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Explores the creative potential of juxtaposing the cultural foundations of the Mediterranean world and ancient China. Embarking from the observation that Greek, Roman, and Han-Chinese societies were governed by comparable features, the contributors to this volume explain the dynamic interplay between political rulers and the ruled masses.
List of contents
Editors' preface: Introduction. The many faces of 'the people' in the ancient world: ¿¿¿¿¿ ¿ populus ¿ ¿ min Hans Beck and Griet Vankeerberghen; Part I. Authority and Lifestyles of Distinction: 1. Of gold and purple: nobles in western Han China and republican Rome Griet Vankeerberghen; 2. A tale of two stones: social memory in Roman Greece and Han China Miranda Brown with Zhang Zhongwei; 3. Private associations and urban experience in the Han and Roman Empires Carlos Noreña; Part II. The People as Agents and Addressees: 4. Rhetoric, oratory and people in ancient Rome and early China Francisco Pina Polo; 5. Female commoners and the law in early imperial China: evidence from recently recovered documents with some comparisons with classical Rome Robin Yates; 6. Registers of 'the people' in Greece, Rome, and China Hans Beck; 7. Food distribution for the People: welfare, food, and feasts in Rome and in Qin/Han China Moonsil Lee Kim; Part III. Inversions of the People: Emperors and Tyrants: 8. Augustus, the Roman plebs and the dictatorship: 22 BCE and beyond Alexander Yakobson; 9. Liberation as burlesque: the death of the tyrant Garret Pagenstecher Olberding; 10. Historical necessity or biographical singularity? Some aspects in the biographies of C. Iulius Caesar and Qin Shi Huangdi David Engels; 11. Employing knowledge: a case study in calendar reforms in the early Han and Roman Empires Rebecca Robinson; Part IV. Identities and 'Others': 12. The invention of the 'barbarian' and ethnic identity in early Greece and China Yang Huang; 13. Ethnic identity and the 'barbarian' in classical Greece and early China: its origins and distinctive features Hyun Jin Kim; Glossary.
Summary
Explores the creative potential of juxtaposing the cultural foundations of the Mediterranean world and ancient China. Embarking from the observation that Greek, Roman, and Han-Chinese societies were governed by comparable features, the contributors to this volume explain the dynamic interplay between political rulers and the ruled masses.
