Polity Suprapolity Relations List
A viewset for viewing and editing Polity Suprapolity Relations.
GET /api/general/polity-suprapolities/?ordering=-description&page=3
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Vowing never again to allow a single person to amass so much authority, the revolutionaries established in place of the monarchy a republican system of governance, featuring a senate composed of aristocratic men and a series of elected political and military officials. The Roman Republic was a remarkably stable and successful polity, lasting from 509 BCE until it was transformed into an imperial state under Augustus in 31 BCE (though the exact date is debated, as this was not a formal transformation). We divide the Republic into an early (509-264 BCE), a middle (264-133 BCE), and a late (133-31 BCE) period.<br>During the 3rd century BCE, Rome fought two separate wars (264-241 BCE and 218-201 BCE) against the Punic people, inhabitants of a former Phoenician colony in North Africa, Sicily, and southern Spain. The latter conflict featured a bitter contest against the famous Punic general Hannibal, who nearly defeated the Romans on his dramatic march through Italy from 218 to 216 BCE. However, Rome recovered, won control of Punic holdings in Sicily and Spain, and established what were essentially vassal kingdoms in North Africa. In the early 2nd century BCE, Rome became embroiled in another series of wars in Greece, Macedonia, and Anatolia. The 3rd and 2nd centuries were a somewhat chaotic time in the eastern Mediterranean, following the fragmentation of Alexander the Great's Macedonian Empire after his death in 323 BCE. Alexander's Empire had essentially dissolved into a series of successor states, which engaged in near-constant warfare in their attempts to expand at the others' expense. §REF§ (Eckstein 2006, chapter 4) Arthur M. Eckstein. 2006. <i>Mediterranean Anarchy, Interstate War, and the Rise of Rome</i>. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. §REF§ By 148 BCE, at the conclusion of the fourth and final Macedonian War, Rome was either in possession of or was firmly established as hegemon over the entire Mediterranean basin, from Spain in the west to Anatolia in the east, and France in the north to Libya and Egypt in the south. This position brought new territory along with a flood of new peoples, culture, and wealth from the ancient civilizations in Greece, Egypt, and Anatolia. By the end of the Middle Republic period, Rome was virtually unchallenged by external enemies, although this newfound wealth and power was accompanied by the period of internal turmoil that characterized the Late Republic.<br><i>Population and political organization</i><br>Rome during the Republican period possessed no written constitution, but was governed largely through the power and prestige of the Senate, with a clear respect for precedent and for maintaining Rome's traditions. §REF§ (Brennan 2004, 31) Corey T. Brennan. 2004. 'Power and Process under the Republican \"Constitution\"', in <i>The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic</i>, edited by Harriet I. Flower, 31-65. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. §REF§ A primary goal of the early Republic was to establish clear checks on the power of any single ruler - the military office of chief commander was in fact split between two generals (consuls), while the chief priestly and legislative posts were split among different people (individuals were restricted from holding multiple offices at once) - and popular assemblies voted on new laws.<br>Romans of this period did not distinguish between what is today termed 'secular' and 'sacred' authority; although individual magistracies had distinct functions, the same person often held both religious and political offices over the course of their lifetime, as they were thought to be part of essentially the same sphere of governance. The Republic featured a substantial array of religious offices and institutions intended to determine the will of the gods or to please them through the proper performance of rituals and the maintenance of large public temples. §REF§ (Brennan 2004, 37) Corey T. Brennan. 2004. 'Power and Process under the Republican \"Constitution\"', in <i>The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic</i>, edited by Harriet I. Flower, 31-65. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. §REF§ These public auspices were the basis of magisterial power in the Republic. §REF§ (Brennan 2004, 37) Corey T. Brennan. 2004. 'Power and Process under the Republican \"Constitution\"', in <i>The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic</i>, edited by Harriet I. Flower, 31-65. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. §REF§ Auspices were sometimes taken by consuls and other officials, for example before important military engagements, §REF§ (Brennan 2004, 37) Corey T. Brennan. 2004. 'Power and Process under the Republican \"Constitution\"', in <i>The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic</i>, edited by Harriet I. Flower, 31-65. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. §REF§ but were mainly managed by specialist elected priests and full-time priestesses (such as the Vestal Virgins) and other priestly offices supported by the state. §REF§ (Culham 2004, 131) Phyllis Culham. 2004. 'Women in the Roman Republic, in <i>The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic</i>, edited by Harriet I. Flower, 139-59. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. §REF§ <br>The Middle Roman Republic saw many firsts in Rome's economic development. The first paved road was the likely the military road to Capua known as the Appian Way, commissioned around 312 BCE. The first Roman coins (large cast bronze coins) appear around 270 BCE, followed by struck bronze and silver coins imitating Greek forms. §REF§ (von Reden 2010, 50) Sitta von Reden. 2010. <i>Money in Classical Antiquity</i>. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. §REF§ §REF§ (Crawford 1974, 6-11) Michael H. Crawford. 1974. <i>Roman Republican Coinage</i>. 2 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. §REF§ This period also saw a further population increase in the total population of Roman-controlled Italy to between about three and five million people, with Rome itself likely supporting over 200,000 people by the end of the 3rd century BCE. §REF§ (Scheidel 2008) Walter Scheidel. 2008. 'Roman Population Size: The Logic of the Debate', in <i>People, Land, and Politics: Demographic Developments and the Transformation of Roman Italy, 300 BC-AD 14</i>, edited by L. de Ligt and S. J. Northwood, 17-70. Leiden: Brill. §REF§ ", "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": null, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "home_nga": { "id": 1, "name": "Latium", "subregion": "Southern Europe", "longitude": "12.486948000000", "latitude": "41.890407000000", "capital_city": "Rome", "nga_code": "IT", "fao_country": "Italy", "world_region": "Europe" }, "home_seshat_region": { "id": 18, "name": "Southern Europe", "subregions_list": "Iberia, Italy", "mac_region": { "id": 5, "name": "Europe" } }, "private_comment_n": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" } }, "comment": null, "private_comment": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" }, "other_polity": null, "citations": [], "curator": [] }, { "id": 188, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "description": null, "note": null, "finalized": true, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "expert_reviewed": true, "drb_reviewed": false, "name": "supra-polity_relations", "supra_polity_relations": "none", "polity": { "id": 70, "name": "ItRomPr", "start_year": -31, "end_year": 284, "long_name": "Roman Empire - Principate", "new_name": "it_roman_principate", "polity_tag": "LEGACY", "general_description": "The Roman Principate (31 BCE-284 CE) refers to the first period of the Roman Empire, when the de facto ruler was termed the <i>princeps</i>, or 'leading citizen'. The period begins with the victory of the first emperor, Augustus (then Octavian) over his rival Mark Antony at the Battle of Actium in 31 BCE and ends with the accession of Diocletian after the 'crisis' of the 3rd century CE (235-284 CE). §REF§ (Boatwright et al. 2012) Mary T. Boatwright, Daniel J. Gargola, Noel Lenski and Richard J. A. Talbert. 2012. <i>The Romans. From Village to Empire: A History of Rome from Earliest Times to the End of the Western Empire</i>. