Kings Into Gods: How Prostration Shaped Eurasian Civilizations

Kings into Gods: How Prostration Shaped Eurasian Civilizations
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
Preface
Introduction
1: Proskýnesis in Herodotus’s Histories
2: An Enquiry on Alexander: Apotheosis, Multicultural Empire and Clash of Civilization
	1 The Journey to the Temple of Ammon Rā
	2 Proskýnesis and the Struggle between Greeks and Persians
		2.1 Callisthenes’s Misfortunes – or on Bad Philosophy
		2.2 The Revolt of the Pages
		2.3 Alexander’s Defense
3: The Great Divergence between East and West
	1 The Quest for Glory
	2 Power is Instituted by God for the Good of Men
	3 The Origin of the Great Divergence between East and West
4: Proskýnesis at the Centre of the Clash of Civilizations
	1 Europe and China
	2 To Prostrate Oneself Might be Right – though Not Always
	3 Macartney’s Genuflection
	4 A Clash of Civilizations
5: Proskýnesis in the Euroasiatic Continent: Unity and Diversity
	1 Models of Prostration in Eurasian Societies
		1.1 The Persian Model
		1.2 Callisthenes’s Model
		1.3 The Mongolian Model
		1.4 The Indian Models
		1.5 The Chinese Model
		1.6 The Byzantine Model
		1.7 The European Model
	2 Heracles’s Alternative Model
Conclusion
Dialogue between the Old Oligarch and the Neo-illuminist
A Short Glossary of the Main Terms and the Main Characters
Bibliography
Index of Names