Rulers and Ruled in Ancient Greece, Rome, and China

Editors:

Hans Beck (Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Germany)

Griet Vankeerberghen (McGill University, Canada)

Publisher:

Cambridge University Press

Publication date:

December 2020

Abstract:

Situated on opposite flanks of Eurasia, ancient Mediterranean and Han-Chinese societies had a hazy understanding of each other's existence. But they had no grounded knowledge about one another, nor was there any form of direct interaction. In other words, their historical trajectories were independent. In recent years, however, many similarities between both cultures have been detected, which has energized the field of comparative history. The present volume adds to the debate a creative method of juxtaposing historical societies. Each contribution covers both ancient China and the Mediterranean in an accessible manner. Embarking from the observation that Greek, Roman, and Han-Chinese societies were governed by comparable features, the contributors to this volume explain the dynamic interplay between political rulers and the ruled masses in their culture specific manifestation as demos (Greece), populus (Rome) and min (China).

Table of Contents:

Editors' preface: 

Introduction. The many faces of 'the people' in the ancient world: δήμος – populus – 民 min  

Hans Beck and Griet Vankeerberghen

Part I. Authority and Lifestyles of Distinction:

1. Of gold and purple: nobles in western Han China and republican Rome 

Griet Vankeerberghen

2. A tale of two stones: social memory in Roman Greece and Han China 

Miranda Brown with Zhang Zhongwei

3. Private associations and urban experience in the Han and Roman Empires 

Carlos Noreña

Part II. The People as Agents and Addressees:

4. Rhetoric, oratory and people in ancient Rome and early China Francisco 

Pina Polo

5. Female commoners and the law in early imperial China: evidence from recently recovered documents with some comparisons with classical Rome 

Robin Yates

6. Registers of 'the people' in Greece, Rome, and China 

Hans Beck

7. Food distribution for the People: welfare, food, and feasts in Rome and in Qin/Han China 

Moonsil Lee Kim

Part III. Inversions of the People: Emperors and Tyrants:

8. Augustus, the Roman plebs and the dictatorship:

22 BCE and beyond 

Alexander Yakobson

9. Liberation as burlesque: the death of the tyrant 

Garret Pagenstecher Olberding

10. Historical necessity or biographical singularity? Some aspects in the biographies of C. Iulius Caesar and Qin Shi Huangdi 

David Engels

11. Employing knowledge: a case study in calendar reforms in the early Han and Roman Empires 

Rebecca Robinson

Part IV. Identities and 'Others':

12. The invention of the 'barbarian' and ethnic identity in early Greece and China 

Yang Huang

13. Ethnic identity and the 'barbarian' in classical Greece and early China: its origins and distinctive features 

Hyun Jin Kim