Includes bibliographical references (pages 779-829) and index.

The origin of kingship -- The earliest story -- The rise of aristocracy -- The creation of empire -- The age of iron -- The philosopher king -- The first written records -- The first war chronicles -- The first civil war -- The first epic hero -- The first victory over death -- The first reformer -- The first military dictator -- The first planned cities -- The first collapse of empire -- The first barbarian invasions -- The first monotheist -- The first environmental disaster -- The battle for reunification -- The Mesopotamian mixing bowl -- The overthrow of the Xia -- Hammurabi's empire -- The Hyksos seize Egypt -- King Minos of Crete -- The Harappan disintegration -- The rise of the Hittites -- Ahmose expels the Hyksos -- Usurpation and revenge -- The three-way contest -- The shifting capitals of the Shang -- The Mycenaeans of Greece -- Struggle of the gods -- Wars and marriages -- The greatest battle in very ancient times -- The battle for Troy -- The first historical king of China -- The Rig Veda -- The wheel turns again -- The end of the new kingdom -- The dark age of Greece -- The dark age of Mesopotamia -- The fall of the Shang --

The mandate of heaven -- The Bharata war -- The son of David -- From western to eastern Zhou -- The Assyrian renaissance -- New peoples -- Trading posts and colonies -- Old enemies -- Kings of Assyria and Babylon -- Spectacular defeat -- The decline of the king -- The Assyrians in Egypt -- Medes and Persians -- Conquest and tyranny -- The beginnings and end of empire -- A brief empire -- Cyrus the great -- The republic of Rome -- Kingdoms and reformers -- The power of duty and the art of war -- The spreading Persian empire -- The Persian wars -- The Peloponnesian wars -- The first sack of Rome -- The rise of the Ch'in -- The Macedonian conquerors -- Rome tightens its grasp -- Alexander and the wars of the successors -- The Mauryan epiphany -- First emperor, second dynasty -- The wars of the sons -- Roman liberators and Seleucid conquerors -- Between east and west -- Breaking the system -- The problems of prosperity -- New men -- Empire -- Eclipse and restoration -- The problem of succession -- The edges of the Roman world -- Children on the throne -- The mistake of inherited power -- Savior of the empire.