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press. §REF§ <br>Retaining and solidifying many of the institutions, cultural forms, and economic base that had led to Rome's hegemonic position during the Republican period, the Empire became one of the largest, most long-lived, and most prosperous imperial states the world has ever known. Augustus established a dynasty lasting until the death of the Emperor Nero in 68 CE, after which followed a brief civil war between different potential successors. Despite repeated bouts of similar warfare during succession crises following the various dynasties that ruled the Principate, the Empire remained remarkably stable throughout this period. Rome was able to unite - and keep together - a huge swathe of territory encompassing all of western Europe, North Africa, Egypt, the eastern Mediterranean, most of Anatolia, and parts of the Near East. Integrating diverse regions into this single empire facilitated the spread of Roman institutions - notably its legal system, urban infrastructure, cultural forms, and political structure. It also promoted economic development by enabling the safe transport of goods and people to every corner of the empire. §REF§ (Bowman and Wilson 2009) Alan K. Bowman and Andrew Wilson. 2009. 'Quantifying the Roman Economy: Integration, Growth, Decline?', in <i>Quantifying the Roman Economy: Methods and Problems</i>, edited by Alan K. Bowman and Andrew Wilson, 3-86. Oxford: Oxford University Press. §REF§ It was during this period that Rome built some of its greatest structures: the Pantheon, the Coliseum, the imperial <i>fora</i> (market squares) in the heart of Rome, and many others. The Principate overall produced so much wealth and so many cultural achievements that the great 18th-century English historian Edward Gibbon proclaimed the Empire at its peak in the 2nd century CE to be 'the period in the history of the world, during which the condition of the human race was most happy and prosperous'. §REF§ (Gibbon [2003] 1869, 53) Edward Gibbon. [2003] 1869. <i>The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire</i>, edited by Hans-Friedrich Mueller. New York: Modern Library. §REF§ <br>In the late 3rd century CE, beginning after the end of the Severan Dynasty, the Principate nearly collapsed in the face of internal warfare and pressure from external foes, including the Sassanid Persian Empire and nomadic tribes from Germany and eastern Europe. Rome briefly lost control over parts of France, Britain, and southern Spain and suffered several significant losses in battle to the Sassanids. Under first the Emperor Aurelian (r. 270-275 CE) then Diocletian (r. 284-305), however, all territory was recovered and a series of administrative and economic reforms inaugurated a second phase of the Roman Empire, which we refer to as the Dominate (denoting the increasing centralization of authority and the development of a large bureaucratic apparatus).<br><i>Population and political organization</i><br>Nominally, there was no change in political organization between the Republican period and the Principate. The first princeps, Augustus, kept all Republican institutions and offices, including the Senate, intact. There was clear practical change in the power structure, however, as Augustus, and all emperors after him, asserted personal control over almost the entire Roman army and were granted unprecedented legislative, religious, and judicial powers to shape politics and Roman society at large. Whereas a defining principle of Republican governance was that no individual should be able to hold multiple offices simultaneously, amassing power in several domains (military, legislative, religious, and so on), emperors broke this tradition and drew their authority from numerous offices, titles, and the authority they carried. §REF§ (Noreña 2010) Carlos Noreña. 2010. 'The Early Imperial Monarchy', in <i>The Oxford Handbook of Roman Studies</i>, edited by A. Barchiesi and W. Scheidel, 533-46. Oxford: Oxford University Press. §REF§ <br>The Roman emperor was also generally one of the wealthiest people in the Principate, controlling huge agriculturally productive estates throughout the Empire, particularly in North Africa and Egypt. §REF§ (Kehoe 2007) Dennis P. Kehoe. 2007. <i>Law and the Rural Economy in the Roman Empire</i>. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press. §REF§ In this period, state revenues were split between the 'public' treasury (<i>aerarium</i>) and an imperial treasury (<i>fiscus</i>) under the direct control of the emperor. §REF§ (Adkins and Adkins 1998, 45) Lesley Adkins and Roy A. Adkins. 1998. <i>Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome</i>. Oxford: Oxford University Press. §REF§ The Principate had a fairly limited reach, particularly outside of Italy, but the state did have some significant expenses which it met by collecting tax from the Empire's vast territory and large population, taking in rents from the imperial estates. In addition to paying the salaries of imperial officials - a relatively small expense as only limited central authority was exerted in the provinces (mainly the provincial governors and their retinue) - the emperor was responsible for financing a professional citizen army, the major state expense along with public works projects such as roads, aqueducts, and temples. The costs of these public works, though, were split between the personal fortune of the emperors who acted as patrons, particularly in Italy, and that of wealthy patrons in the provinces, who financed much of the urban growth in these regions. Further, beginning in the later Republican period and continuing throughout the Empire, the imperial state provided grain at reduced prices to citizens living in Rome; another considerable expense. §REF§ (Duncan-Jones 1994) Richard Duncan-Jones. 1994. <i>Money and Government in the Roman Empire</i>. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. §REF§ §REF§ (Scheidel 2015) Walter Scheidel. 2015. 'State Revenue and Expenditure in the Han and Roman Empires', in <i>State Power in Ancient China and Rome</i>, edited by Walter Scheidel, 150-80. Oxford: Oxford University Press. §REF§ §REF§ (Garnsey and Saller 1987) Peter Garnsey and Richard P. Saller. 1987. <i>The Roman Empire: Economy, Society, and Culture</i>. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. §REF§ <br>The Emperor was assisted by his directly appointed <i>consilium</i> (advisory council), which was often made up of freedmen (manumitted slaves) and personal slaves. §REF§ (Noreña 2010, 538) Carlos Noreña. 2010. 'The Early Imperial Monarchy', in <i>The Oxford Handbook of Roman Studies</i>, edited by A. Barchiesi and W. Scheidel, 533-46. Oxford: Oxford University Press. §REF§ §REF§ (Harries 2010) Jill Harries. 2010. 'Law', in <i>The Oxford Handbook of Roman Studies</i>, edited by Alessandro Barchiesi and Walter Scheidel, 637-50. Oxford: Oxford University Press. §REF§ The Senate, not the emperor, formally retained ultimate executive power and could override or critique the emperor's actions, but in practice this was quite rare and could be dangerous to the critic. §REF§ (Harris 2010) W. V. Harris. 2010. 'Power', in <i>The Oxford Handbook of Roman Studies</i>, edited by Alessandro Barchiesi and Walter Scheidel, 564-78. Oxford: Oxford University Press. §REF§ This centralized exercise of power by the Emperor, though, did not extend to the provinces, where the focus of imperial administration was squarely on securing revenue (cash and in-kind tax and rents on imperial properties) and maintaining peace, both internally and against potential external enemies, notably the powerful Persian Empires to the East. Roman provinces were governed by fairly autonomous officials (<i>procurator</i>, <i>curator</i>, <i>praefectus</i>, <i>proconsul</i>, etc.) and priests (<i>flamen</i>, etc.). §REF§ (Talbert 1996) Richard J. A. Talbert. 1996. 'The Senate and Senatorial and Equestrian Posts', in <i>The Cambridge Ancient History</i>, edited by Alan K. Bowman, Edward Champlin and Andrew Lintott, 324-43. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. §REF§ §REF§ (Ando 2013) Clifford Ando. 2013. <i>Imperial Ideology and Provincial Loyalty in the Roman Empire</i>. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. §REF§ Urbanization was also encouraged throughout the Empire; provincial cities were administered as 'mini-Rome's, with local urban equivalents of the Senate and most administrative, judicial, and religious magistracies. Roman cultural and infrastructural achievements were widely mimicked, with aqueducts, temples, theatres, bathhouses, and material culture (for example, particular ceramic forms, a culture of communal feasting, and the habit of publicizing achievements with inscribed stone tablets) adapted by numerous provincial towns and cities. §REF§ (Wilson 2011) Andrew Wilson. 