ABSTRACT
In India and the Americas and Africa, larger empires than ever seen before were also characteristic of at least some of this period. This chapter discusses the relationships between polities and compares different empires in both this chapter and the next. It is out of these smaller states that the Qin and Han empires would eventually emerge. The Greeks of Alexander and later the Persians would overrun Mesopotamia; Mesopotamian states may have declined in wealth and power over the centuries preceding these conquests. Though empires faced more significant challenges in administration than earlier states, they would have one advantage. Lydia in Anatolia developed the first coin currency in the world in the seventh century bce. Many of the classical empires would collect taxes in currency and pay soldiers and bureaucrats in currency.
