Encyclopedia of Ancient Asian Civilizations
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loginThis volume concentrates on the civilizations that aroseeast of the Caspian Sea. These early civilizations of Asiadeveloped over a vast territory stretching from the regionof modern Afghanistan and the Aral Sea to Japan andKorea, and from Sri Lanka (former Ceylon) to the islandsof Southeast Asia. These civilizations developed in theoases that bordered the arid Taklamakan Desert in westernChina and the tropical jungles of Java in Indonesia.Virtually every major river basin sustained one or moreearly states, along rivers like the Yalu, which flowedthrough the icy cold of a Korean winter, or the Irrawaddyand the Chao Phraya, which ran through the pervadingheat of their valleys. Early Western visitors to East andSoutheast Asia were invariably taken aback by the scaleand power of the rulers they encountered. Even the mightyarmy of Alexander the Great (356–323 B.C.E.) rebelled atthe prospect of advancing beyond the Beas River intoIndia. Romans, Greeks, and Persians were keen to tradewith the East but barely gained a foothold on Asian soil.
