Empires of Ancient Eurasia

Craig Benjamin is Professor of History at Grand Valley State University in Michigan. He is the author of several books and numerous chapters and articles on ancient history, including Volume 4 of The Cambridge History of the World (Cambridge, 2015). Craig has filmed programs and courses for the History Channel and The Great Courses. He is a Past President of the World History Association and Vice President of the International Big History Association.

• Introduction; 1. Pastoral nomads and the empires of the Steppe; 2. Early China: prelude to the silk roads; 3. Zhang Qian and Han expansion into Central Asia; 4. The early Han dynasty and the Eastern Silk Roads; 5. Rome and the Western Silk Roads; 6. The Parthian Empire and the Silk Roads; 7. The Kushan Empire: at the crossroads of ancient Eurasia; 8. Maritime routes of the first Silk Roads era; 9. Collapse of Empires and the decline of the first Silk Roads era; Conclusion.

'Craig Benjamin places the pastoral nomads of Central Asia - and their horses - at the center of the story of the First Silk Road Era, convincingly arguing that the Yuezhi and Xiongnu, two militarized nomadic confederations rarely even mentioned in surveys of world history, are responsible for this dramatic period of trade and cultural exchange.' Merry Wiesner-Hanks, Editor-in-Chief, Cambridge World History