2011. 'City Sizes and Urbanization in the Roman Empire', in <i>Settlement, Urbanization, and Population</i>, edited by Alan K. Bowman and Andrew Wilson, 161-95. Oxford: Oxford University Press. §REF§ This was true across the Empire, though particularly salient in the west, whereas Roman settlements in the East tended to retain many of their pre-Roman urban forms and cultural traditions. §REF§ (Boatwright 2000) Mary Taliaferro Boatwright. 2000. <i>Hadrian and the Cities of the Roman Empire</i>. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. §REF§ §REF§ (Ando 2013) Clifford Ando. 2013. <i>Imperial Ideology and Provincial Loyalty in the Roman Empire</i>. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. §REF§ <br>By the mid-2nd century CE, the city of Rome had reached over one million inhabitants, a significant feat for an ancient urban settlement. The population of the entire Empire is estimated at between 50 to over 60 million. §REF§ (Scheidel 2009) Walter Scheidel. 2009. 'Population and Demography', in <i>A Companion to Ancient History</i>, edited by A. Erskine, 234-45. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. §REF§ Estimating the number of state employees is an extremely difficult task, but one scholar has supposed that if the imperial government at its largest extent in the 4th century CE 'had somewhat over thirty thousand functionaries', then before this time a figure of 10,000-12,000 might be reasonable. §REF§ (Lendon 1997, 3) J. E. Lendon. 1997. <i>Empire of Honour: The Art of Government in the Roman World</i>. Oxford: Oxford University Press. §REF§ ", "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": null, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "home_nga": { "id": 1, "name": "Latium", "subregion": "Southern Europe", "longitude": "12.486948000000", "latitude": "41.890407000000", "capital_city": "Rome", "nga_code": "IT", "fao_country": "Italy", "world_region": "Europe" }, "home_seshat_region": { "id": 18, "name": "Southern Europe", "subregions_list": "Iberia, Italy", "mac_region": { "id": 5, "name": "Europe" } }, "private_comment_n": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" } }, "comment": null, "private_comment": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" }, "other_polity": null, "citations": [], "curator": [] }, { "id": 92, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "description": null, "note": null, "finalized": true, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "expert_reviewed": true, "drb_reviewed": false, "name": "supra-polity_relations", "supra_polity_relations": "none", "polity": { "id": 67, "name": "GrCrArc", "start_year": -710, "end_year": -500, "long_name": "Archaic Crete", "new_name": "gr_crete_archaic", "polity_tag": "LEGACY", "general_description": "Crete is a large island in the Eastern Mediterranean. The Archaic Crete (7th-6th centuries) is divided in the following periods: Orientalizing or Daedalic or Early Archaic (710-600 BCE) and Archaic Archaic (600-500).<br>There was no capital city as Crete was divided into territorial entities, each one centered upon a city that served as the main political and economic centre of its well-defined region. Political, military and religious control was exercised by the Kosmoi, a board of 3 to 10 annually elected nobles. §REF§ Lembesi, A. 1987. \"Η Κρητών Πολιτεία,\" in Panagiotakis, N. (ed.), <i>Κρήτη: Ιστορία και Πολιτισμός</i>, Heraklion, 166-72. §REF§ §REF§ Lembesi, A. 1987. \"Η Κρητών Πολιτεία,\" in Panagiotakis, N. (ed.), <i>Κρήτη: Ιστορία και Πολιτισμός</i>, Heraklion, 166-72. §REF§ <br>No information could be found in the sources consulted regarding the polity's overall population, however the largest settlement, Knossos, is estimated to have housed about 4,000 people.", "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": null, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "home_nga": { "id": 4, "name": "Crete", "subregion": "Southeastern Europe", "longitude": "25.144200000000", "latitude": "35.338700000000", "capital_city": "Heraklion", "nga_code": "GR", "fao_country": "Greece", "world_region": "Europe" }, "home_seshat_region": { "id": 19, "name": "Southeastern Europe", "subregions_list": "Frm. Yugoslavia, Romania-Moldova, Bulgaria, Albania, Greece", "mac_region": { "id": 5, "name": "Europe" } }, "private_comment_n": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" } }, "comment": null, "private_comment": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" }, "other_polity": null, "citations": [], "curator": [] }, { "id": 28, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "description": null, "note": null, "finalized": true, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "expert_reviewed": true, "drb_reviewed": false, "name": "supra-polity_relations", "supra_polity_relations": "none", "polity": { "id": 264, "name": "CnTangL", "start_year": 763, "end_year": 907, "long_name": "Tang Dynasty II", "new_name": "cn_tang_dyn_2", "polity_tag": "LEGACY", "general_description": "The Tang Dynasty is widely considered a cultural and political high point of imperial China. The dynasty was founded by Li Yuan, the Duke of Tang, when the threat of insurrection forced the previous Sui dynasty court to flee from Luoyang, the capital, to Yangzhou. Li Yuan marched to Luoyang and seized the abandoned capital in 618 CE. §REF§ (Benn 2002, 1) Charles Benn. 2002. <i>China's Golden Age: Everyday Life in the Tang Dynasty</i>. Oxford: Oxford University Press. §REF§ He became the first emperor of the Tang dynasty (r. 618-626 CE) and is posthumously known as Gaozu. Under the Early Tang Dynasty, the capital was moved from Chang'an to Luoyang. §REF§ (Lewis 2009, 37) Mark Edward Lewis. 2009. <i>China's Cosmopolitan Empire: The Tang Dynasty</i>. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. §REF§ We divide the Dynasty into an Early period (618-763 CE) and Late period (763-907 CE), separated by the decline in imperial authority and instability of experienced by the Tang in the 750s, culminating in the An Lushan rebellion to close out the Early period (755‒763 CE).<br>The Tang Dynasty continued to rule China after the defeat of the An Lushan rebellion (755‒763 CE). §REF§ (Perkins 1999, 11) Dorothy Perkins. 1999. <i>Encyclopedia of China</i>. New York: Routledge. §REF§ However, the government never fully recovered from its impact. §REF§ (Perkins 1999, 11) Dorothy Perkins. 1999. <i>Encyclopedia of China</i>. New York: Routledge. §REF§ Tang border defences were devastated, leading to attacks from outsiders and pirates. The Tang government maintained an often-uneasy alliance with the Uighurs against the Tibetans. §REF§ (Benn 2002, 12) Charles Benn. 2002. <i>Daily Life in Traditional China: The Tang Dynasty</i>. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. §REF§ In 790, Tibetan forces occupied Chinese land in eastern Turkestan and ended Chinese rule in the region for almost a thousand years. §REF§ (Lewis 2009, 64) Mark Edward Lewis. 2009. <i>China's Cosmopolitan Empire: The Tang Dynasty</i>. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. §REF§ §REF§ (Benn 2002, 11) Charles Benn. 2002. <i>Daily Life in Traditional China: The Tang Dynasty</i>. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. §REF§ <br>Late Tang China was marked by conflict, with the occasional brief period of peace. Emperor Xianzong's campaigns against rebel governors in the early 9th century restored almost all of China back to direct rule under the Tang government. §REF§ (Lewis 2009, 64) Mark Edward Lewis. 2009. <i>China's Cosmopolitan Empire: The Tang Dynasty</i>. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. §REF§ Xianzong was successful in restoring stability to the Tang Empire and his death was followed by 40 years of peace. §REF§ (Benn 2002, 16) Charles Benn. 2002. <i>Daily Life in Traditional China: The Tang Dynasty</i>. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. §REF§ Later, Emperor Wuzong persecuted Buddhists and adherents of other non-indigenous religions. His movement reached its height in 845 CE and most monasteries were destroyed, but his successors reversed his anti-Buddhist policies. §REF§ (Benn 2002, 16-17) Charles Benn. 2002. <i>Daily Life in Traditional China: The Tang Dynasty</i>. