Table Of ContentUniversal- und kulturhistorische Studien –
Studies in Universal and Cultural History
Michael Gehler · Robert Rollinger
Philipp Strobl Editors
The End
of Empires
Universal- und kulturhistorische Studien.
Studies in Universal and Cultural History
SeriesEditors
AlbertoBernabéPajares,Madrid,Spain
SebastianFink,Innsbruck,Austria
AnnC.Gunter,Evanston,USA
DanT.Potts,NewYork,USA
RobertRollinger,Innsbruck,Austria
KaiRuffing,Kassel,Germany
Mit der Krise des Nationalstaates am Ende des 20. Jahrhunderts und der Erfahrung einer
zusehends vernetzten und globalisierten Welt gewinnt auch eine neue Perspektive in den
GeschichtswissenschaftenanBedeutung.DieserneueBlickaufdieVergangenheitmacht
denWegfreifüreineinnovativeundinterdisziplinäreAnnäherungandasPhänomeneiner
vernetzten Weltgeschichte, inder Europa nicht mehr dasZentrum derWelt darstellt, von
demaus„Historie“vermessenwird.DieseruniversaleBlickaufdieGeschichtesolldurch
dieneueReihe befördert werden. Die Reihe umfasst alle Weltregionenund alle Epochen
der Menschheitsgeschichte. Sie will vergleichende und auf dem neuesten Stand der
Forschung gewonnene Einblicke in das Laboratorium der Weltgeschichte gewähren und
befördern. Die Reihe versteht sich als eine peer-reviewed series, die sowohl für
MonographienwiefürSammelbändeoffenist.
Withthecrisisofnationalstatesattheendofthe20thcenturyandtheexperienceofa
highly interconnected, globalized world, a new perspective in historical studies has
emerged, which critically analyzes those concepts and methodologies formed under the
influence of national consciousness. This intellectual framework fosters an innovative,
stronglyinterdisciplinaryapproachtoworldhistory,seekingtotranscendaregionalfocus
inthewritingofhistory.Thisseriesfigureswithinthesedevelopments,whichitendeavors
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universalviewofhistoricalphenomena,broadlydefinedbothgeographicallyandchrono-
logically.Itsscopeembracesallworldregionsandallperiodsofhumanhistory.Thepeer-
reviewedserieswillpublishbothmonographsandeditedvolumes.
(cid:129) (cid:129)
Michael Gehler Robert Rollinger
Philipp Strobl
Editors
The End of Empires
Editors
MichaelGehler RobertRollinger
StiftungUniversitätHildesheim UniversitätInnsbruck
Hildesheim,Germany Innsbruck,Austria
PhilippStrobl
UniversityofVienna
Vienna,Austria
ISSN2524-3780 ISSN2524-3799 (electronic)
Universal-undkulturhistorischeStudien.StudiesinUniversalandCulturalHistory
ISBN978-3-658-36875-3 ISBN978-3-658-36876-0 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-36876-0
#TheEditor(s)(ifapplicable)andTheAuthor(s),underexclusivelicensetoSpringerFachmedienWiesbaden
GmbH,partofSpringerNature2022
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This volume is dedicated to the memory of Bert
G. Fragner (1941–2021), a great historian on
empire and a special friend.
Preface
The editors´ common engagement in the “imperial turn” started when Robert Rollinger
heldavisitingprofessorshipattheUniversityofHildesheimduringthewintersemesterof
2006/07.Duringthistime,MichaelGehlerandRobertRollingerhavejointlydevelopedthe
ideaofputtingalong-termprojectinimperialhistoryintomotion.Inviewoftheupcoming
anniversary of “1000 years of laying the foundation stone” of the early Romanesque
cathedral-like church of St. Michael (1010) in Hildesheim, we organized a one-week
conference on “Empires and Empires in World History” from 5 April to 1 May 2010 at
theabovementionedhistoricalsite.Thismadeitpossibletotakestockofthesituationby
analysing imperial case studies from Antiquity, the Middle Ages to Modern Times and
ContemporaryHistoryintermsofrealandreceptionhistoryacrossepochsandcomparative
globalhistory.1
Stimulated by the wealth of information of the 50 case studies of this conference, we
decidedtocontinuetheproject“HistoryofEmpires”withprovenspecialistcolleaguesas
wellasspecificquestionsandfurthertopics,whilemaintainingcross-epochalandincreas-
inglyintercontinentalapproaches.
Within the framework of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, we were able to hold a
furthermulti-dayconferenceinViennafrom25to28November2015,which,withaview
to forgotten empires, set out under the motto “Empires to be remembered” to find case
studies thatarenotgenerallyknown,eitherinthepublicconsciousnessoramongprofes-
sionalhistorians.2
A continuation project was found under “shooting star empires” (“Sternschnuppen-
Imperien”)sonamedbyRobertRollingerinthecontextofaconferenceinBlankenheimin
theEifelfrom21to23June2017,whichwasdedicatedtothesephenomenaofshort-lived
formationsofgreatempiresinhistoricaloverviewunderthemottoof“Short-termEmpires
inWorldHistory”.3
1TheproceedingsofthismeetinghavebeenpublishedbyGehlerandRollinger(2014).
