Collaborative Research on the Comparative History of Early Empires

Ancient Empires, 1999-2002

Conferences

“Empire and Exploitation in the Ancient Mediterranean,” Social Science History Institute, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, May 26-27, 2000 (organized by Ian Morris and Walter Scheidel)

“Ancient Empires II,” Social Science History Institute, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, May 21-22, 2001 (organized by Ian Morris and Walter Scheidel)

“Ancient Empires III,” University of Western Australia, Perth (Australia), August 19-20, 2002 (organized by Peter Bedford and Brian Bosworth with support from the Social Science History Institute, Stanford University)

Publication

Ian Morris and Walter Scheidel (eds.), The Dynamics of Ancient Empires: State Power from Assyria to Byzantium (Oxford University Press: New York, 2009; paperback 2010)

Stanford Ancient Chinese and Mediterranean Empires Comparative History Project, 2003-2008

Website

Conferences

“Institutions of Empire: Comparative Perspectives on Ancient Chinese and Mediterranean History,” Social Science History Institute et al., Stanford University, Stanford, CA, May 13-14, 2005 (organized by Walter Scheidel, Mark Edward Lewis, and Joseph Manning)

“State Power and Social Control in Ancient China and Rome,” Stanford University, Stanford, CA, March 17-19, 2008 (organized by Walter Scheidel)

“The First Great Divergence: Europe and China, 300-800 CE,” Mellon-Sawyer Seminar Colloquium, Departments of Classics and History, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, April 6-7, 2008 (organized by Ian Morris and Walter Scheidel)

Publications

Walter Scheidel (ed.), Rome and China: Comparative Perspectives on Ancient World Empires (Oxford University Press: New York, 2009; paperback 2010)

Walter Scheidel (ed.), State and Society in Ancient China and Rome (Oxford University Press: New York, in preparation)

Early Empires Comparative History Network, 2008-

“Fiscal regimes and the political economy of early states,” Stanford University, Stanford, CA, May 28-30, 2010 (organized by Andrew Monson and Walter Scheidel)

“Beliefs, markets and empires: understanding mechanisms of integration in early societies,” New York University Abu Dhabi Institute, Abu Dhabi, UAE, March 6-7, 2011 (organized by Andrew Monson and Walter Scheidel)

Principal partners: Peter Bang (University of Copenhagen), Peter Bedford (Union College), John Haldon (Princeton University), Andrew Monson (NYU), Michael Puett (Harvard University)

For parallel efforts, see the European initiative “Tributary Empires Compared”, 2005-2009 (directed by Peter Bang)