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. §REF§ <br>The dynasty fell in 881 CE after a series of internal rebellions, leading to about a century characterized by the rise of powerful warlords in the south and political turmoil in the north §REF§ (Ebrey 1996, 136) Patricia Buckley Ebrey. 1996. <i>The Cambridge Illustrated History of China</i>. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. §REF§ before another period of Chinese efflorescence under the Northern Song Dynasty. §REF§ (Benn 2002, 18) Charles Benn. 2002. <i>Daily Life in Traditional China: The Tang Dynasty</i>. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. §REF§ <br><i>Population and political organization</i><br>The Late Tang Dynasty was marked by tensions between the central government and military garrisons. §REF§ (Lewis 2009, 60) Mark Edward Lewis. 2009. <i>China's Cosmopolitan Empire: The Tang Dynasty</i>. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. §REF§ In 763 CE, two-thirds of the provincial governors were military commanders. §REF§ (Benn 2002, 12) Charles Benn. 2002. <i>Daily Life in Traditional China: The Tang Dynasty</i>. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. §REF§ Tang emperors attempted to weaken the central bureaucracy by having military governors pay direct tribute instead of taxes. §REF§ (Lewis 2009, 63) Mark Edward Lewis. 2009. <i>China's Cosmopolitan Empire: The Tang Dynasty</i>. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. §REF§ The Tang government implemented the two-tax system in 780 CE, which replaced the 'equal land' distribution system of the Early Tang. §REF§ (Lewis 2009, 65) Mark Edward Lewis. 2009. <i>China's Cosmopolitan Empire: The Tang Dynasty</i>. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. §REF§ This system of taxation represented an attempt to weaken military garrison governments and to divert taxation income to the central government. §REF§ (Lewis 2009, 65) Mark Edward Lewis. 2009. <i>China's Cosmopolitan Empire: The Tang Dynasty</i>. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. §REF§ <br>The Late Tang central government was marked by the rise of eunuchs. Eunuchs did not hold powerful positions in the Early Tang government, but in the later period the Department of the Inner Palace, staffed by eunuchs, became a powerful governmental authority ‒ more powerful than the emperor's chief ministers. §REF§ (Dalby 1979, 571-72) Michael T. Dalby. 1979. 'Court Politics in Late T'ang Times', in <i>The Cambridge History of China, Volume 3: Sui and T'ang China, 589-906 AD, Part One</i>, edited by D. C. Twitchett, 561-681. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. §REF§ <br>Because the dynasty was marked by almost constant conflict, the population of Late Tang China is difficult to estimate. In 766 CE there were between 40 million and 55 million citizens, §REF§ (Rodzinski 1979, 130) Witold Rodzinski. 1979. <i>A History of China, Volume 1</i>. Oxford: Pergamon Press. §REF§ and in 900 CE there were between 60 million and 80 million. §REF§ (Lorge 2005, 182) Peter A. Lorge. 2005. <i>War, Politics and Society in Early Modern China, 900‒1795</i>. Abingdon: Routledge. §REF§", "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": "JR: This was previously named \"Later Tang\". However, Ruth Mostern noted that our use of \"Early Tang\" for 617-763 CE and \"Later Tang\" for 763-907 was confusing because \"Later Tang\" is used by historians to refer to a short-lived regime 923-37.", "created_date": null, "modified_date": "2024-04-15T14:33:24.590598Z", "home_nga": { "id": 20, "name": "Middle Yellow River Valley", "subregion": "North China", "longitude": "112.517587000000", "latitude": "34.701825000000", "capital_city": "Luoyang", "nga_code": "CN", "fao_country": "China", "world_region": "East Asia" }, "home_seshat_region": { "id": 58, "name": "North China", "subregions_list": "North China without Tibet, Inner Mongolia, and Xinjiang", "mac_region": { "id": 4, "name": "East Asia" } }, "private_comment_n": { "id": 12, "text": "a new_private_comment_text new approach for polity" } }, "comment": null, "private_comment": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" }, "other_polity": null, "citations": [], "curator": [] }, { "id": 93, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "description": null, "note": null, "finalized": true, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "expert_reviewed": true, "drb_reviewed": false, "name": "supra-polity_relations", "supra_polity_relations": "none", "polity": { "id": 74, "name": "GrCrEmr", "start_year": 824, "end_year": 961, "long_name": "The Emirate of Crete", "new_name": "gr_crete_emirate", "polity_tag": "LEGACY", "general_description": "Between 824 and 962, Crete was ruled by Andalusian Arabs. The latter had taken the island from the Byzantines (who subsequently lost the control of the maritime trade routes in the Aegean specifically and the eastern Mediterranean generally), and made it into an emirate, with Khandax, i.e. modern-day Heraklion, as its capital. The surviving evidence for the organization of the emirate and the Cretan society of the period is, unfortunately, scanty, with almost no archaeology and few, contradictory written sources. The original Byzantine sources are biased against the Arabs, and quite a few modern scholars have taken these sources at face value, presenting the Arabs as uncivilized barbarians, overly concerned with piracy. In fact, based on what is known about Arabic civilization in the rest of the Mediterranean at this time, it is likely that the Emirate of Crete was similarly sophisticated in its culture and social organization, though to its prolonged animosity with the Byzantines, it almost certainly retained a strong militaristic character as well. In 962, the Byzantines regained control of the island. §REF§ (Christides 2011, 17) Vassilios Christides. 2011. 'The cycle of the Arab-Byzantine struggle in Crete (ca. 824/6-961 AD) in the illuminate manuscript of Skylitzes (Codex Martinensis Graecus Vitr. 26-2)'. <i>Craeco-Arabica</i> 9: 17. §REF§ §REF§ (Christides 1984) Vassilios Christides. 1984. <i>The Conquest of Crete by Arabs (ca. 824). A Turning Point in the Struggle Between Byzantium and Islam</i>. Athens: Akademia Athenon. §REF§ <br><i>Population and political organization</i><br>A rough estimate of the island's population at this time is of 250,000 inhabitants. §REF§ (Papadopoulos 1948, 37) Ioannes B. Papadopoulos. 1948. <i>Η Κρήτη υπό τους Σαρακηνούς (824-961)</i>. Athens: Byzantinisch-Neugriechischen Jahrbücher. §REF§ In terms of its political organization, Crete was divided into forty districts and was ruled by an emir who only nominally recognized the Caliph of Baghdad. §REF§ (Christides 1984) Vassilios Christides. 1984. <i>The Conquest of Crete by Arabs (ca. 824). A Turning Point in the Struggle Between Byzantium and Islam</i>. Athens: Akademia Athenon. §REF§ <br><br/>", "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": null, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "home_nga": { "id": 4, "name": "Crete", "subregion": "Southeastern Europe", "longitude": "25.144200000000", "latitude": "35.338700000000", "capital_city": "Heraklion", "nga_code": "GR", "fao_country": "Greece", "world_region": "Europe" }, "home_seshat_region": { "id": 19, "name": "Southeastern Europe", "subregions_list": "Frm. Yugoslavia, Romania-Moldova, Bulgaria, Albania, Greece", "mac_region": { "id": 5, "name": "Europe" } }, "private_comment_n": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" } }, "comment": null, "private_comment": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" }, "other_polity": null, "citations": [], "curator": [] }, { "id": 270, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "description": null, "note": null, "finalized": true, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "expert_reviewed": true, "drb_reviewed": false, "name": "supra-polity_relations", "supra_polity_relations": "none", "polity": { "id": 126, "name": "PkIndGr", "start_year": -180, "end_year": -10, "long_name": "Indo-Greek Kingdom", "new_name": "pk_indo_greek_k", "polity_tag": "LEGACY", "general_description": "The Indo-Greek 'kingdom' was created after the Greco-Bactrians invaded northern India from 180 BCE. It consisted of a number of dynastic polities that ruled from regional capitals and formed a single entity only to the extent their rulers were able to collaborate. More than 30 kings are known, who were often in conflict with each other. §REF§ (Bernard 2012, 42-52) Paul Bernard. 'Ai Khanum: A Greek Colony in Post-Alexandrian Central Asia, or How to Be Greek in an Oriental Milieu.' in Elisabetta Valtz Fino. Joan Aruz. ed. 2012. <i>Afghanistan: Forging Civilizations Along the Silk Road.