Once upon a time
It is common knowledge that chroniclers have been around since early human history. Not just historians, but more than a few people who were literate. Either told to or on their own, they wrote down what they saw.
Though the ravages of time and man destroyed many of the records, a number survived, entirely or in scraps. In a variety of languages, some long dead, contemporary scholars are hard at work trying to decipher them. Ancient Greek is the most common and can be translated.
Not that the scholars accept the writings at face value. Human nature being what it is, likely as not the historians and scribes of the past had axes to grind. In which case, what was the true story?
British scholar Michael Scott goes further than the historians in ancient worlds in telling the reader what the past was like. He connects West and East, Europe and Asia. We know Marco Polo met Kublai Khan in the 14th century, yet how many of us are aware that Italy and China established contact a millennium earlier?
Apart from glossy paintings, sculpture pictures, ancient maps, notes, a bibliography and index, there are tables of dates extending to early in the Christian era. That empires don’t last is apparent from the ancient maps. The Scythian Empire. The Seleucid Empire. The Carthaginian Empire. The Maurya Empire. The Roman Empire.
Not to mention those that followed. Scott devotes chapters to the long-past, largely forgotten. We learn about founders, monarchs, generals, officials. In Rome, Scipio Africanus is given top marks. In China, Confucius is awarded 80 beautiful women for his good work in government.
Much is made of Buddhism, more in China than in India. Several rulers in ancient China were Buddhists. But over the centuries, corruption crept in. And the Mongols gave them short shrift. Other religions like Hinduism were predominant in India.
The author takes us into the AD era. Christianity’s growth in Rome, then Byzantium. Too early for Islam, but why does he ignore the Hebrews? Numerous battles are given thumbnail descriptions.
A point he makes is how untrustworthy the rulers were. Accept a friendly invitation to a feast and poison is the main course.
Controlling the Mediterranean was the key to becoming a Western power. Alexander the Great’s ambition was farther afield. His eye was on India. But if India, why not China?
If you think empire-building is over and done with, guess again.