and Western Graeco-Roman history.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: Ancient Economies and Global Connections
Reden, Sitta von

Part I: Empires

Introduction
Reden, Sitta von

1. The Hellenistic Empires
Reden, Sitta von

2. Central Asian Empires
Morris, Lauren

3. Early Historic South Asia
Dwivedi, Mamta

4. The Qin and Han Empires
Leese-Messing, Kathrin

5. The Xiongnu Empire
Brosseder, Ursula

6. The Arsakid Empire
Fabian, Lara

7. The Roman Empire
Weaverdyck, Eli J. S.

Part II: Evidence

Introduction
Reden, Sitta von

8. Graeco-Roman Evidence
8.A Material Evidence
Weaverdyck, Eli J. S.

8.B Transmitted Texts
Weaverdyck, Eli J. S.

8.C Documentary Sources
Reden, Sitta von

9. Evidence for Central Asia
Morris, Lauren

10. Evidence for Early South Asia
10.A Indic Sources
Dwivedi, Mamta

10.B Graeco-Roman Indography
Reden, Sitta von

11. Evidence for Arsakid Economic History
Wiesehöfer, Josef

12. Qin and Han Evidence
12.A Transmitted Texts
Leese-Messing, Kathrin

12.B Excavated Texts
Ma, Tsang Wing

12.C Material Evidence: Lacquerware
Leese-Messing, Kathrin

Part III: Historiographies

Introduction
Fabian, Lara

13. Russian Perspectives on Eurasian Pasts
Fabian, Lara

14. The Qin and Han Economies in Modern Chinese and Japanese Historiographies
Ma, Tsang Wing

15. Trends in Economic History Writing of Early South Asia
Dwivedi, Mamta

16. Constructing Ancient Central Asia’s Economic History
Morris, Lauren

17. Economy, Frontiers, and the Silk Road in Western Historiographies of Graeco- Roman Antiquity
Reden, Sitta von / Speidel, Michael

Download here:
https://www.degruyter.com/viewbooktoc/product/505594