</i> The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York. §REF§ <br>Bopearachchi suggests the period was founded by two kings, Demetrius I and Agathocles, who ruled around 185 BCE, but Jakobsson (2009) believes that a later king known as Menander was \"instrumental in the creation of the era.\" §REF§ (Jakobsson 2009) Jakobsson, Jens. Who Founded the Indo-Greek Era of 186/5 B.C.E.? Dec 2009. The Classical Quarterly. New Series. Vol. 59. No.2. pp. 505-510. §REF§ The lack of consistent or reliable sources from either Western or Chinese sources means that much of what we know is speculative and reliant on numismatic evidence. §REF§ (Guillaume 1986, 1-16) Olivier Guillaume. 1986. \"An Analysis of the Modes of Reconstruction of the Graeco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek History.\" Studies in History 2, no. 1 §REF§ <br>It is likely the rulers, who simultaneously produced their own coinage, ruled different parts of the Indo-Greek polity and employed their own administrators. §REF§ (Jakobsson 2009. 505-510) Jens Jakobsson. Who Founded the Indo-Greek Era of 186/5 B.C.E.? Dec 2009. The Classical Quarterly. New Series. Vol. 59. No.2. §REF§ Governance of the Indo-Greek region was for the most part through personal kingship and organization extended only to the limits of a particular king's power. §REF§ (Jakobsson 2009, 505-510) Jens Jakobsson, Jens. Who Founded the Indo-Greek Era of 186/5 B.C.E.? Dec 2009. The Classical Quarterly. New Series. Vol. 59. No.2. §REF§ <br>After 145 BCE, Successive nomadic invasions by Scythians and other nomads isolated the Indo-Greeks from the wider Hellenic world. By the beginning of the first century CE, the Greco-Bactrian state was extinguished as an independent entity. §REF§ (Bernard 2012, 42-52) Paul Bernard. 'Ai Khanum: A Greek Colony in Post-Alexandrian Central Asia, or How to Be Greek in an Oriental Milieu.' in Elisabetta Valtz Fino. Joan Aruz. ed. 2012. <i>Afghanistan: Forging Civilizations Along the Silk Road.</i> The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York. §REF§ <br>Of the legacy of the civilization, the Greek alphabet survived until the Islamic conquest as the script of the Bactrian language, and the conversion of a Indo-Greek King to Buddhism became a part of the zeitgeist of the Indian collective historical memory. §REF§ (Bernard 2012, 42-52) Paul Bernard. 'Ai Khanum: A Greek Colony in Post-Alexandrian Central Asia, or How to Be Greek in an Oriental Milieu.' in Elisabetta Valtz Fino. Joan Aruz. ed. 2012. <i>Afghanistan: Forging Civilizations Along the Silk Road.</i> The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York. §REF§", "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": "", "created_date": null, "modified_date": "2023-11-20T10:59:20.104782Z", "home_nga": { "id": 13, "name": "Kachi Plain", "subregion": "Indo-Gangetic Plain", "longitude": "67.628836000000", "latitude": "29.377664000000", "capital_city": "Mehrgarh", "nga_code": "PK", "fao_country": "Pakistan", "world_region": "South Asia" }, "home_seshat_region": { "id": 38, "name": "Pakistan", "subregions_list": "Pakistan", "mac_region": { "id": 9, "name": "South Asia" } }, "private_comment_n": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" } }, "comment": null, "private_comment": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" }, "other_polity": null, "citations": [], "curator": [] }, { "id": 284, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "description": null, "note": null, "finalized": true, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "expert_reviewed": true, "drb_reviewed": false, "name": "supra-polity_relations", "supra_polity_relations": "none", "polity": { "id": 521, "name": "SdKusht", "start_year": -747, "end_year": -656, "long_name": "Egypt - Kushite Period", "new_name": "eg_kushite", "polity_tag": "LEGACY", "general_description": "Towards the end of the preceding Thebes-Libyan period, the northern reaches of the Nile River were invaded by Amun-worshipping Kushites from the south who had built up a strong state based in Napata, in the Sudan, at the foot of Gebel Barkal mountain. §REF§ (Leclant 1981, 285) J. Leclant. 1981. 'The Empire of Kush: Napata and Meroe', in <i>General History of Africa, Vol II: Ancient Civilizations of Africa</i>, edited by G. Mokhtar, 278-97. Paris: UNESCO. §REF§ The first Kushite ruler of Egypt, Piye, was crowned in Napata; §REF§ (Török 1997, 154) László Török. 1997. <i>The Kingdom of Kush: Handbook of the Napatan-Meriotic Civilization</i> Handbook of Oriental Studies, No. 31. Leiden: Brill. §REF§ this remained the capital of the Kushite Empire until c. 716 BCE, when the entire Nile Valley up to the delta was acquired under Shabaka, §REF§ (Leclant 1981, 280) J. Leclant. 1981. 'The Empire of Kush: Napata and Meroe', in <i>General History of Africa, Vol II: Ancient Civilizations of Africa</i>, edited by G. Mokhtar, 278-97. Paris: UNESCO. §REF§ who then moved the capital and royal residence from Napata to Memphis in order to emphasize the foreign dynasty's respect for traditional Egyptian customs. §REF§ (Török 1997, 167) László Török. 1997. <i>The Kingdom of Kush: Handbook of the Napatan-Meriotic Civilization</i> Handbook of Oriental Studies, No. 31. Leiden: Brill. §REF§ §REF§ (Taylor 2000, 349) John Taylor. 2000. 'The Third Intermediate Period (1069-664 BC)', in <i>The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt</i>, edited by Ian Shaw, 324-63. Oxford: Oxford University Press. §REF§ Kushite rule of Egypt (the Twenty-fifth Dynasty) occurred within an extremely complex political climate that has been the cause of much debate among historians. The Twenty-third Dynasty of the preceding Thebes-Libyan Period survived throughout this period, only to be toppled by the first ruler of the Saite Kingdom, Psamtek I (r. 664-610; Twenty-sixth Dynasty). The Egyptologist Jeremy Pope concludes that the 'Double Kingdom' (Kushite and Libyo-Egyptian) had some form of 'nominal unity' across a large territory. §REF§ (Pope 2014, 280) Jeremy Pope. 2014. <i>The Double Kingdom Under Taharqo</i>. Leiden: Brill. §REF§ <br>Population and political organization<br>Scholars debate the extent to which there was a centralized bureaucracy in Egypt under Kushite rule. In Lower Nubia, the Kushite king may have exercised power through 'invisible elites' such as merchants, pastoralists, and local potentates - 'a striking contrast with the bureaucratic formalization of Upper Egypt'. §REF§ (Pope 2014, 191) Jeremy Pope. 2014. <i>The Double Kingdom Under Taharqo</i>. Leiden: Brill. §REF§ Archaeologist Robert Morkot has argued that the Twenty-fifth Dynasty kept the Egyptian administrative system largely unchanged, making only relatively minor alterations such as appointing new individuals or families to official positions. §REF§ (Morkot 2013, 963) Robert G. Morkot. 2014. 'Thebes under the Kushites', in <i>Tombs of the South Asasif Necropolis: Thebes, Karakhamun (TT 223), and Karabasken (TT 391) in the Twenty-fifth Dynasty</i>, edited by Elena Pischikova, 5-22. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press. §REF§ However, Jeremy Pope believes that we cannot use New Kingdom analogies to draw conclusions about Kushite governing principles, and that 'central authority and administration had disappeared' in this period. §REF§ (Pope 2014, 203) Jeremy Pope. 2014. <i>The Double Kingdom Under Taharqo</i>. Leiden: Brill. §REF§ The Egyptian position of vizier probably continued but was 'deprived of effective power'. §REF§ (Taylor 2000, 348) John Taylor. 2000. 'The Third Intermediate Period (1069-664 BC)', in <i>The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt</i>, edited by Ian Shaw, 324-63. Oxford: Oxford University Press. §REF§ <br>What is not in doubt is that the Kushite king was a powerful military ruler and, in the Libyan tradition, likely made marriage alliances with the elite throughout Egypt. §REF§ (Morkot 2013, 961) Robert G. Morkot. 2014. 'Thebes under the Kushites', in <i>Tombs of the South Asasif Necropolis: Thebes, Karakhamun (TT 223), and Karabasken (TT 391) in the Twenty-fifth Dynasty</i>, edited by Elena Pischikova, 5-22. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press. §REF§ In general, Kushite rule drew its power from military capacity and the day-to-day workings of local government were left in the hands of the Egyptian dynasts. §REF§ (O'Connor 1983, 243) David O'Connor. 