"This book gives a structured account of Egypt's transition from Ptolemaic to Roman rule by identifying key relationships between ecology, land tenure, taxation, administration and politics. It introduces theoretical perspectives from the social sciences and subjects them to empirical scrutiny...

"Modern economics tantalizes historians, promising them a set of simple verbal and mathematical formulas to explain and even retrospectively predict historical actions and choices. Colin P. Elliott challenges economic historians to rethink the way they use economic theory. Building upon the...

Steel and silk -- Silk in Roman society -- The Chinese empire and the Xiongnu -- The discovery of the west -- Securing the silk routes -- The Kushan empire -- The Sogdian intermediaries -- Caspian routes and the Crimea -- Black Sea voyages -- The Sarmatians -- The Parthian empire -- Parthia and...