Chapter 3 of 10All chapters
Chapter 3 of 10
Classical empires
Rome, Han, Persia, Maurya.
Scale
By around two thousand years ago, a handful of empires governed much of the settled world, connected by trade routes across Eurasia.
- Roads, coinage and standard weights were tools of control as much as commerce.
- Buddhism, Christianity and other traditions spread along these networks.
Collapse
Empires fell to combinations of overextension, plague, climate stress and pressure on frontiers. Decline was usually gradual and regionally uneven.