Imperial Cities

What does Athens have to do with Jerusalem? Tenochtitlan with London? Beijing with Rome? Cuzco with Persepolis? All are capital cities of imperial systems, each shaping and reflecting the nature of the empire, its ruling ideology, and its social and economic infrastructure. The category of "imperial cities", however, must extend beyond these primate centers, to consider the urban networks in play across each empire’s territorial reach, and beyond.