universal empire
London
Rome in the World History of Universal Empire Radically new history This project
launches a radically new kind of ancient history: global in scope, comparative
in approach. Its aims are three: It seeks to situate the Roman Empire within a
world history of universal empires. To do so, a group of scholars has been
formed, each to produce a comparative monograph to explore key dimensions of
Roman imperial power in a world-historical context. The end in view is to fill a
gap in the currently most successful macro-sociological theory and account of
organized power in human society, which is that of Michael Mann. Cross-cultural
and comparative imperial history How situate the Roman Empire in world history?
Answering this question calls for a new kind of scholarship: cross-cultural,
comparative and pre-industrial world history. This project aims to deliver just
that and to do so by integrating two forceful, yet partly separate scholarly
discourses. One is the long tradition of treating Roman imperial history as the
foundation of European civilization. The other is the fast-evolving discourse on
global history, dominated by a focus on Central and East Asia.
