Rome and the Comparative Study of Tributary Empires

Abstract

This paper seeks to bring the separate fields of Roman, Mughal and to some extent, Chinese and Ottoman studies into dialogue. It argues that archaic or tributary empires have much in common and could usefully be made the subject of cross-disciplinary comparisons. Dis cussion is centred on exploring problems in our understanding of patrimonial authority and of the complex trading systems arising in connection with these empires. The paper argues that these phenomena need to be lifted out of the modernisation perspective which they are habitually treated within.