ABSTRACT
There is a tension in all historical studies between the search for large patterns of activity in human existence and the documentation of neverrepeated incidents. These polarized approaches carry with them particular views on causation (Melko 1995). Studies which focus on the former are often looking for the essence of what it is to be human – what in our cumulative experience is common, defining and tying us together through the millennia. Such studies characterize the flow of history in cycles, rhythms, waves or pulses (Bosworth 1995; Chase-Dunn and Hall 1995), while usually eschewing their specific causes. Studies that focus on the never-ending succession of incidents see history as long, unrepeated, unilinear sequences and look for causes in antecedent conditions. Though often thought to be mutually exclusive, both these approaches are necessary for investigating the specific segment of history that is our subject matter here.