1983. 'Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period c. 2686-1552 BC', in <i>Ancient Egypt: A Social History</i>, edited by Bruce G. Trigger, Barry J. Kemp, David O'Connor and Alan B. Lloyd, 183-278. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. §REF§ Nubians and Egyptians also shared a common set of religious practices. King Piye, who successfully invaded Egypt, boasted of his divine legitimacy on a stele: 'Amon of Napata has made me sovereign over every people', §REF§ (Leclant 1981, 280) J. Leclant. 1981. 'The Empire of Kush: Napata and Meroe', in <i>General History of Africa, Vol II: Ancient Civilizations of Africa</i>, edited by G. Mokhtar, 278-97. Paris: UNESCO. §REF§ and established an official cult of Amun around 780-760 BCE; his sister became priestess. §REF§ (Török 1997, 144) László Török. 1997. <i>The Kingdom of Kush: Handbook of the Napatan-Meriotic Civilization</i> Handbook of Oriental Studies, No. 31. Leiden: Brill. §REF§ The existing powerful religious offices in Upper Egypt were also important for Kushite rule: the position of God's Wife (or Divine Adoratrice) at Thebes was maintained due to its political utility, and Kushite royals were installed as high priests. §REF§ (O'Connor 1983, 243) David O'Connor. 1983. 'Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period c. 2686-1552 BC', in <i>Ancient Egypt: A Social History</i>, edited by Bruce G. Trigger, Barry J. Kemp, David O'Connor and Alan B. Lloyd, 183-278. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. §REF§ In earlier times, the high priest at Thebes had exercised both civil and military authority, but the Kushites maintained their own Kushite military commanders, while civil authority was given initially to Kushite governors and later to 'Theban bureaucrats'. §REF§ (O'Connor 1983, 208) David O'Connor. 1983. 'Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period c. 2686-1552 BC', in <i>Ancient Egypt: A Social History</i>, edited by Bruce G. Trigger, Barry J. Kemp, David O'Connor and Alan B. Lloyd, 183-278. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. §REF§ The end of Kushite rule in Egypt and the beginning of the Saite Dynasty furnishes a rare example of a peaceful transition, involving the adoption of the Saite princess Nitocris by the last Kushite Divine Adoratrice of Amun, Amenirdis II, in 656 BC. §REF§ (Morkot 2013) Robert G. Morkot. 2014. 'Thebes under the Kushites', in <i>Tombs of the South Asasif Necropolis: Thebes, Karakhamun (TT 223), and Karabasken (TT 391) in the Twenty-fifth Dynasty</i>, edited by Elena Pischikova, 5-22. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press. §REF§ <br>Kushite-period Memphis, where the chief royal residence was based, §REF§ (Taylor 2000, 349) John Taylor. 2000. 'The Third Intermediate Period (1069-664 BC)', in <i>The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt</i>, edited by Ian Shaw, 324-63. Oxford: Oxford University Press. §REF§ is thought to have had a population of perhaps 65,000; the first capital, Napata, about 43,000. The Kushite Empire spanned roughly 600,000-700,000 square kilometres, but it is difficult to find reliable estimates for its population.", "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": null, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "home_nga": { "id": 5, "name": "Upper Egypt", "subregion": "Northeastern Africa", "longitude": "32.714706000000", "latitude": "25.725715000000", "capital_city": "Luxor", "nga_code": "EG", "fao_country": "Egypt", "world_region": "Africa" }, "home_seshat_region": { "id": 4, "name": "Northeast Africa", "subregions_list": "Egypt and Sudan (the Nile Basin)", "mac_region": { "id": 2, "name": "Africa" } }, "private_comment_n": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" } }, "comment": null, "private_comment": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" }, "other_polity": null, "citations": [], "curator": [] }, { "id": 285, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "description": null, "note": null, "finalized": true, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "expert_reviewed": true, "drb_reviewed": false, "name": "supra-polity_relations", "supra_polity_relations": "none", "polity": { "id": 131, "name": "SyCalUm", "start_year": 661, "end_year": 750, "long_name": "Umayyad Caliphate", "new_name": "sy_umayyad_cal", "polity_tag": "LEGACY", "general_description": "The Umayyad Caliphate was formed in 661 CE by Muawiya ibn Abi Sufyan following the assassination of Caliph Ali ibn Abi Talib, the cousin of the Prophet Muhammad. §REF§ (Madelung 1997, 108, 297) Wilferd Madelung. 1997. <i>The Succession to Muhammad: A Study of the Early Caliphate</i>. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. §REF§ It ended with the defeat of the Umayyads by the Abbasids in the Third Fitna (a series of Muslim civil wars) in 750 CE. §REF§ (Esposito, ed. 2003, 691) John L. Esposito, ed. 2003. <i>The Oxford Dictionary of Islam</i>. Oxford: Oxford University Press. §REF§ The Ummayad Caliphs, based in Damascus in Syria, ruled a large territory stretching from the Near East all the way through North Africa and into southern Spain.<br><i>Population and political organization</i><br>The caliph was a tribal patriarch and head of the <i>ummah</i>, the entire Islamic community. The central government of the Umayyad Caliphate was almost non-existent at the start of the period but entered a more developed stage in the mid-8th century. One of the reasons for this lack of central administration was the exceptionally successful Arab-Muslim army combined with the existence of functioning bureaucracies in the former Sassanid and Byzantine domains, which were left largely intact. §REF§ (Lapidus 2012, 55) Ira M. Lapidus. 2012. <i>Islamic Societies to the Nineteenth Century: A Global History</i>. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. §REF§ Thus, under Muawiya - the first Ummayad Caliph - the ruler was 'surrounded by Arab chiefs' with no other central administration. §REF§ (Lapidus 2012, 80-90) Ira M. Lapidus. 2012. <i>Islamic Societies to the Nineteenth Century: A Global History</i>. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. §REF§ At Damascus, an administrative system staffed by permanent officials §REF§ (Lapidus 2012, 36-38) Ira M. Lapidus. 2012. <i>Islamic Societies to the Nineteenth Century: A Global History</i>. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. §REF§ dates from the reigns of al-Malik (685-705 CE) and al-Walid (705-715 CE). §REF§ (Lapidus 2012, 80-90) Ira M. Lapidus. 2012. <i>Islamic Societies to the Nineteenth Century: A Global History</i>. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. §REF§ <br>The caliphs, from their residence in Damascus (661-744 CE) and then Harran (744-750 CE), employed a chamberlain to manage visitors and regulate daily affairs, §REF§ (Lapidus 2012, 80-90) Ira M. Lapidus. 2012. <i>Islamic Societies to the Nineteenth Century: A Global History</i>. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. §REF§ and maintained an office of the chancery §REF§ (Lapidus 2012, 50-51) Ira M. Lapidus. 2012. <i>Islamic Societies to the Nineteenth Century: A Global History</i>. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. §REF§ with officials called <i>diwans</i> to manage the collection of taxes and payment of salaries. §REF§ (Kennedy 2001, 88) Hugh N. Kennedy. 2001. <i>The Armies of the Caliphs: Military and Society in the Early Islamic State</i>. London: Routledge. §REF§ In order to impose their authority over the provinces, which had a combined population of up to 33 million, §REF§ (Blankinship 1994, 37-38) Khalid Y. Blankinship. 1994. <i>The End of the Jihad State: The Reign of Hisham Ibn 'Abd Al-Malik and the Collapse of the Umayyads</i>. Albany, NY: SUNY Press. §REF§ the Umayyads typically sent civil and military governors (<i>amel</i> and <i>amir</i>). §REF§ (Lambton 2011) Ann K. S. Lambton. 2011. 'Cities iii: Administration and Social Organization', in <i>Encyclopedia Iranica</i> V/6, 607-23; an updated version is available online at <a class=\"external free\" href=\"http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/cities-iii\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/cities-iii</a> (accessed 2 April 2017). §REF§ In the regions they conquered, the Ummayads had no choice but to use the resident staff because institutions to train and educate bureaucrats had not yet developed in the Arab Muslim context. In Egypt, for the first century of Umayyad rule, 'all the provincial officials were Christians'. §REF§ (Raymond 2000, 17) André Raymond. 2000. <i>Cairo</i>. