The Pioneer Kingdoms of Macedon and Qin

The Pioneer Kingdoms of Macedon and Qin critically compares the cultures of Ancient Greece and Early China in the first millennium BC through following the histories of two of its peripheral cases: Argead Macedon and Qin. Emerging from being fringe states to producing Alexander the Great and the First Emperor of China, then rapidly collapsing, these polities had a unique parallel historical experience, though vastly separated by the political developments brought on by the unique features of Greek and Zhou culture within which they operated. Jordan Thomas Christopher undertakes a holistic comparison of these states from their earliest origins through to the reigns of Alexander the Great and the First Emperor, which receive an extended and multi-layered analysis. He thereby highlights the particularities of Greek and Zhou cultures that often go underappreciated as causal factors in history.

• Provides a framework by which Classicists can gain insight into ways in which Sinology can help further the study of Greece and Rome, and vice versa
• Engages in a comparative study of Alexander the Great and the First Emperor of China, revealing how 'great kings' are inherently culminations of their specific cultural-historical trajectories
• Analyzes the dynamics of identity in Ancient Greece and Early China, deepening an appreciation of the unique features of ethnic discourse in both cases