Imperial Institutions in Ancient Rome and Early China

Michael Loewe is Professor Emeritus of Chinese Studies at the University of Cambridge, UK. Trained initially in Classics, he is one of the most prominent scholars of Chinese history and culture. Loewe has also served as the Director of the Needham Research Institute in Cambridge, UK, which is devoted to the study of the history of East-Asian science and technology. He is author of a dozen books on early China, and the co-editor of China's Early Empires: A Reappraisal (2010) and The Cambridge History of Ancient China (1986).T. Corey Brennan is Professor of Classics at Rutgers University, USA. He is author of The Fasces: A History of Ancient Rome's Most Dangerous Political Symbol (2022) and Sabina Augusta: An Imperial Journey (2018). His research interests include Roman political history and the social history of classical antiquity.Michael Nylan is Jane K. Sather Professor of History at the University of California at Berkeley, USA, and a former student of Michael Loewe. She has published numerous books and articles on early China, including The Art of War: A New Translation (2022), and The Chinese Pleasure Book (2018), as well as a forthcoming monograph with Bloomsbury on environmental history.

• List of IllustrationsList of TablesAbbreviations Editors’ ForewordPrefaceIntroduction1. Historical Sources and Attitudes to the Past2. The Concept and Practice of Monarchy3. Some Religious Aspects4. Social Structure and Changes5. The Structure and Conduct of Government6. Monetary Practices, Population, and the Use of Coins7. The Land and the Cities8. Military Organization and Conscripted Service9. The Laws of Rome and the Statutes and Ordinances of Han10. The Growth of the EmpiresConclusionBiographical notesGlossary of Chinese and Roman termsBibliographyIndex

A legendary scholar and centenarian, Michael Loewe invites us to a new saeculum of comparative history.