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. §REF§ The Umayyad Caliphate was thus an exceptionally multicultural empire with a diverse governmental and cultural heritage.<br>This diversity was reflected in the number of languages spoken across the territory conquered by Muslims: from Basque in the far west to Berber and African Romance languages along the southern shores of the Mediterranean, and Aramaic, Turkic, Hebrew, Armenian and Kurdish in the east. §REF§ (Lapidus 2002, 126) Ira M. Lapidus. 2002. <i>A History of Islamic Societies</i>. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. §REF§ The use of Arabic as an administrative language began in Iraq in 697 CE, but spread outwards to Syria, Egypt and, by 700 CE, Khurasan in modern-day northeastern Iran. §REF§ (Lapidus 2012, 36-38) Ira M. Lapidus. 2012. <i>Islamic Societies to the Nineteenth Century: A Global History</i>. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. §REF§ In Egypt, the adoption of Arabic as the language of local government took over 100 years; initially, almost all papyruses were written in Greek. The first known bilingual Greek-Arabic document dates to 643 CE, and the last to 719. The earliest known Egyptian document written exclusively in Arabic is dated to 709 CE, and Greek was still being used up until 780 CE. §REF§ (Raymond 2000, 23) André Raymond. 2000. <i>Cairo</i>. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. §REF§", "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": "JR: edited long name from Ummayad to Umayyad", "created_date": null, "modified_date": "2024-03-27T09:30:27.298805Z", "home_nga": { "id": 8, "name": "Southern Mesopotamia", "subregion": "Levant-Mesopotamia", "longitude": "44.420000000000", "latitude": "32.470000000000", "capital_city": "Babylon (Hillah)", "nga_code": "IQ", "fao_country": "Iraq", "world_region": "Southwest Asia" }, "home_seshat_region": { "id": 61, "name": "Levant", "subregions_list": "Israel/Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria", "mac_region": { "id": 11, "name": "Southwest Asia" } }, "private_comment_n": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" } }, "comment": null, "private_comment": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" }, "other_polity": null, "citations": [], "curator": [] }, { "id": 288, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "description": null, "note": null, "finalized": true, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "expert_reviewed": true, "drb_reviewed": false, "name": "supra-polity_relations", "supra_polity_relations": "none", "polity": { "id": 462, "name": "TjSaraz", "start_year": -3500, "end_year": -2000, "long_name": "Sarazm", "new_name": "tj_sarasm", "polity_tag": "LEGACY", "general_description": "This polity is named after an ancient settlement site at Sarazm, located in modern Tajikistan. The period runs from its initial settlement around 3500 BCE to the site's abandonment c. 2000 BCE. §REF§ (Anthony 2010, 420) Anthony, David W. 2010. The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/7MNNVQRA\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/7MNNVQRA</a>. §REF§ This period at Sarazm represents the first urban phase in Sogdiana and has yielded evidence of ceramic production, agriculture, irrigation and metallurgy. §REF§ (de la Vaissière 2011) Vaissière, É. de la. 2011. “Sogdiana III: History and Archeology.” Encyclopædia Iranica. <a class=\"external free\" href=\"http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/sogdiana-iii-history-and-archeology\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/sogdiana-iii-history-and-archeology</a>. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/9AS4QQVB\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/9AS4QQVB</a>. §REF§ Ceramic evidence, along with the presence of seashells, suggests that contacts were maintained with different areas of Central Asia. §REF§ (Masson 1992, 232) Masson, V. M. 1992. “The Bronze Age In Khorasan and Transoxania.” In History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume I: The Dawn of Civilizations: Earliest Times to 700 B.C., edited by A. H. Dani and V. M. Masson, 225-46. Paris: UNESCO. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/JZ5DSUEB/q/masson\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/JZ5DSUEB/q/masson</a>. §REF§ §REF§ (Isakov 1994, 4-5) Isakov, A. 1994. “Sarazm: An Agricultural Center of Ancient Sogdiana.” Bulletin of the Asia Institute 8: 1-12. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/NWVCFNW7\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/NWVCFNW7</a>. §REF§ <br><i>Population and political organization</i><br>Due to the nature of the remaining evidence, the political organization of Sarazm is not known. While 100 hectares have been excavated at the site, the settlement area expanded and contracted throughout its existence, making a definite population estimate difficult for this period. §REF§ (de la Vaissière 2011) Vaissière, É. de la. 2011. “Sogdiana III: History and Archeology.” Encyclopædia Iranica. <a class=\"external free\" href=\"http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/sogdiana-iii-history-and-archeology\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/sogdiana-iii-history-and-archeology</a>. Seshat URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/9AS4QQVB\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/9AS4QQVB</a>. §REF§ ", "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": null, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "home_nga": { "id": 23, "name": "Sogdiana", "subregion": "Turkestan", "longitude": "66.938170000000", "latitude": "39.631284000000", "capital_city": "Samarkand", "nga_code": "UZ", "fao_country": "Uzbekistan", "world_region": "Central Eurasia" }, "home_seshat_region": { "id": 13, "name": "Turkestan", "subregions_list": "Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakstan, Xinjiang", "mac_region": { "id": 3, "name": "Central and Northern Eurasia" } }, "private_comment_n": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" } }, "comment": null, "private_comment": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" }, "other_polity": null, "citations": [], "curator": [] }, { "id": 50, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "description": null, "note": null, "finalized": true, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "expert_reviewed": true, "drb_reviewed": false, "name": "supra-polity_relations", "supra_polity_relations": "none", "polity": { "id": 511, "name": "EgNaqa1", "start_year": -3800, "end_year": -3550, "long_name": "Naqada I", "new_name": "eg_naqada_1", "polity_tag": "LEGACY", "general_description": "The Naqada is a Predynastic archaeological culture located in Upper Egypt, the strip of land flanking the Nile river south of the Faiyum region and north of the First Cataract. Named after the site where British archaeologist Flinders Petrie uncovered a necropolis of over 3000 graves in the late 19th century, §REF§ (Midant-Reynes 2000, 41) Béatrix Midant-Reynes. 2000. 'The Naqada Period (c. 4000-3200 BC)', in <i>The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt</i>, edited by Ian Shaw, 41-56. Oxford: Oxford University Press. §REF§ the Naqada culture is dated from around 3800 to 3100 BCE. §REF§ (Dee et al. 2013, 5) Michael Dee, David Wengrow, Andrew Shortland, Alice Stevenson, Fiona Brock, Linus Girdland Flink and Christopher Bronk Ramsey. 2013. 'An Absolute Chronology for Early Egypt Using Radiocarbon Dating and Bayesian Statistical Modelling'. <i>Proceedings of the Royal Society A</i> 469 (2159). DOI: 10.1098/rspa.2013.0395. §REF§ The Naqada has been subdivided into three periods ‒ the Amratian, Gerzean, and Semainean ‒ as well as, more recently, into Naqada IA-C, IIA-D, and IIIA-D. §REF§ (Stevenson 2016, 424) Alice Stevenson. 2016. 'The Egyptian Predynastic and State Formation'. <i>Journal of Archaeological Research</i> 24: 421-68. §REF§ §REF§ (Dee et al. 2013, 2) Michael Dee, David Wengrow, Andrew Shortland, Alice Stevenson, Fiona Brock, Linus Girdland Flink and Christopher Bronk Ramsey. 2013. 'An Absolute Chronology for Early Egypt Using Radiocarbon Dating and Bayesian Statistical Modelling'. <i>Proceedings of the Royal Society A</i> 469 (2159). DOI: 10.1098/rspa.2013.0395. §REF§ Seshat's 'Naqada 1' (3800-3550 BCE) corresponds to the Naqada IA-IIB phases; Naqada 2 (3550-3300 BCE) to IIC-IID; and Naqada 3 (3300-3100 BCE) to IIIA-IIIB. We end Naqada 3 with the IIIB-C transition, because the First Dynasty of the Egyptian state is considered to begin with the accession of King Aha in Naqada IIIC. §REF§ (Dee et al. 2013, 2) Michael Dee, David Wengrow, Andrew Shortland, Alice Stevenson, Fiona Brock, Linus Girdland Flink and Christopher Bronk Ramsey. 