Description

large 8vo, hardcover 316pp. Although they existed more than a millennium apart, the great civilizations of New Kingdom Egypt (ca. 1548ñ1086 BCE) and Han dynasty China (206 BCEñ220 CE) shared intriguing similarities. Both were centered around major, flood-prone riversóthe Nile and the Yellow Riveróand established complex hydraulic systems to manage their power. Both spread their territories across vast empires that were controlled through warfare and diplomacy and underwent periods of radical reform led by charismatic rulersóthe ìheretic kingî Akhenaten and the vilified reformer Wang Mang. Universal justice was dispensed through courts, and each empire was administered by bureaucracies staffed by highly trained scribes who held special status. Egypt and China each developed elaborate conceptions of an afterlife world and created games of fate that facilitated access to these realms.