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2 results

  • 23 - Africa: states, empires, and connections

  • from Part II - Trans-regional and regional perspectives
  • Edited by Craig Benjamin, Grand Valley State University, Michigan
  • Book:
    The Cambridge World History
    Published online:
    05 May 2015
    Print publication:
    16 April 2015, pp 631-661

  • Summary

    The city of Constantinople, among the most distinctive and consequential European creations of late antiquity, presents itself as a witness to the various transformations that take place between the fourth and the ninth centuries CE. Late antiquity, especially as it relates to Europe, may accordingly be characterized as a period of disruption, transition, and transformation away from a Mediterranean-centered, late Roman imperial political and socioeconomic order. The expansion of the late Roman state apparatus and its increasing claim upon the economy has traditionally been seen as causes of economic crisis and decline. Attempts in the sixth century to regain lost Roman territories in the western Mediterranean achieved limited success. Like the Romans, the Umayyads relied upon local elites for the collection of taxes. In the Roman period, trade in amber led from the southern shores of the Baltic to central Europe and the Black Sea.

  • 14 - Warfare and the state

  • from Part II - The Hellenistic World and the Roman Republic
    • By John Serrati, Professor of History and Classics, McGill University, Quebec
  • Edited by Philip Sabin, King's College London, Hans van Wees, University College London, Michael Whitby, University of Warwick
  • Book:
    The Cambridge History of Greek and Roman Warfare
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    06 December 2007, pp 461-497

  • Summary

    The defining element of the Hellenistic world is most certainly warfare. With his newfound sources of wealth Philip was able to bolster his already large native force with troops of every kind. Siege trains were relatively new in Greek warfare, and had previously only been employed with any effect by Dionysius I of Sicily; afterwards, Syracuse continued to be a centre of the study of siege technology, and this process culminated with the machines of Archimedes in the third century. One of the main characteristics of warfare among the Diadochoi was the fact they were not yet tied to states and were largely fighting over the empire that had been left by Alexander. The economic and administrative forms of Roman imperialism that were now taking place in the provinces could prove more lucrative and less dangerous for the ruling classes than military campaigning.