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  • Imperial Institutions in Ancient Rome and Early China: A Comparative Analysis

    Imperial Institutions in Ancient Rome and Early China by Loewe, Michael; Nylan, Michael; Brennan, T. Corey;

    A Comparative Analysis

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      • Publisher's listprice GBP 24.99
      • The price is estimated because at the time of ordering we do not know what conversion rates will apply to HUF / product currency when the book arrives. In case HUF is weaker, the price increases slightly, in case HUF is stronger, the price goes lower slightly.

        11 938 Ft (11 370 Ft + 5% VAT)
      • Discount 20% (cc. 2 388 Ft off)
      • Discounted price 9 551 Ft (9 096 Ft + 5% VAT)

    11 938 Ft

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    Availability

    Estimated delivery time: In stock at the publisher, but not at Prospero's office. Delivery time approx. 3-5 weeks.
    Not in stock at Prospero.

    Why don't you give exact delivery time?

    Delivery time is estimated on our previous experiences. We give estimations only, because we order from outside Hungary, and the delivery time mainly depends on how quickly the publisher supplies the book. Faster or slower deliveries both happen, but we do our best to supply as quickly as possible.

    Product details:

    • Publisher Bloomsbury Academic
    • Date of Publication 15 May 2025
    • Number of Volumes Paperback

    • ISBN 9781350445123
    • Binding Paperback
    • No. of pages pages
    • Size 232x156x18 mm
    • Weight 399 g
    • Language English
    • Illustrations 10 bw illus
    • 662

    Categories

    Long description:

    Written by the eminent sinologist Michael Loewe, and edited for publication by T. Corey Brennan and Michael Nylan, this book gives an overview of the considerations and practices of two major world empires that together ruled half of the earth's population in the first centuries BCE: ancient Rome and Han China. Approaching the historical material with a comparative perspective, Loewe examines the strengths and weaknesses, and the successes and failures, which can be seen in the organisation and government of these two political systems. Though each empire was largely ignorant of the other, the problems they faced were similar, given the rudimentary transportation and communication facilities of the time, the high mortality rates and the low levels of literacy. Yet each empire ruled its people in distinctly different ways, with the Roman empire governed largely by military officials, in contrast to the Chinese empire, whose administration was well stocked with roughly 130,000 highly trained professionals.

    The ten chapters of this book set out to compare the ways that these two contemporary regimes, similar in size and population, sought to control human activities and impose a set of regulated discipline over those who were ruled. Each chapter concerns the degrees and methods of forming a united people; the assumptions that lay behind such attempts; the reliance that imperial authority placed on religious practices; legal impositions and the structure of institutions; and the bases of social cohesion and economic co-operation. The result is an engaging study of two remarkable empires, whose rise and fall are contrasted in a way that deepens our understanding of empire and civilisation.

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    Table of Contents:

    List of Illustrations
    List of Tables
    Abbreviations
    Editors' Foreword
    Preface

    Introduction
    1. Historical Sources and Attitudes to the Past
    2. The Concept and Practice of Monarchy
    3. Some Religious Aspects
    4. Social Structure and Changes
    5. The Structure and Conduct of Government
    6. Monetary Practices, Population, and the Use of Coins
    7. The Land and the Cities
    8. Military Organization and Conscripted Service
    9. The Laws of Rome and the Statutes and Ordinances of Han
    10. The Growth of the Empires
    Conclusion

    Biographical notes
    Glossary of Chinese and Roman terms
    Bibliography
    Index

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