{"product_id":"ancient-egypt-and-early-china-state-society-and-culture","title":"Ancient Egypt and Early China","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe first comparative study of these two early empires\u003c\/b\u003eAlthough they existed more than a millennium apart, the great civilizations of New Kingdom Egypt (ca. 1548–1086 BCE) and Han dynasty China (206 BCE–220 CE) shared intriguing similarities. Both were centered around major, flood-prone rivers—the Nile and the Yellow River—and established complex hydraulic systems to manage their power. Both spread their territories across vast empires that were controlled through warfare and diplomacy and underwent periods of radical reform led by charismatic rulers—the “heretic king” Akhenaten and the vilified reformer Wang Mang. Universal justice was dispensed through courts, and each empire was administered by bureaucracies staffed by highly trained scribes who held special status. Egypt and China each developed elaborate conceptions of an afterlife world and created games of fate that facilitated access to these realms.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis groundbreaking volume offers an innovative comparison of these two civilizations. Through a combination of textual, art historical, and archaeological analyses, \u003ci\u003eAncient Egypt and Early China \u003c\/i\u003ereveals shared structural traits of each civilization as well as distinctive features.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"University of Washington Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54008190337368,"sku":null,"price":61.5,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0278\/1295\/4195\/files\/9780295748894_c414cfa7-20c0-43d4-b985-f3e03733a017.jpg?v=1777033816","url":"https:\/\/agendabookshop.com\/products\/ancient-egypt-and-early-china-state-society-and-culture","provider":"Agenda Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}