Mirrored Trajectories, Diverging Systems: Argead Macedon and Qin Compared

Argead Macedon and the Zhou state of Qin had a uniquely parallel historical experience. Emerging from being fringe states to producing Alexander the Great and the First Emperor of China, then rapidly collapsing into periods of interstate violence, the mirrored trajectories of these two polities offers and ideal case study for comparative history. In this talk, these polities will be compared in a causal narrative analysis from their earliest origins through to the reins of Alexander the Great and the First Emperor, with brief remarks on the collapse that followed them. By comparing them this way, elements of Greek and Zhou cultures that often go underapprecaited as causal factors in history are clearly highlighted.