they were defeated in battle by Honoriuss regent Stilicho.
Honorius ruled the western empire while his brother Arca-
dius (r. 383–408 c.e.) ruled the eastern empire. Arcadius was
succeeded by Th eodosius II (r. 408–50 c.e.), whose eastern
part of the empire prospered. Another Germanic tribe, the
Vandals, invaded the empire in 406–9 c.e., raiding all the
way to the southern coast of Spain. In 410 c.e. the Visigoths
again invaded Italy and sacked Rome. Honorius lost control
of Spain, much of Gaul, and Britain.
In 429 c.e., during the reign of the western emperor Val-
entinian III (r. 425–55 c.e.), the Vandals crossed the Medi-
terranean Sea and invaded North Africa. In 439 c.e. they
conquered Roman Carthage. Th at Valentinian III managed
to hold together fragments of his empire was remarkable.
Even more remarkable was his defeat of the army of Attila the
Hun in 453 c.e. His successors became dependent on Ger-
manic generals and kings to protect them. In 476 c.e. the last
western emperor, Romulus Augustulus (r. 475–76 c.e.), was
forced to resign by the dominant Germanic tribe in Italy, the
Ostrogoths.
THE AMERICAS
BY J. J. GEORGE
Th e concepts of empire and dynasty usually imply a state-level
society with organizational and administrative features tied
to decision making and hierarchy. Scholars focus on diff erent
traits to establish a defi nition of state, and exact defi nitions
are hard to apply. Territory, use of force, the presence of an
overarching government, well-developed divisions of labor,
the underlying structural features of decision making and
authority, and the mechanisms that enhance and preserve
the privileges of certain social groups are some of the criteria
scholars focus on to classify a type of societal structure. Th e
Americas of the ancient period was replete with social units
t h at r a nge d dow nw a rd f rom c omple x , h ie r a rc h ic a l s o c ie t ie s to
intermediate units with seasonal subsistence groups coalesc-
ing at temporary villages to basic units of hunter-gatherers.
Anthropological defi nitions of the state as well as its
material indicators in the archaeological record are closely
linked to the theoretical framework in which the concept
of the state is developed. Defi nitions that focus on political
power and social classes tend to defi ne states broadly, with
many archaeological cases fi tting the defi nition. Some schol-
ars have even arg ued t hat t he ex istence of socia l classes in and
of itself is the defi ning feature of state organization. Other
scholars have argued that the existence of any monumental
construction elaborate enough to necessitate coordinated la-
bor above the household is evidence for state organization.
Assuming that some of the basic social, economic, and
political criteria defi ning the state are present in a given so-
ciety, empires are then the result of a process of state expan-
sion that encompasses peoples who previously had separate
ethnic or state identities. Empires can express a variety of
relationships and spatial forms, where distant realms may
be conquered or absorbed even though the local institutions
and oft en the local royal line are kept in place in return for
fealty, tribute, or other special concessions. Th e opposite also
may be true, whereby strong reorganizational eff orts occur,
including the resettlement of populations to the capital, thus
dramatically altering the previously existing system of soci-
ety, rulership, and authority.RULERSHIP
Rulership in the Americas took the form of family or kin
group leaders, tribal chiefs and petty princes with little au-
thority and small domains, or powerful kings and emper-
ors commanding tens of thousands of subjects, supervising
impressive bureaucracies, and enforcing their will through
military might. By 500 c.e. rulership conformed to the gen-
eral pattern of early states elsewhere in the world. Kings,
oft en thought to be divinely ordained or even godlike, were
supreme, hereditary rulers of complex societies with the le-
gitimate authority to enforce their decisions. As occupants
of the highest-status position they were responsible for all
state functions—administrative, military, religious, judicial,
and redistributive—although the relative importance of these
functions varied from one culture to another.
Dy nastic ru le and k ingship rarely fol lowed a strict ru le of
primogeniture, or the exclusive right of inheritance belonging
to the eldest son. Dynastic election usually involved choos-
ing the next ruler from a range of eligible persons, almost
invariably from close relatives already in high positions of
authority. However, there is also strong evidence of patrilin-
eal descent at specifi c sites that suggests a dynastic genealogy
of more immediate, familial succession. For example, among
the later Maya it was of great importance to be able to trace
one’s ancestry along both patrilineal and matrilineal lines to
an ancient ancestry, because society was divided into strict
classes. Th erefore, tracing a line of noble lineage was socially
more advantageous than tracing a line with commoner roots.
Th e situation varied, of course, as the institutions of kingship
and power varied from region to region over time.NORTH AMERICAN SOCIETIES
Direct evidence of empire and dynasty is scarce for ancient
North America and generally supports sociopolitical struc-
tures more in line with hunter-gatherer societies, chiefdoms,
associated villages, or interaction spheres. Although it is diffi -
cult to tell chiefdoms from empires archaeologically, the ma-
terial footprint of many early North American sites suggests
sociopolitical mechanisms less pervasive than an empire. It
appears, then, that more localized, indigenous fl uorescences
were characteristic, as opposed to a centrally operated, state-
supported expansion.
For example, the Adena and Hopewell cultures of the
Early and Middle Woodland periods (1000 b.c.e.–500 c.e.)
spread throughout the central United States over a number
of sites in proximity to the Missouri, Mississippi, and Ohio
river systems. Th ere mortuary ceremonialism, the presence418 empires and dynasties: The Americas