2TheproceedingsofthismeetinghavebeenpublishedbyGehlerandRollinger(2021).
3TheproceedingsofthismeetinghavebeenpublishedbyRollingeretal.(2020).
vii
viii Preface
As a preliminary culmination of this long-term project, another conference lasting
several days was held in Hildesheim from 2 to 6 October 2018 in cooperation with the
Roemer-Pelizaeus-Museum(RPM).Thisconferenceanalyzedthecentralquestionofwhat
hadcausedtheendofempires.Itsmottowas“Decline,ErosionandImplosionofEmpires”.
The volume is now available. Further projects have already started4 and further
publicationsareabouttofollow.5
ThelastHildesheimconferencewasfundedbytheErasmusplusprogrammeoftheEU,
Hildesheim's Erasmus partner university, the University of Innsbruck, the Institut für
Vermögensentwicklung in Cologne, the Sparkasse Hildesheim-Goslar-Peine and the
Universitätsgesellschaft Hildesheim. Our esteemed colleague and RPM director Regine
Schulz as cooperation partner, Ms Löw from the Institute of History of the Foundation
UniversityofHildesheimaswellasMartinDinhChienDoandNickKönneckeasstudent
assistants have significantly contributed to the preparation and implementation of the
conference.Oursincerethanksgotoallofthem.
Hildesheim,Germany MichaelGehler
Innsbruck,Austria RobertRollinger
Vienna,Austria PhilippStrobl
May2021
References
Fink,SebastianandRollinger,Robert(Eds.).2021,KriseundUntergangalshistorisches
Phänomen(Universal-undkulturhistorischeStudien/StudiesinUniversalandCultural
History).Wiesbaden:Springer.
Gehler, Michael and Rollinger, Robert (Eds.). 2014, Imperien und Reiche in der
Weltgeschichte. Epochenübergreifende und globalhistorische Vergleiche. 2 Vols.
Wiesbaden:Harrassowitz.
4In2021RobertRollingerestablishedaresearchunit(“Kommission”)attheAustrianAcademyof
Sciencesentitled“TransformationsprozesseundImperiumindenAntikenWeltenAfro-Eurasiens”
(Transformation processes andempireinthe ancient worldsof Afro-Eurasia). Inthesame yearhe
becamechairoftheNAWAproject“FromtheAchaemenidstotheRomans:Contextualizingempire
anditslongue-duréedevelopments”hostedbytheUniversityofWrocław,Poland,andfundedbya
grantPPN/PRO/2020/1/00009/U/00001oftheNAWAChair2020Programmeandbyagrantfrom
the National Science Centre (Poland) 2021/01/1/HS3/00006. The project runs for four years
(2021–2024).
5Fink and Rollinger (2021). Nickel and Rollinger (2022). Together with Kai Ruffing (Kassel),
MichaelGehlerandRobertRollingerestablishedtheinternationalseries“Empiresthroughtheages
inglobalperspective”(deGruyter)”thefirstvolumesofwhichareforthcoming.
Preface ix
Gehler,Michael,andRollinger,Robert(Eds.).2021.Empirestoberemembered(Univer-
sal- und kulturhistorische Studien/Studies in Universal and Cultural History).
Wiesbaden:Springer.
Nickel, Lukas and Rollinger, Robert (Eds.). 2022, Chinese Walls around the World
(Universal-undkulturhistorischeStudien/StudiesinUniversalandCulturalHistory).
Wiesbaden:Springer2022.
Rollinger,Robert,Degen,Julian,andMichaelGehler(Eds.).2020.Short-termEmpiresin
World History (Universal- und kulturhistorische Studien / Studies in Universal and
CulturalHistory).Wiesbaden:Springer.
Contents
Decline,Erosion,ImplosionandFall,orJustTransformation?
DivergingEndsofEmpiresThroughTimeandSpace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
MichaelGehler,RobertRollinger,andPhilippStrobl
PartI Antiquity
DerZusammenbruchdesmesopotamischenStaatesvonAkkade. . . . . . . . . 49
HansNeumann
TheDeclineoftheUrIIIDynasty:TheEndofanEmpireand
ItsAfterlifeintheCollectiveMemoryofMesopotamianSocieties. . . . . . . . . 63
MartinLang
TheCollapseoftheHittiteKingdom. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
StefanodeMartino
TheEndofNewKingdomEgypt. . .. . . . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . . . .. 97
HenningFranzmeier
TheEndoftheNeo-AssyrianEmpire. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
SimonettaPonchia
The“End”oftheAchaemenid-PersianEmpire:Caesuraand
TransformationinDialogue. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
JulianDegenandRobertRollinger
TheEndoftheRomanEmpire:CivilWars,theImperialMonarchy,
andtheEndofAntiquity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
HenningBörm
TheEndoftheParthianArsacidEmpire. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
M.RahimShayegan
TheEndoftheĒrānšahar:TheDeclineoftheSasanianEmpire. . . . . . . . . . 249
TourajDaryaee
xi