2013. 'An Absolute Chronology for Early Egypt Using Radiocarbon Dating and Bayesian Statistical Modelling'. <i>Proceedings of the Royal Society A</i> 469 (2159). DOI: 10.1098/rspa.2013.0395. §REF§ Naqada III is also sometimes referred to as the Protodynastic period or 'Dynasty 0'.<br>Early Naqada archaeological material is clustered around the key sites of Naqada itself, Abydos, and Hierakonpolis (ancient Nekhen) in the fertile land nestled around the 'Qena bend' of the Nile. §REF§ (Bard 1994, 267) Kathryn A. Bard. 1994. 'The Egyptian Predynastic: A Review of the Evidence'. <i>Journal of Field Archaeology</i> 21 (3): 265-88. §REF§ However, from the late Naqada II onwards, there is an archaeologically visible expansion of the culture both southwards along the Nile and northwards into Lower Egypt (the Delta), eventually reaching as far north as the Levant in Naqada IIIA-B. §REF§ (Stevenson 2016, 442-43) Alice Stevenson. 2016. 'The Egyptian Predynastic and State Formation'. <i>Journal of Archaeological Research</i> 24: 421-68. §REF§ <br><i>Population and Political Organization</i><br>The 4th millennium BCE was a crucial period for Egyptian state formation. Prior to roughly 3800 BCE, Upper Egypt was inhabited by seasonally mobile farmers and herders, constituting an archaeological culture known as the Badarian. §REF§ (Stevenson 2016, 422, 428-29) Alice Stevenson. 2016. 'The Egyptian Predynastic and State Formation'. <i>Journal of Archaeological Research</i> 24: 421-68. §REF§ However, the Naqada periods brought a series of key social transformations to the region, including increasing inequality, a greater commitment to sedentary settlement and cereal farming, the emergence of full-time craft specialists, and, towards the end of the millennium, the invention of writing. §REF§ (Stevenson 2016, 431-32, 434) Alice Stevenson. 2016. 'The Egyptian Predynastic and State Formation'. <i>Journal of Archaeological Research</i> 24: 421-68. §REF§ §REF§ (Hendrickx 2011, 93) Stan Hendrickx. 2011. 'Crafts and Craft Specialization', in <i>Before the Pyramids: The Origins of Egyptian Civilization</i>, edited by Emily Teeter, 93-98. Chicago: Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. §REF§ §REF§ (Wengrow 2011, 99) David Wengrow. 2011. 'The Invention of Writing in Egypt', in <i>Before the Pyramids: The Origins of Egyptian Civilization</i>, edited by Emily Teeter, 99-103. Chicago: Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. §REF§ The growth of hierarchical social structures and the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt laid the foundations for the divine kings and complex bureaucracy of the Old Kingdom and beyond.<br>During Naqada I, new forms of political organization appeared ‒ relatively swiftly compared to other prehistoric cultures ‒ in the upper Nile Valley. §REF§ (Stevenson 2016, 431-32) Alice Stevenson. 2016. 'The Egyptian Predynastic and State Formation'. <i>Journal of Archaeological Research</i> 24: 421-68. §REF§ According to the Egyptologist Branislav Anđelković, previously autonomous agricultural villages began to band together to form 'chiefdoms' or 'proto-nomes' between Naqada IA and IB (a 'nome' was an administrative division in the later Egyptian state). §REF§ (Anđelković 2011, 28) Branislav Anđelković. 2011. 'Political Organization of Egypt in the Predynastic Period', in <i>Before the Pyramids: The Origins of Egyptian Civilization</i>, edited by Emily Teeter, 25-32. Chicago: Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. §REF§ In Naqada IC, even larger political entities ‒ 'nome pre-states' ‒ started to form, centred on Naqada, Abydos and Hierakonpolis. It has been suggested that a 'primitive chiefdom' centred around a 'royal' authority based at Hierakonpolis, had formed by around 3700 BCE. §REF§ (García 2013, 187-88) Juan Carlos Moreno García. 2013. 'Building the Pharaonic State: Territory, Elite, and Power in Ancient Egypt during the Third Millennium BCE', in <i>Experiencing Power, Generating Authority: Cosmos, Politics, and the Ideology of Kingship in Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia</i>, edited by Jane A. Hill, Philip Jones, and Antonio J. Morales, 185-217. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press. §REF§ Not all researchers agree with this terminology, believing that it creates the impression of an inexorable march towards state formation, and some prefer to stress the fragile and experimental nature of early complex social formations in Upper Egypt. §REF§ (Stevenson 2016, 422, 427) Alice Stevenson. 2016. 'The Egyptian Predynastic and State Formation'. <i>Journal of Archaeological Research</i> 24: 421-68. §REF§ However, the term chiefdom remains in common usage as a label for the new ranked societies of the early 4th millennium. §REF§ (Stevenson 2016, 422) Alice Stevenson. 2016. 'The Egyptian Predynastic and State Formation'. <i>Journal of Archaeological Research</i> 24: 421-68. §REF§ §REF§ (Bard 2017, 2) Kathryn A. Bard. 2017. 'Political Economies of Predynastic Egypt and the Formation of the Early State'. <i>Journal of Archaeological Research</i> 25: 1-36. §REF§ §REF§ (Koehler 2010, 32) E. Christiana Koehler. 2010. 'Prehistory', in <i>A Companion to Ancient Egypt, Volume 1</i>, edited by Alan B. Lloyd, 25-47. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. §REF§ In the Naqada II period, 'proto-states' formed, and by the Naqada III we can speak of kings and a centralized government ruling over a unified Upper and Lower Egypt. §REF§ (Anđelković 2011, 29-30) Branislav Anđelković. 2011. 'Political Organization of Egypt in the Predynastic Period', in <i>Before the Pyramids: The Origins of Egyptian Civilization</i>, edited by Emily Teeter, 25-32. Chicago: Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. §REF§ <br>We lack firm figures for the population of Egypt during the Naqada. At the beginning of the period, most inhabitants of Upper Egypt were living in small villages. §REF§ (Anđelković 2011, 28) Branislav Anđelković. 2011. 'Political Organization of Egypt in the Predynastic Period', in <i>Before the Pyramids: The Origins of Egyptian Civilization</i>, edited by Emily Teeter, 25-32. Chicago: Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. §REF§ However, as the 4th millennium progressed, archaeologists can discern a process of urbanization and aggregation into larger political units. The largest known settlement, Hierakonpolis, grew into a regional centre of power in the 3800‒3500 BCE period §REF§ (Friedman 2011, 34) Renée Friedman. 2011. 'Hierakonpolis', in <i>Before the Pyramids: The Origins of Egyptian Civilization</i>, edited by Emily Teeter, 33-44. Chicago: Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. §REF§ and may have reached a population of between 5,000 and 10,000 people in the late Naqada I. §REF§ (Hoffman, Hamroush and Allen 1986, 181) Michael Allen Hoffman, Hany A. Hamroush and Ralph O. Allen. 1986. 'A Model of Urban Development for the Hierakonpolis Region from Predynastic through Old Kingdom Times'. <i>Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt</i> 23: 175-87. §REF§ Other researchers consider this figure 'inflated' §REF§ (Stevenson 2016, 436) Alice Stevenson. 2016. 'The Egyptian Predynastic and State Formation'. <i>Journal of Archaeological Research</i> 24: 421-68. §REF§ and point to recent evidence from the Abydos region for low population numbers throughout the Predynastic period. §REF§ (Patch 2004, 914) Diana Craig Patch. 2004. 'Settlement Patterns and Cultural Change in the Predynastic Period', in <i>Egypt at Its Origins: Studies in Memory of Barbara Adams</i>, edited by S. Hendrickx, R. F. Friedman, K. M. Ciałowicz and M. Chłodnicki, 905-18. Leuven: Uitgeverij Peeters en Departement Oosterse Studies. §REF§ ", "shapefile_name": null, "private_comment": null, "created_date": null, "modified_date": null, "home_nga": { "id": 5, "name": "Upper Egypt", "subregion": "Northeastern Africa", "longitude": "32.714706000000", "latitude": "25.725715000000", "capital_city": "Luxor", "nga_code": "EG", "fao_country": "Egypt", "world_region": "Africa" }, "home_seshat_region": { "id": 4, "name": "Northeast Africa", "subregions_list": "Egypt and Sudan (the Nile Basin)", "mac_region": { "id": 2, "name": "Africa" } }, "private_comment_n": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" } }, "comment": null, "private_comment": { "id": 1, "text": "NO_PRIVATE_COMMENTS" }, "other_polity": null, "citations": [], "curator": [] } ] }